How much Easier can a Croc Pot Make your Life?

Now the evenings are closing in, its time for the barbeque to step down and the croc pot to take over. Invented by the Crock-Pot company, the croc pot, or slow cooker, uses very little power to cook food over a period of several hours. Because the ingredient never boil, food gets cooked without losing any of its natural flavour or nutritional value. This is a piece of cookware that is excellent for preparing rich stews. The length of cooking time is ideal for complex dishes that rely on binding diverse flavours. And modern croc pots are ultra-economical.

The concept has caught on. Well-known brand names such as Morphy Richards and Breville make super-efficient slow cookers that are affordable and easy to use. They have become a common feature in many modern kitchens because you can set a meal to cook and then leave it to work its magic. Modern families often find it difficult to prepare nutritious meals just as everyone is coming home from work or school. For many, that's the most chaotic time of the day - and the worst possible moment to start preparing dinner.

A croc pot allows you to choose the best moment to prepare your meal. You can chop your vegetables and prepare your meat in the morning, place it all in the slow cooker and turn it on before you leave the house. The first croc pots cooked at a pre-defined, low temperature that was controlled by a thermostat. Modern cooking pots now offer a host of features that essentially allow you to expand your culinary repetoire beyond the limit of simple stews. Some feature more complicated temperature control so that food can be kept warm once its cooked automatically. There are slow cookers on the market that automatically switch off when they detect that the joint of meat is cooked. You can even program more advanced slow cookers to start at a high temperature and drop, or the other way round. However, it is worth remembering that a rise in performance often means a drop in economy. A modern, simple croc pot is still the most efficient way to cook your food.

Croc pots come in just a few different sizes. These are the '4-quart' and the '6-quart', which hold exactly what they say on the tin. The 6-quart option would be perfect for a big family with healthy appetites and a large kitchen. But one factor that has made croc pots so popular over the years is the prevalence of 'pot-luck' dinners. In this case, a 4-quart, handled croc pot would be ideal. Pick up your pot, take it to the party and plug it in. Some croc pots even have a crockery bowl that you can remove from the rest of the cooker. You can serve your dish straight from the bowl in style. And because the crockery pot is quite heavy, it is sufficient to maintain the food at temperature without power.

Now that there have been so many croc pots and slow cookers on the market for such a long time, there are also plenty of recipes to go with them. Once you have familiarized yourself with the basics, your imagination is the only limit.