Convenience – This morning, like most mornings, I had to have both the kids and myself ready to leave the house by half past seven in order to get them to breakfast club so I could get to work on time. After school, I picked up one child, came home for half an hour and then went back to pick up the other one. I then picked up Mr Frugal from work and we came home, all hungry and ready for tea. I had tea on the table in about ten minutes because I’d taken two minutes (literally that long) to add a couple of handfuls of frozen onions, a packet of mince, some water and stick cubes to the slow cooker this morning when we the kids were putting their coats on. I left it to cook our minced beef and onions all day and it was perfect tonight.
Cost – You can buy cheaper cuts of meat and slow cook them for a delicious and budget friendly meal. Brisket and pork shoulder are perfect examples – they’re cheaper than some other cuts of meat and if you cook them slowly on low heat then they taste melt in your mouth gorgeous. In fact, pork shoulder is perfect for pulled pork after it’s been slow cooked and my recipe is delicious if I do say so myself.
Yummy Puddings – It’s not just for cooking meals though, you can also make some great puddings in your slow cooker. My favourite is rice pudding but there’s plenty of other things you can do depending on how creative you are. Just have a look at some of the recipes that Aly has tried over on Plus 2.4 – there’s even a recipe for fudge!
Batch Cooking – With a slow cooker it’s just as easy to cook two portions as it is one. I always make extra and freeze a portion for some other time. I also make massive batches of homemade tomato sauce to keep in the freezer for whenever I need a quick pasta dish or something like that.
The cost to run – They are very economical to run and depending on the make and model you choose, some use as little electricity to run as a light bulb so they’re much cheaper than using your oven.
