If you struggle to fit cooking healthy dinners into your busy schedule, a slow cooker might be just what you are looking for. Find out all about the benefits of slow-cooked meals.

When it comes to meal prep, it’s hard to beat the ease and convenience of a slow cooker. While you and the rest of your family are at school and work, a slow cooker will be preparing a hot and tasty meal in time for dinner. These handy appliances are a great solution for busy households or anyone looking to save time and effort in the kitchen.

What Is a Slow Cooker?

A slow cooker, also known as a crock pot, is a countertop electric appliance that cooks food by simmering it at a low temperature over several hours. You simply throw in all of your ingredients for the meal, and the slow cooker does the rest for you. Basic slow cookers often come with high, medium, low, and keep-warm settings. Many of today’s modern and technologically advanced designs also include a host of additional features to cook your food exactly to your liking.

Benefits of Using a Slow Cooker

A slow cooker isn’t meant for every cooking task. For example, you can’t use it to whip up a quick bite. However, it has some very attractive benefits that will make it a great addition to your kitchen repertoire.

Easy Preparation

While other types of cooking require you to keep an eye on the progress, a slow cooker is a fill it, set it, and forget it type of appliance. All you have to do is prepare the ingredients, and the slow cooker will take care of the rest. After you input your preferred settings, you can go about the rest of your day and come back later to a ready-to-eat meal.

Because slow cookers can often hold more servings than you will need at once, many people also use them for batch cooking. Simply freeze the extra portions to enjoy later in the week.

Better Tasting Food

Cooking food at a lower temperature over a long period of time really helps to bring out the flavours. The soups, stews, casseroles, and one-pot meals you can make in a slow cooker are sure to have a mouth-watering taste that combines the flavours of all the ingredients in harmony. Many people also like slow cookers for their ability to tenderize tough and less expensive cuts of meat like roasts and chuck steaks.

Healthier Meals

Slow cookers make it easy to use healthy, whole ingredients like vegetables. Cooking them along with your favourite cuts of meat will impart a savoury flavour that makes them impossible to resist. You’ll have your pick of hundreds of healthy recipes in cookbooks and online to choose from as well. Plus, a slow cooker can help reduce the temptation to order takeout, which isn’t always the best choice from a health or cost standpoint.

There is never a bad time to start cooking more at home. Shake things up in the kitchen with a slow cooker and fall in love with the time-saving, taste, and health benefits it has to offer.