Most of you probably use the term, “crockpot” and “slow cooker” interchangeably. In reality, “crockpot” is a specific brand of slow cookers. What is a slow cooker anyways? According to Wikipedia, it is a “countertop electrical cooking appliance used for simmering, which requires maintaining a relatively low temperature (compared to other cooking methods such as baking, boiling, and frying), allowing unattended cooking for many hours of boiled dinners, pot roasts, soups, and stews, and other suitable dishes including desserts and dips.” For those of you who are new to using slow cookers, there are many advantages that may peak your interest to go out and buy one right away!
Care2living.com highlights the main reasons to use a slow cooker. The first is that slow cooked meals are nutritious because the natural juices from the vegetables and meats remain in the food since it is cooked over a long period of time at a low temperature. Another benefit to using a slow cooker is that it saves time! Now, who couldn’t benefit from saving a little more time? You don’t have to stand around and wait for your food to cook; instead you just have to do the initial prep (i.e. cut up the vegetables, slice the meat, add seasoning) and then your slow cooker cooks while you do other things. Slow cookers also reduce energy usage because they use less energy than an oven does and they don’t heat up a home like an oven does so the AC in your home doesn’t have to work as hard in the summer to keep the kitchen cool. Slow cookers are easy to clean up because they are one-pot meals.
You can even by crock-pot liners, which make clean up and storing leftovers even easier. Cook in the liner and then throw the liner away when you are done or use it to store your leftovers. You are then left with a clean pot. Lastly, you can easily transport your food, which makes slow cookers a great appliance in which to cook if you are bringing food to a friend’s party or gathering.
A new company, What a Crock, is opening in the farmer’s market, café, and specialty foods market in Chestnut Hill called Market at the Fareway on June 2, 2016, and makes using a slow cooker even easier than it already is! What a Crock removes the hassle of meal planning and shopping by coming up with the recipes for you and eliminating the need to shop for all of the ingredients (and then waste any un-used ingredients) because chefs prepare all of the meals! Literally, all you have to do is cut open the bag and dump your meal into your slow cooker in the morning. By evening, dinner will be ready! Check out What a Crock’s video for the top 10 reasons to use a slow cooker this summer!
