When I returned to work after my third child went into pre-school, I was more than eager to be in the workforce after a ten-year absence. The days flew through, but I worked a minimum of until 6: 30 evening. I was exhausted when I picked up the kids from after-college care. I had been too tired to look home and cook as well. Besides, I worked all day long and deserved a little crack, right?
So, I started picking up dinner to-go at least once a week to make things easier. We enjoyed having everything currently cooked for me so much that a particular night per week of eating at restaurants became two, and then three until it was pretty much every weeknight we ate out or even brought take-out food house. My husband also enjoyed it because he didn’t need to wait long for me to cook a meal when he returned home from work.
This wasn’t until things had been tight for us monetarily one year, and after going over our monthly expenses one evening, my husband and I got a handle on how much we were paying a month on take-out foodstuff. We were spending about $600 each month just by ordering take-out food 4 to 5 nights per week to feed our five purposes!
It was then that both of us realized that this spending had to stop. I needed to start preparing food more meals at home. I was determined to find a simple and fast service for it. I then remembered some sort of cookbook my friend gave me in the past that featured gradual cooker recipes. I recalled going to her house, foul-smelling the wonderful aroma involving Chicken Noodle Soup simmering away in the middle of the day.
So that night, I produced my Crock Pot on the pantry shelf and determined that I would prepare at least a pair of meals per week and typically get the recipes from this cookbook. Other two nights of the whole week, I’d prepare simple dinners when I got home, and Thursday night would be our lasagna night.
I found the tested recipes were so simple and easy to check out, and my family typically loved the dinners I was generating. I found that preparing the evening meals in the slow cooker must have been a breeze. I loved the idea of knowing when I came home from work; this dinner was cooked and ready for my hungry family members. I loved slow food preparation so much that I sometimes tried it thrice a week.
This did take a small amount of preparing on some recipes, such as chopping the vegetables or even trimming the fat off the meats, but I did all of the little prep work the night before while my kids sat at the kitchen table doing homework. It had been such a good feeling understanding that I was providing a tremendous home-cooked meal to my family. It had also been a good feeling understanding that we were saving about $400 per month by not eating take-out food every weeknight.
Oh yeah, and besides the money you will lay aside, the healthy meals could cause you to shed a few pounds by not eating as much. After seven months of refusing to eat restaurant food four evenings per week and not doing everything else different in my diet, We shed 12 pounds!
Aside from the two great reasons We mentioned above for using a slower cooker, here are some more reasons to begin slow cooking your dinners at least 2-3 occasions a week:
More Reasons I like Using A Slow Cooker:
Period Saver: As mentioned previously, they can be great for working moms and dads. Make, go to work, and dinner is usually cooked when you arrive home.
Overcoming Overcooking: With a low setting, you won’t need to be concerned about overcooking and using up your food for up to one hour following your desired cooking time is done.
A lesser amount of Dishes=Less Cleanup: Rather than the standard pots and pans used in a typical evening meal, the slow cooker is often the only one you’ll need to cook your meal in, making clean-up easy.
Perfect Party Guest: They can be great for buffets and functions because they’ll keep your foodstuff warm for hours.
Excellent Home: Do not heat your home like an oven to use it all year round, even during those hot summer months.
Power efficient: They are cheaper and more helpful to run than your cooker, grill, and stove. It saves energy because the lowest setting (200 degrees) uses less energy than some lamps. It stays cozy using less energy since you also have a warmer that is home-heating a clay pot. Clay courts hold and store high temperatures for a more extended period.
Diminished Fat Cooking: You’ll find that the slow cooker can typically help you make lower-fat meals because you will not need to saute or mix fry with oil and butter.
Cost Efficient: Vegetables are inexpensive, and so are rice, dinero, and beans which are a few of the key ingredients in many meals. Also, the meat you are using for slower cooking is the less expensive types like chuck coast and chicken. These meats emerge so fork-tender; you’ll be from the flavors from the fruit juices.
Variety: You can cook a wide variety of meals, and it is not just for soups and stews. One of my family’s favorite meals is Slower Cooker Layered Enchiladas. Yum!
My Simple Plan To Begin Slow Cooking Your Meals
Whenever first getting started, limit you to ultimately one good cookbook with only slow cooker recipes. This can help keep you focused and narrow your decisions so that you can quickly decide what to create. If you have too many choices, it can be overwhelming in the beginning, and all your time and effort is spent browsing through 100s and hundreds of recipes on the web. One good book helps make this easier to decide.
Decide how many nights per week you are going to a slow cooker and select your own recipes.
Purchase ingredients for many meals at one time.
Do preparation work ahead of time for all quality recipes at one time. Slice, and dice vegetables, trim the beef, etc. Store the ingredients in their proper place until required.
Once you have your family’s preferred recipes bookmarked, I like to create copies of them and slide them into a sheet guard cover. I bought a little document and am placing them worn out there. I have quite a selection now. It makes it very easy to know what meals tend to be instant hits with my loved ones.
Happy Slow Cooking!
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