Or curries, or pot roasts, or…

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll know that I have more than a passing fancy for my slow cooker. It sits there on my work top, bubbling and hissing away, and sending aroma streams that have the attention of my nose in a manner that reminds me of those old ‘Ah, Bisto…’ ads from yesteryear. Today, I am going to turn leftover roast pork loin into something rustic, aromatic, nutritious and delicious.

But just generally, here are 10 reasons why slow cookers are so magical from a nutritional, culinary, and financial perspective:

1. Because of the slow cooking method, more nutrients are retained in the cooking process than other, harsher methods, and fewer potentially carcinogenic acrylamides are formed, unlike high-temperature cooking. So it’s a very healthy way to cook all round!
2. To borrow a phrase – it is ‘culinary alchemy’. As the cooking process is much longer, flavours and aromatics like garlic and herbs deepen, infusing the dish with layer upon layer of complexity that hits the taste buds like a palate-delighting train. And if you have enough for the next day, those flavours will likely intensify further.
3. The wafting scents from your cooker help to stimulate gastric and other digestive juices, making digestion more efficient, and thus extracting maximal nutrients from your food. There’s a reason why having a plastic wrapped sandwich for lunch is so unappetising. The smells are the first part of the digestive process – that’s why your tummy rumbles when you’re hungry!
4. It’s the ultimate in batch cooking, meaning it’s an economically wise choice, and saves time on other days when you can just reach for your leftovers.
5. Tough-as-old-boots meat will melt in the mouth after several hours simmering in the pot. Meaning you can skimp on cost but not, ultimately, in flavour and pleasure.
6. It’s just the thing for these colder, damper, shorter days – a comforting bowl of stew is a hard thing to beat when you come home from work or a long walk in the mud with your dog. A slow cooked curry is another hug-in-a-dish favourite.
7. It’s versatile. Yes, stew. Yes, curry. But also risotto! Or even to cook a whole chicken, or make a fruit cobbler. You can even mull wine in it – yes, I am thinking ahead. What’s not to like?
8. Even though you’ve put it together yourself, you can leave it on a ‘low’ setting pretty much all day, safe in the knowledge it will not burn your house down, and then come back home to some seriously divine aromas and imagine someone else is in the kitchen, making you a lovely meal.
9. There’s one pot to clean and that’s it! Giving you more time for… anything else.
10. Slow cookers use the same amount of energy as a light bulb, making them a very low-cost way to prepare food.

All in all, slow cooking is the way to go for busy people who like nutritious, cost-effective and comforting food. Enjoy! If you have a favourite slow cooked meal, I’d love to hear about it – comment below. And if this has got your taste buds working in anticipation but you’d like to know more about how to use food to optimise your health, please message me at jop.naturalnutrition@gmail.com to start that discussion and book your FREE discovery call today.