When the weather outside warms up, the kitchen can be a terrible place to be. So you are probably looking for ways to make a good homemade meal where you are not required to use a traditional oven or stovetop. Learn to use some lesser heat-producing equipment in your kitchen, such as the crock pot, to beat the summer heat and keep it together as you prepare a nice hot meal for family and friends.
So, how can you beat the heat via crock pot cooking? In simple terms, it produces much less heat than cooking with a stovetop or oven. This is the initial and maybe even the best reason to consider using a crock pot when you’re planning summer meals. Another fact to take into consideration is when you are not introducing more heat into your house by using your stovetop or oven you are also preventing cooling methods such as your air conditioner from having to work harder to compensate for the additional heat that other cooking methods produce.
This makes crock pot cooking a win-win situation as the associated costs to operate a crock pot are substantially less than the costs to operate an oven or a stove. Whether electric or gas, your stove, and your oven are usually very power hungry. If you stop to consider the fact that you are not increasing the temperature in house via traditional methods of cooking, this means you are using even less electricity.
Unfortunately for most, the general opinion is crock pots are intended for hearty winter meals and comfort foods. In all honesty, the crock pot should be one of your most frequently used and favorite methods of cooking if you know how to work with it effectively. When it comes to cooking with a crock pot, your options are virtually endless. Just about anything can be cooked or baked in a crock pot, including various healthy meals and tasty desserts.
Benefits of Crock Pot Cooking
Crock pot cooking comes with many other notable benefits besides the cost benefits that should be taken into consideration apart from the energy savings. First of the, most of the work associated with crock pot cooking occurs in the beginning of the day when you are still refreshed instead of at the end of a hectic day at work or play. This means you are less likely to forget to add an ingredient or make some other mistake that typically occurs when you are feeling rushed to prepare dinner or exhausted from activities that took place earlier in the day.
Secondly, a great deal of crock pot recipes include the vegetables which insures we are getting our required nutrients. So often, when preparing a meal at the last minute, vegetables and other side dishes are left excluded to complete the meal quickly. In most cases, crock pot cooking is used to make a meal in one dish.
Another great reason to use a crock pot for your summer cooking is the ease of cleanup. In contrast to pans and pots, most meals that are made in crock pots are one dish. This is convenient because you will not have to wash a ton of dishes by hand or load these dirty dishes into the dishwasher, or maybe even do both afterwards. Not only will you reduce the time you spend in the kitchen cleaning, but you avoid having to spend a lot of time slaving over a hot stovetop. Correction! I should say no time slaving away over a hot stove. After you finish cleaning up, you can go back to chasing lightening bugs with your children, enjoying the sunset, or maybe even waiting for the first star.
Even though you won’t find a cooking method that is deemed to be the best for everyone, crock pot cooking comes very close. If you have a crock pot in the back of your pantry gathering dust, it’s time to take it out, clean it off, and find some great recipes to cook in your crock pot.
