Crockpot Cooking: Save Time and Money
http://www.pcwomensjournal.com/articles/4131/1/Crockpot-Cooking-Save-Time-and-Money/Page1.html
Susanne Myers
Susanne Myers at http://HillbillyHousewife.com wants to help you live a more frugal lifestyle. Start saving time and money today with Susanne's crockpot cooking guide where you'll learn everything from which crockpot to choose to special tricks for preparing the very best crockpot meals. Get your copy of Crockpot Cooking Made Simple and enjoy the frugal life! By Susanne Myers
Published on 10/14/2011
There are really two basic reasons folks want to learn how to cook with a crockpot. One reason is to save time, the other reason is to save money.
There are really two basic reasons folks want to learn how to cook with a crockpot. One reason is to save time; the other reason is to save money.
Save Time With a Crockpot
This reason may seem like an oxymoron since your meal will cook for a long, long time. However, you do not need to watch, stir or baste it. You can go about your business and not even think about your meal for hours, until it's time to eat.
Gone are the days when one person in the family assumes the role of "chief cook." Everybody's got to pitch in. Without the threat of hot burners or oven racks, even the kids can be asked to help out in the kitchen. Simple tasks like adding ingredients to the crock pot and washing vegetables can be done safely by children, leaving you free to take care of something else.
As mentioned, standing over a stove, watching a pot boil, is certainly time wasted. We all know what it's like to monitor some soup or stew as it simmers on top of the stove, constantly checking its progress. Putting that same soup together in a crockpot, then walking away, frees up hours.
There is no such thing as a quick stop at the grocery store. After a half hour or more wandering around the aisles of the grocery store, you find yourself grabbing a few prepackaged meals and heading home. Now, you've not only put off dinner until later, but you've spent money on food you didn't really want to eat or to feed your family. With a crockpot meal planned and shopped for ahead of time, you can save that 30 minutes and spend it with your family.
Save Money With a Crockpot
There are a couple schools of thought here. One is saving on your food; the other is saving on energy. How exactly can cooking with a crockpot save on your food budget? And why would running a crockpot for six hours be cheaper than running your oven for half that time? Let's take a look at the reasoning behind these arguments.
When you're at the grocery store looking at beef, for instance, you'll want to walk right by those expensive cuts and move over to the bargain cuts. Why? Slow cooking meat, at a low temperature, in a moist environment, is the best way to cook less expensive cuts. The sinew and tissues of the budget cuts break down under those conditions and the meat becomes tender, falling apart with a fork. More expensive cuts simply don't cook as well and are not worth the money. Good old rump roasts, pork shoulders, and the like are perfect for your crockpot—and your budget. Classic budget-friendly meals, such as soups and stews, are a perfect match for your crockpot.
Even though you would cook a pot roast in the oven for half as long as you would cook it in a crockpot, the oven uses a lot more energy. A typical oven uses 25,00 watts, while a crockpot is normally rated at about 200 watts. That means that a 3-hour pot roast in the oven uses 10 kWh, while a 6-hour pot roast in the crockpot uses about 1.2 kWh. These are estimates, of course, but even the most efficient full-sized oven can't compete with a crockpot when it comes to energy savings.
When the evening rush is in full swing, it's not the time to start thinking about dinner. If you've ever had to call your spouse to stop and pick up dinner somewhere, you know how expensive that can be. Your family food budget won't survive many of those last-minute meal decisions. Instead, as you're driving the family around after work and school, stopping for piano lessons, shopping for a school event, or running any of those last minute errands, your crockpot can be working for you, cooking a hearty meal for the whole family to enjoy when you finally all come through that door.
With a larger crockpot you can put together a big meal, cook it once, and plan to turn the leftovers into several more meals that will last the rest of the week. If you normally buy a lunch out every day, you can also save money by bringing your own home-cooked meal to work. Along with that, you can skip running around for lunch, saving time for something more important. By cooking more than one meal in the same eight-hour period of time, you are also saving energy. Cooking once and eating two, three or more times is a big way to save on both time and money.
Crockpots, when put to work properly, are an excellent way to not only save your money and time, but quite possibly your sanity too. You have a family to take care of and a household to run. Next time your family members are hungrily asking, "Where's dinner?" all you have to say is, "It's in the crockpot!"
Save Time With a Crockpot
This reason may seem like an oxymoron since your meal will cook for a long, long time. However, you do not need to watch, stir or baste it. You can go about your business and not even think about your meal for hours, until it's time to eat.
Gone are the days when one person in the family assumes the role of "chief cook." Everybody's got to pitch in. Without the threat of hot burners or oven racks, even the kids can be asked to help out in the kitchen. Simple tasks like adding ingredients to the crock pot and washing vegetables can be done safely by children, leaving you free to take care of something else.
As mentioned, standing over a stove, watching a pot boil, is certainly time wasted. We all know what it's like to monitor some soup or stew as it simmers on top of the stove, constantly checking its progress. Putting that same soup together in a crockpot, then walking away, frees up hours.
There is no such thing as a quick stop at the grocery store. After a half hour or more wandering around the aisles of the grocery store, you find yourself grabbing a few prepackaged meals and heading home. Now, you've not only put off dinner until later, but you've spent money on food you didn't really want to eat or to feed your family. With a crockpot meal planned and shopped for ahead of time, you can save that 30 minutes and spend it with your family.
Save Money With a Crockpot
There are a couple schools of thought here. One is saving on your food; the other is saving on energy. How exactly can cooking with a crockpot save on your food budget? And why would running a crockpot for six hours be cheaper than running your oven for half that time? Let's take a look at the reasoning behind these arguments.
When you're at the grocery store looking at beef, for instance, you'll want to walk right by those expensive cuts and move over to the bargain cuts. Why? Slow cooking meat, at a low temperature, in a moist environment, is the best way to cook less expensive cuts. The sinew and tissues of the budget cuts break down under those conditions and the meat becomes tender, falling apart with a fork. More expensive cuts simply don't cook as well and are not worth the money. Good old rump roasts, pork shoulders, and the like are perfect for your crockpot—and your budget. Classic budget-friendly meals, such as soups and stews, are a perfect match for your crockpot.
Even though you would cook a pot roast in the oven for half as long as you would cook it in a crockpot, the oven uses a lot more energy. A typical oven uses 25,00 watts, while a crockpot is normally rated at about 200 watts. That means that a 3-hour pot roast in the oven uses 10 kWh, while a 6-hour pot roast in the crockpot uses about 1.2 kWh. These are estimates, of course, but even the most efficient full-sized oven can't compete with a crockpot when it comes to energy savings.
When the evening rush is in full swing, it's not the time to start thinking about dinner. If you've ever had to call your spouse to stop and pick up dinner somewhere, you know how expensive that can be. Your family food budget won't survive many of those last-minute meal decisions. Instead, as you're driving the family around after work and school, stopping for piano lessons, shopping for a school event, or running any of those last minute errands, your crockpot can be working for you, cooking a hearty meal for the whole family to enjoy when you finally all come through that door.
With a larger crockpot you can put together a big meal, cook it once, and plan to turn the leftovers into several more meals that will last the rest of the week. If you normally buy a lunch out every day, you can also save money by bringing your own home-cooked meal to work. Along with that, you can skip running around for lunch, saving time for something more important. By cooking more than one meal in the same eight-hour period of time, you are also saving energy. Cooking once and eating two, three or more times is a big way to save on both time and money.
Crockpots, when put to work properly, are an excellent way to not only save your money and time, but quite possibly your sanity too. You have a family to take care of and a household to run. Next time your family members are hungrily asking, "Where's dinner?" all you have to say is, "It's in the crockpot!"