We live in a world where convenience is king; however, convenience is often not the best option.
Food can be a large part of your spending, and buying the ingredients yourself and cooking from scratch can be the cheapest and the most efficient way of making the most of your groceries.
Slow cookers are seeing a bit of a surge in popularity recently and this guide looks at 7 reasons why.
Slow Cookers Are Cheap
Like any product on the market, there are different specifications on offer but for most the basic models will do a good job.
Most of the time, the price will be determined by the size of the slow cooker.
Your average slow cooker will have a few different settings for the temperature that you want to cook at, typically ‘Low Heat’, ‘High Heat’ and ‘Automatic’.
A quick survey of some of the bigger retailers shows the cheapest slow cookers are selling for around £12 for a 3.5 litre version, which should make enough for 4 people and £10 for a 1.5 litre version, which is ideal for an individual or couple.
Cheaper Food Tastes Better
Slow cookers are ideal for cooking the cheaper cuts of meat.
If you were to fry or oven cook these cuts, they could end up being tough or lacking flavour, but slow cookers can do wonders to cheaper cuts.
If you want to be a bit more extravagant and go for more expensive cuts of meat, the results can be even better.
Slow Cookers Can Save Time
Rather than slaving over a hot stove, and monitoring different pots and pans, slow cookers allow you to simply flick the switch and let the cooker do the work.
It’s Easy
You really do not need any cookery skills to use a slow cooker. Simply prepare your ingredients, and then throw everything into the slow cooker.
Slow cookers are also safe to leave on during the day when you are at work, without the danger of burning your house down. What’s more, food rarely burns when cooked in this manner as most slow cooker dishes require some liquid, whether it’s stock or even alcohol to help it cook.
As the food is being prepared over such a long period of time, you should not need to worry about meals being undercooked and should be safe to eat.
It’s Versatile
You can cook a wide range of dishes in a slow cooker.
From beautifully fragrant curries, all the way to the hearty American dishes like pulled pork or beef brisket – it can be done in a slow cooker.
Meat dishes are particularly good when cooked in this way; the joints will stay tender and fall off the bone.
It’s Fun
Seeing the fruits of your labour on your plate is a very satisfying feeling.
As you begin to experiment with different dishes, you may find yourself being genuinely excited about trying out new recipes.
This can spur you on to trying a wider range of cuisine, and broaden your culinary horizons.
Lots of Recipes
The internet is full of recipes to try your hand at.
From the sites owned by TV chefs like Jamie Oliver and Nigella, to larger ones like the Food Network or the BBC’s own extensive range of recipes.
There is also a big range of user-generated recipes on sites like AllRecipes.co.uk which get rated, so you can see which recipes others have deemed successful, meaning you won’t be wasting time, money and food by experimenting.
The following article is a guest post by Jamie Smith on behalf of Same Day Guarantor Loans. You can read more of Jamie’s work by visiting https://www.samedayguarantorloans.co.uk/Blog.