They aren't just kitchen appliances. No, they are members of our family. Our two beloved matriarchs who spend their time in our kitchen busily preparing our meals for us. I imagine that, if they could speak, they'd sound like Angela Lansbury and Marla Cilley -- direct, a bit bossy, and delightfully loving.
The crockpot is the ideal kitchen appliance for new moms (and dads) because once you toss in your foods, you completely forget the bloody thing exists, until you start to smell the delicious aroma around you. No matter what the meal, there is a crockpot version of it out there. I cook at least 90% of our meals in the crockpot. I think the only things we don't do in that (yet) is rice, pasta and bacon. Almost everything else goes through the crockpot.
Your initial purchase of your crockpot, if bought brand new, can be anywhere between $20 to $60. I would thoroughly advise looking into Freecycle, Kijiji and second-hand stores before shelling out that much money for a crockpot. Mainly because many people don't recognize their value and often neglect them. If you ask around, you're sure to get at least one person say, "Yeah, I have one, and I never use it!"
The reason most people don't use them is because of the misconception with regards to the foods they prepare. Mushy vegetables, rubbery meats, on and on and on. But a quick Google search will tell you differently. Roasts cooked to perfection; savory vegetables; creamy soups; crystal-clear broths; smooth sauces. Heck, you can even bake bread in them, did you know that?!
I have owned four crockpots over the last ten years. My accumulative cost has been $10.25. One was given brand new as a gift (and met a tragic fate during a move); another I bought for a quarter at a yard sale. It died honorably and was properly disposed of. Of the other two (my current crocks), one cost me $10 and I got it off Kijiji when a lady received it as a wedding gift and didn't want it. The other one was given to me by a friend of the family who was moving and didn't want to drag it with her. It had seen a lot of use (in fact, the cord was taped in two places), but has continued to provide me deliciousness for the last four years. I would take any and all crockpots offered me.
When picking out a crockpot, keep in mind one thing -- don't bother with ones where the pot doesn't come out. Trust me on this. They are a royal pain to keep clean. You can't dunk them in the water like you can a regular crockpot. It's so frustrating. If you're given one, be thankful and use it until you can acquire one with a removable pot.
Another valuable thing about the crockpot is how it saves you money. To begin with, you can purchase tougher, cheaper cuts of meat. Usually these come out tough and rubbery in the oven. But when slowly cooked in a crockpot with lots of juices and herbs, you get a succulent meat that would wow even your pickiest diner. Rather than buying instant products, such as mashed potatoes, they can be cooked all day in the crockpot, another money saver. Homemade recipes that once seemed daunting, such as oatmeal, rice, root vegetables, tomato sauce... Almost anything that needs to be watched while cooking so it doesn't burn can be cooked mindlessly in the crockpot. You will find when you start cooking religiously in your crockpot, your reliance on store-bought pre-prepped food drops dramatically.
Crockpots are also excellent when you are having leftovers. For example, if you've cooked a chicken and there is lots of meat leftover, you can simply leave it in the crockpot, put it back in the fridge and reheat it on low before supper the next day. Or, you can take all the meat off the bones, toss the carcass back into the crockpot, and simmer it away for broth, which can then be used to make soup. Or if you've cooked a full meal in it, such as stew beef and vegetables, stick your immersion blender into the leftovers and blend until smooth and voila! Instant soup! In fact, that is what we're having for supper tonight!
The internet is ripe with crockpot ideas, so I won't bother posting any right now. Our good buddy Google can help you find the recipes you need. However, I will say that if you are looking for a specific recipe, there is a fairly good chance a crockpot version of it exists. Heck, look for ones you don't think could possibly exist! You'll be surprised.
One question remains: What is the return value of the crockpot? Since the crockpot performs the same tasks as both the oven and the stove top of your regular everyday stove, you need to compare this. However, the crockpot cooks food for longer, so you may think that it costs as much or more to run the crockpot through a meal versus the stove.
In order to calculate this, you'd need to know the following:
How many watts it takes to power your stove
How many watts it takes to power your crockpot
And how much your electricity costs per hour
Here is an example, using the cost of a general electric stove and a general crockpot.
Cost of 1 kWh (kilowatt hour) = $0.12 (this is the cost of my own electricity at time of writing)
Stove: 2.0 kWh for 1 hour = $0.24/hr or $0.24/meal
Crockpot: 0.10 kWh for 1 hour = $0.012/hr or $0.08/meal (cooked for 7-8 hours on low)
In essence, it would take you three meals cooked in your crockpot to equal the cost of cooking one meal in your stove or oven. If you spent $20 on a brand new crockpot (but you won't, you'll get one for next to nothing somewhere else, won't you?), you'd recover the cost of it in 250 meals (less than a year). However, consider this: if you didn't spend the $20 to buy the crockpot, and instead cooked 250 meals in your oven, you'd have spent $60, three times the cost of the crockpot. So the crockpot will literally pay for itself in 1/3 of the time, or 83 meals. In my case, of my 4 crockpots, my most expensive one, at a cost of $10, paid for themselves after only 42 meals, or in 6 weeks. If you get your crockpot for free, you're ahead of the game.
If you want more crockpot-related inspiration, please check out A Year of Slow Cooking, in which you will be astonished at the delights this lady created using her beloved crockpots.
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