Lockdown Dinners: Let your slow-cooker do all the work
Our newest team member, dietitian Katrina Shepherd shares the latest from her kitchen.
While being in lockdown many of us have been experimenting in the kitchen and trying new recipes. It got me thinking about how there are so many ways to cook a meal, but too often we get stuck in our ways of cycling between a few recipes, and only using cooking techniques we are comfortable with. On week nights in our house we are all about quick and easy dinners for the two of us, so most meals are cooked on the stove-top in less than 20 minutes. Of course there is nothing wrong with sticking to what you know and keeping it simple, but day after day it can feel quite repetitive (especially when you notice you’re washing up the exact same pot, pan and wooden spoon every single night). In light of this, we decided to change it up a bit and dust off the old slow cooker/crock pot – plus as the evenings are getting colder, salads just aren’t cutting it right now.
It’s safe to say, after cooking just two meals in one week with my slow cooker, I am re-converted and have got my creative cooking flare back. Here are a few benefits of slow cooking:
Slow cookers are extremely versatile. You can do so much with this one appliance including cooking stews, soups and casseroles in them (some have even made cookie dough in them).
They are super easy to use. Anything where you flick a switch and it cooks (toaster, sandwich press, rice cooker) are welcomed in my house. You don’t need any fancy skills to use a slow cooker so you can sit back and let it do all the work.
Morning prep = easy dinners. If you can spare 10-15 minutes in the morning to chop veges and meal prep, you will thank yourself later. After a busy day sometimes the last thing you feel like doing is cooking, so knowing you’ve already put the work in earlier means you can do a big sigh of relief when 5 o’clock rolls around.
One of most underrated benefits of slow cooking is that your kitchen will smell delicious. There’s nothing better than walking in the door after a long day and being greeted by not only a cooked dinner, but also a delicious, mouth-watering aroma. If you are working from home during this lockdown, pop the slow cooker on in the morning and enjoy the smell all day. Yum!
Easy clean-up. If you’ve washed your meal prep utensils in the morning, you will have the delight of only needing to wash one cooking item; your slow-cooker pot - hooray!
When deciding on a cut of meat to use, it’s important to choose something that you know will become meltingly tender when cooked low and slow. Here are some of our favourite beef and lamb cuts you could try.
BEEF CUTS
LAMB CUTS
As mentioned above, slow cookers are extremely versatile so you have endless possibilities. Here are a few of our all-time favourite slow cooker recipes. You might notice that some recipes recommend browning the meat first; you can do that, or you can just pop it in your slow cooker as is.
Between lockdown and winter being on the way, now is the perfect time to get your slow cookers out and start experimenting. To learn more about slow cooking click here and be sure to check out more of our casserole/slow cook recipes.