Why Slow and Steady Wins the Race

The slow cooking process can help you to save money, save time, cook delicious meals with no kitchen skills needed, help you to prepare meals in advance, and help you to lose weight.

If you have never tried slow cooking, I urge you to check out my article Slow Cooking – Quick Start to see how easy and simple it can be to prepare delicious, healthy meals.

Let’s talk about how the slow cooker works! 

An electric heating element on the bottom of slow cooker releases heat which is transferred to the ceramic pot (The element is on the inside of the slow cooker). The stoneware (ceramic) material is a very good heat conductor, so the inside of the pot soon heats up to the temperature of the element, and remains at a constant temperature.

The food inside of the slow cooker is heated to the same temperature, and the temperature increases slowly. This is a slow process and provides the food with plenty of time (meat, vegetables, etc.) to releases their juice and become tender.

The food gets very succulent, keeping all the nutrients and vitamins, and releasing the moisture which gives a delicious flavor. Meat is tender, vegetables are soft and tasty, and the whole meal is super healthy!

A healthy way to lose weight 

One of the biggest mistakes many people make when losing weight is grabbing processed snacks and meals during the week, and only eating homemade food on weekends.

Using a slow cooker, you can prepare meals for the whole week without having to spend lots of time on cooking or food preparation. This leaves you free to do other tasks while your food slowly cooks.

Once your food is done, you can portion it out, freeze it, and then you have several healthy meals ready for the coming week; you only have to grab and take it with you.

This way you can enjoy healthy, homemade meals during your busy week busy AND save money too!

How to prepare healthy meals for the week

At the weekend, you can prepare six servings of Irish Stew (recipe here) . It takes only 20 minutes of preparation time. Then, set your slow cooker for 8 hours and let it do its magic.

Once it’s done, let it cool down, place the food on your food containers (I use this Rubbermaid lids, available at amazon.com)

No kitchen skills needed 

Even if you hate to cook, or you feel that you don’t have the skills to be a great chef, you only need a few minutes to cut up some ingredients, place them inside the slow cooker, and the result is an amazing meal that will impress your family and friends.

Convenient – Prepare Ahead 

Place the ingredients in the slow cooker in the morning, before leaving home, and have your lunch ready for when you get back.

Or, program your slow cooker after lunch, enjoy time with your kids, go for a walk, do some exercise, and have your delicious dinner ready on time.

Save Money and enjoy Tender Meats

Slow cookers are great for cooking cheaper cuts of meat like beef brisket, pork shoulder, lamb shoulder and chicken thighs.

This, and other cheap cuts, release a lot of juice during the slow cooking process, giving a delicious flavor to food.

Best pork cuts to use for slow cooking here and best beef cuts here.

Ready to Start?

Don’t have a slow cooker? No problem! Let me show you how to make slow cooker meals in your oven, converting slow cooker recipes to the oven here ! But, if you like the sound of using a slow cooker, I highly recommend buying one, you can find not only my favorites here but I will tell you how to find the best slow cooker for your needs and budget here. Once you have your slow cooker, it’s time to get cooking!

Click here for your first slow cooker recipe

Or if you are already a slow cooker fan, I’ve shared many recipes here.