Crock Pot Slow Cookers

One of the most fundamental human needs, along with water and air, is food. Food is needed for our survival – the fuel that keeps our bodies running, our cells replacing, our muscles working, and our blood pumping. It is also essential to keeping our energy levels high enough for action – food has a restorative and strengthening effect beyond its immediate impact on our continued survival.

It can give us a boost in the morning that allows us to meet the challenges of the day with vigor, or help to balance our bodies again in the evening after a strenuous day. It also forms the basis for important social interactions – even families who seldom have anything to do with each other at other times will usually eat together at least once or twice a day, friends meet over food, and even business negotiations are often conducted over lunch.

It is also true that in many instances, the hectic, almost frenzied pace of the modern world has gutted the free time of many people, and removed those who formerly cooked home meals from the home at the very times when they would be preparing them. Faced with a strident onslaught of work, and too tired afterwards to want to slave for hours over a hot saucepan or cooking pot, many people find themselves resorting to the expedient of a less-than-tasty frozen dinner in place of a home-cooked meal.

However, this expedient can be rendered unnecessary by a widely-available item of cookware known as the slow cooker or the crock pot. Slow cookers are a Godsend to those who lack the time – or the energy after work – to go through the long labor of cooking a meal by other means. The ingredients of a delicious, healthy, fresh meal can be placed into a slow cooker many hours before dinner is actually going to be eaten, and cook steadily and quietly for the whole day while the family is away at work or school. When they return home, the food is ready – kept warm by the same machine, more often than not, at a temperature high enough to prevent bacterial growth but low enough so that cooking does not continue.

Hundreds of recipes exist for crock pot cooking, ranging from the expected soup and chili to cakes that have been specially designed to cook properly over many hours in a slow cooker. The cooker is sealed with a tempered glass lid, preventing the escape of moisture, so the food becomes tender and remains moist, and there is no risk of fire. If the slow cooker is filled properly – with the crock pot between ½ and 2/3 full – then the food will never boil, but will heat intensely and thoroughly, producing a well-cooked, delicious meal after many hours. Modern programmable timers and other features help to achieve this as well.

So, the humble crock pot comes to the rescue of the home-cooked meal for those who lack the time – or the expertise – to cook by other means. The slow cooker is an excellent way to bring more variety and freshness into the diet without increasing the home work load – and as these pages will show, the modern slow cooker comes in many sizes and forms.