Plan Great Weeknight Meals With a Slow Cooker

At the end of a busy day, many of us come home to this question: "What's for dinner?" You can make that question easy to answer by using a slow cooker to help with family meals. Slow cookers have been around for decades. The inventor of the slow cooker, Irwin Naxon, was searching for a way to allow a family to prepare food in the summer heat without turning on the oven (Delgado, 2019). Although the patent for the slow cooker was awarded in the mid-1930s, the small appliance did not gain popularity with the American public until the 1970s, when Kansas City Rival Manufacturing purchased the inventor's business.

The original purpose of a slow cooker may have been to keep the kitchen cool in the summer, but over the years, cooks have found that this appliance is useful throughout the year. The winter months are also ideal for bringing out the slow cooker to prepare hot soups, stews, and casseroles in just a few simple steps.

Understanding the basics of the slow cooking process, begins with defining the critical elements of a slow cooker. Usually, the cooker will include a crock, which is an inner stoneware or ceramic container, a removable tight-fitting lid, and an outer heating base made with wrap-around heating elements encased in metal (Lee et al., 2020). The slow cooker creates heat and steam within the crock, which cooks the food at temperatures between 170°F and 280°F, based on the settings, for the necessary cooking time. This cooking method produces tender and flavorful foods that are safe to eat when you follow essential food safety guidelines.

Here are a few tips on how to prepare food in the slow cooker safely (Jeffers, 2021):

• Wash your hands with warm water and soap for 20 seconds and dry them with a single-use paper towel.
• Start with clean countertops, utensils, and equipment, and make sure the slow cooker is clean.
• Keep perishable foods in the refrigerator until you are ready to add them to the slow cooker since bacteria on food quickly multiply at room temperature.
• Thaw foods such as meats and poultry in the refrigerator before placing them in the slow cooker, because defrosted food cooks evenly. Frozen food can take too much time to thaw during the cooking process, leading to unsafe bacterial growth, which can make you sick.
• Add hardy vegetables such as potatoes and carrots to the slow cooker first because they cook slower than meat and poultry. Delicate vegetables such as tomatoes and summer squash can be added toward the end of the cooking time so that they do not overcook.
• Cut large pieces of meat into smaller pieces before adding it to the slow cooker and, make sure your slow cooker is half to two-thirds full to ensure foods cook thoroughly.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also recommends measuring the temperature of foods prepared in a slow cooker before eating them. The FoodSafety.gov website gives the following temperature recommendations:

• 145°F for fresh beef, pork, veal, and lamb (steaks, roast, chops); allow a three-minute rest time after removing food from the slow cooker.
• 145°F for fish with fins.
• 160°F for eggs dishes and ground meat and meat mixtures, including beef, pork, veal, and lamb.
• 165°F for casseroles and all poultry (chicken, turkey, and duck).

Food safety experts, recommend that you avoid peeking into the slow cooker during the cooking process because removing the lid slows cooking time (Lee et al., 2020). In fact, each time you remove the lid, the internal temperature of the cooker can drop 10 to 15 degrees, adding another 30 minutes of cooking time. Only remove the lid to check the temperature for doneness.

Recipes for many favorite dishes can be converted for use with a slow cooker. Here is a straightforward process to convert recipes for use in the slow cooker (Garden-Robinson & Otto, 2021):

• Reduce liquids by one-third to one-half. This can be done because liquids do not boil away in the slow cooker. However, you do not need to reduce liquids in soup recipes.
• Add pasta at the end of cooking time. Pasta can also be cooked separately and added right before the dish is served.
• Add milk, cheese, and cream one hour before serving.
• Adapt recipe times. If the recipe says cook for 15-30 minutes, cook in the slow cooker on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 1½ to 2 hours. Recipes calling for 35-45 minutes should be cooked on low for 6-10 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Recipes requiring conventional cooking times of 50 minutes to 3 hours should be cooked on low for 8-16 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.
• Handle leftovers safely. Refrigerate leftover foods from slow cooker meals in shallow containers in the refrigerator, no more than 2 inches deep. Also, do not try to reheat cold leftovers in the slow cooker. Use either the stove, oven, or microwave to reheat foods quickly to an internal temperature of 165°F. Once the food reaches 165°F, it can be kept hot in a preheated slow cooker set on low or warm for serving.

Use a slow cooker to get an evening meal on the table quickly. This simple beef stew can be prepared in the morning, slow-cooked all day, and ready so your family can enjoy dinner as soon as they walk in the door.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

When preparing this recipe, start with clean countertops and utensils. Wash hands with soap and water. Wash whole fresh produce under cold, running water by gently rubbing garlic, onion, and celery, and scrubbing potatoes and carrots with a clean vegetable brush. Prewashed, packaged items do not require further washing.

6 servings | serving size:⅙ of recipe

Ingredients

• Two cups of unsalted beef broth
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 3 potatoes, diced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, sliced
• ¼ cup of all-purpose flour
• Ground black pepper to taste
• 1 pound stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
• Herbs as desired: dried bay leaf, basil, oregano, etc.

Directions

1. Add broth, garlic, carrots, potatoes, onion, and celery to the slow cooker.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the flour and pepper. Sprinkle half of the flour mixture over one side of the beef. Turn the beef and repeat to coat.
3. Place meat in the slow cooker on top of the vegetables. Rewash hands with soap and water after handling raw meat.
4. Add dried herbs.
5. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or high for 4 to 6 hours.
6. If using a bay leaf, remove and discard.
7. Stir stew thoroughly before serving.

Recipe adapted from U. S. Department of Agriculture. (n.d.) Slow Cooker Beef Stew. MyPlate.

References

Delgado, M. (2019, November). A brief history of the crock pot. Smithsonian Magazine.

Garden-Robinson, J., Otto, K. (2021, August). Slow cooker meals! North Dakota State University Extension.

Jeffers, M.K. (2021, August ). Cook slow to save time: four important slow cooker food safety tips. United States Department of Agriculture.

Lee., W.G., Ettwsvold, S., Jayo, C. (2020, April). Slow cooking from start to finish. Pacific Northwest Extension Publishing.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Safe minimum cooking temperatures chart. FoodSafety.gov.