Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Using My Crockpot

Here is one of my all-time favorite ways to save time and energy in the kitchen: using crock pot liners or roasting bags in my crock pot.


I tell you what, I do not like to wash dishes, especial large pots or pans or crock pots that require a lot of scrubbing. Ick! And ouch! It hurts my fingers and hands to scrub. So, I use liners for my crock pot and there is nothing to scrub. Did you know that using a crock pot will save energy too? Yes it’s one of the most economical ways to cook. And who doesn’t like coming home to the aroma of a delicious meal at the end of the day.

I have seen several blogs that are now posting about making your own freezer crock pot meals. Making my own freezer crock pot meal is something I would have to do because I can’t really eat anything that has been processed at all. Something I have wanted to try for a while is preparing several crock pot meals and freezing them in a crock pot liner that is then placed in a Ziploc bag, so all I would have to do it take it from the freezer and Ziploc and place it in the crock pot. I don’t know why I haven’t tried that yet. It seems like it would be a good idea. I suppose you would have to make sure the meal would fit into the crock pot in its frozen state so I would need to be careful about the size and shape it froze in to.

At clean up time, all I would need to do is remove the liner and I would be done! Woo hoo! I have used oven roasting bags in my crock pot too. I closed it up with the raw food inside just as if I was putting it in the oven but put it in my crock pot instead.  
Once, I cooked a pork roast in the crock pot using a roasting bag, closed it up according to the directions, and used a meat thermometer positioned so I could read it through the closed bag and crock pot lid.  I have found that Wal-Mart is about the cheapest place to buy them at less than half of what my favorite grocery charges. With a coupon you would only be spending pennies per use. You will save more money because you won’t be getting take out with a meal waiting for you at home.

Wow that sounded like a commercial and it was not; I did not receive any sort of compensation for writing this.  I only hope it helps you out in the kitchen as much as it has me. Have you ever used a crock pot liner to freeze a meal in then placed it still frozen in the crock pot? How did it turn out?
***Quiz.....did you notice that I used the words...'crock pot' a lot? I surely did! Can you count how many times? The answer will follow in the comments here on Friday. Just having some fun!

If you are reading this any other place than Family Home and Life then this post was used without permission. Copyright© Family Home and Life 2012 All Rights Reserved

11 comments:

  1. I use these bags a lot too. I stocked up on them last year with coupons and now cleaning is a breeze!

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    1. I'm really bad about looking for and using coupons. But I stock up on sales.

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  2. I think it's time to get my crock pot out. It's been quite a while. I'll have to look for these bags. I've never used them but they sound like a good idea to me. Thanks for the tip. Wish I knew what I was serving for dinner.

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    1. I love it, no mess and doesn't heat up the house.

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  3. I shall have to try this. I have not used my crock pot too much lately. I don't know why--maybe I got tired of scrubbing.

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    1. I found that the scrubbing was keeping me from using mine. Not now :)

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  4. 23 crock pots if you include the title? Do I win a frozen dinner?! I had never thought about doing that and you brought up a good point, you have to make sure you freeze it in a shape that will go back in the pot! I have 3 crock pots of differing sizes and I love and use them all!

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    1. Haha! I counted them and came up with less, however, there is a keyboard trick I just learned to use and I used it here and had a different count. You press Ctrl and F at the same time and a litte search box pops up at the top. Enter the word you are searching for and walla! Your word is highlighted and they give you a count! Kc, you knew that though didn't you? Sorry, no prize :(

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    2. Yes, there are 23 crock pots :)

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  5. It is simple to freeze your meal in a plastic bag, then let it thaw overnight, pour into the crock pot in the morning, plus you eliminate any concern about food thawing while cooking and the temp not being completely safe.

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    1. Thanks for the comment and the great info! I had not thought about the foods being at a dangerous temp while thawing during cooking. Great point! Thanks for visiting, hope you will be back :)

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