Real Ways To Save Time & Money In The Kitchen – Your Crock Pot

I bought a crock pot awhile ago, thinking that I found the solution to my nightly dinner dilemma. Like so many other “crock pot fanatics”, the bloom was off the rose as soon as I found myself with a bit more time and money to spend. So, my crock pot found it’s way into the deep, dark recesses of my pantry, never to be heard from again. Or so I thought. My budget is tighter than ever and time is at a premium, as well. Dinnertime is again centered on a warm and wonderful crock pot meal, much to the delight of my family.

If you have forgotten exactly when you bought your crock pot, or it has a pattern or color that’s reminiscent of the 70′s, 80′s, or 90′s, it’s best to buy a new one. You’ll be doing yourself a favor spending the $30 to $50, what with all the new energy efficient models available. There are also some really great, new features like temperature settings, warming cycles, and secure leak-proof lids. Although, the best feature of all is that a crock pot saves you both time and money. That’s great to know, but how do they do that?

Money Saving: Certain dishes, like beef stew, pot roasts, and soups, are usually cooked for a pretty long period of time. If you’re using your oven for, say 3 hours, that’s about 10 kWh for that meal. Cooking the same pot roast in a crock pot for, say 6 hours, will take about 1.2 kWh. That’s simply based on your oven wattage of roughly 2500 versus your crock pot wattage of roughly 200. It just makes sense using a smaller appliance for such a long cooking period. Check out your appliance wattage and energy consumption using any of the energy consumption calculators online and see if you don’t agree.

Most crock pot recipes call for inexpensive cuts of meat. The low, slow cooking of a crock pot breaks down the sinew and connective tissue of less expensive cuts of meat. Crock pot recipes call for cooking in liquid which also tenderizes tougher cuts of meat, so you end up with meat that falls apart with a fork. A more tender cut doesn’t stand up as well to the long, slow cooking or the liquid. Opt for beef cuts like brisket, bottom round, rump roast, round steak, or even a good chuck roast. Pork shoulders and short ribs are good, too.

How does a crock pot save you money in the evening rush? You aren’t calling your husband to pick up dinner at a fast food place. You’ve prepared your dinner in the morning and popped it in the crock pot. Now you don’t have that “what are we going to do for dinner” nightmare. When the kids are coming home from school and the busy evening begins, it is not the time for figuring out something for dinner. Avoiding fast food and convenience store stops are a real money saver.

When you are air conditioning your house, the last thing you want to do is heat up your kitchen by having the oven on for a long time. During the summer, we do eat mostly cold meals, like salads, but summers can be pretty long here and my family starts to get a yearning for a nice, hot meal. Without adding a bunch of hot air to my house, I can throw a pot roast in my crock pot, and we’re all happy… and the air conditioner can do it’s normal work without stressing it out anymore than necessary.

Time Saving: If you are watching your pots boil, you are wasting time. Even stirring soups and sauces take time, especially if you’re making something that could stick to the bottom of the pot if left unattended. When you make a meal in one pot it truly does save time, but not if you have to watch it! Sure, you can put a pot roast in the oven and you won’t have to stand over it while it cooks, but now you’re not saving money. Don’t we want to save both money and time?

Another time saver is getting my family involved with some of the cooking tasks. I can have my children in the kitchen with me, washing vegetables, peeling potatoes, and putting ingredients right in the crock pot for me because there is little danger of getting a burn since the crock pot is not turned on until everything is inside and ready to go. And, since most of my favorite crock pot recipes are three, four, or five ingredients, it’s easy to ask my husband to start dinner on some of those busy mornings.

Nightly stops at the store to quick grab something to cook for dinner is a serious waste of time. Now I take one trip to the grocery store, and buy everything I need for at least three crock pot meals. I can plan several all-in-one-step meals, buy and even prep a lot of the ingredients ahead of time, and pop a meal in the crock pot in the morning. Now, we can go straight home from the soccer game… home to a hot meal!

Money and Time Saving: By doubling your crock pot recipes, you’ll have leftovers for lunches or be able to put the extra meal in the freezer for later. Not only is it convenient to have your lunch all ready, but it is also a money saver; no more money spent eating out at work. Having a freezer full of meals is a great time saver, too. Who doesn’t love finding a meal all ready to just heat up and go? The money saved by using your crock pot just once to produce two meals just makes sense to me.

Now that you’ve seen the time and money saving reasons to use your crock pot, I challenge you to give your crock pot a second chance. Get your crock pot out again, or treat yourself to one of the new models, and browse through some recipes. It’s time you started cooking and saving time and money all at the same time!

Get your family hooked on slowcooker cooking with some delicious new slowcooker recipes that are sure to please!