If you want yummy, perfectly cooked slow cooker or crockpot recipes that cost pennies per serving, then keep reading. With a little knowledge, your slow cooker meals will help you reduce your food bill while keeping your family happy.
This post is part two of Slow Cooker Basics. If you missed the first post, you can find it here: Slow Cooker Basics. Now, let us add to your knowledge about how to make delicious slow cooker or crockpot meals.
Some Food Cooks Faster than Others
Vegetables usually take longer to cook than meat does. Don’t worry, you can still cook them all together in the same slow cooker for the same amount of time. Place the vegetables, especially root vegetables, such as carrots or potatoes on the bottom of the crockpot, where they will get the most direct heat, and place your meat on top. Cutting the vegetables into smaller pieces will also help them cook faster.
Make your Crockpot Cleanup Easy
To reduce the amount of time you will be spending cleaning your slow cooker, take the time to either oil the dish or spray it with cooking spray. You can also purchase crock pot liners that make clean up a snap. Finally, criss-cross strips of heavy-duty foil and overlap them in your dish for recipes such as crockpot meatloaf or cake. You can use the strips to lift out your recipe with ease, leaving it in one piece.
Don’t Give Up!
Just like with baking or any cooking method, variations in altitude, room temperature and humidity can all affect your crockpot cooking. The brand and type of your slow cooker can as well. After you have been using your slow cooker for a little while, you’ll begin to know what works best for your recipes, maybe adding a little more or a little less water, for example. Pretty soon, you’ll be able to make your favorite dishes with consistency on a regular basis.