My Best Friend In The Kitchen!

 

Hands down the most utilized small appliance in my kitchen is my slow cooker.  I can do a ton of stuff with this bad boy and it frees me up so that I can do other things while still accomplishing a lot in my kitchen.  To me it is the ultimate multi tasker!

 

If you have a slow cooker I want you to pull it out of the cupboard, dust it off and put it to work.  If you don’t, please do not run out and buy one.  Instead I want you to put out the word to your friends, family and co-workers that you would like a slow cooker and would be happy to take one off their hands.  I’m fairly certain that inside your circle there is someone with a slow cooker they are not using that they would happily gift to you.  If not, join your Facebook Buy Nothing Group and put out the word there.  Someone somewhere has an extra slow cooker they aren’t using.

 

Preparing a big pot of soup

Making applesauce

I use my slow cooker year round and all the time.  In the summer I can cook or bake without heating up my kitchen and I can do smaller batches without having to use the oven.  It is perfect for making soups, stews, chili, bone broth, pasta sauce, applesauce, apple or pear butter, you name it.  I also bake in mine.  It is perfect for baking a large batch of potatoes.  I even bake my meatloaf in my slow cooker.  The possibilities are pretty much endless.

 

Meat loaf ready to bake

Large batch cooking and meal prepping is one of my favorite ways to utilize this appliance allowing me to work on other things at the stove.  I will often start a batch of pasta sauce early in the morning and while I’m doing the other things I have planned it is ready to be divided up into freezer containers by the time I am finished with everything else.

 

Making tomato sauce for canning 

Beef broth ready to be strained

I will also fill it up with chicken, beef or ham bones and vegetable scraps, top it up with water and let it go an entire day making the most delicious broth which is basically a FREE food.  It is also a very important ingredient for me to use in recipes, when I make soup and even cooking rice.  My slow cooker definitely earns its keep around my kitchen and I can’t imagine not having one.  We even take it on vacation with us, no joke.  Let’s get slow cooking!