Electric Cookers and the Busy Mom

Busy moms have enough to do. We all live in a world where everything is do it fast and do it now. You want to feed your kids home cooked meal instead or fast food, but there just is not time every day. Well, there is a way to feed your kids a home cooked meal no matter how short you are on time.

Cooking after work can be very unpleasant because this is the time of the day when you are the most worn down. This is not the time of day when you want to be slaving over a hot stove. You can prepare all of the ingredients a head of time when you use an electric cooker, also known as a crock pot. You just put them in the pot and then you can leave them to slow cook throughout the day. You will not have to hit the drive through because your meal will be ready when you get home.

An electric cooker is very simple and easy to use. It is a composed of a pot with a tight fitting lid that cooks food for a long time at a low temperature. Many people believe the only thing you can make in a slow cooker is stew or soup. This could not be farther from the truth. You can make tons of delicious recipes that your whole family will love. Anything you want including vegetarian entrée’s, meat entrees, soups and deserts can all be prepared while you are at work or out running errands for the day.

There are things to keep in mind when you are looking for an electric cooker to purchase. Choose one that you can remove and place on the top of the stove. When you remove the pot out of the base you can sauté your vegetables and brown meat on the stove. If the pot is removable then you can prepare all of the ingredients at night and place them in the pot in the refrigerator. This will cut down on the time you need before you get out the door in the morning.

Electric cookers normally have three settings; low, medium and high. These settings are different for each brand of electric cooker. You should try out new recipes on the weekend when you have plenty of time to keep and eye on the food. You can also monitor the settings to make sure that you meals come out perfectly. Depending on the size of your family there are different sizes of electric cooker that you can choose from. You should also remember to keep the lid on your electric cooker until your food is done. This is because it takes your electric cooker 20 minutes to regain the heat lost when you take the lid off.

Buying an Electric Cooker

When you are considering buying an electric cooker you will need to consider what you will be using it for. There are many different types of electric cookers and you have to ask yourself what you want to do with yours. There are rice cookers, crock pots (slow cookers) and toaster ovens. Each of them does a different job and has different benefits.

When you want to cook perfectly fluffy rice with out a hassle or a mess you need a rice cooker. They can be purchased in many different sizes. You can purchase a small model, good for cooking rice for one or two people, or you can buy larger models. The larger models cook between five to ten cups of cooked rice at a time. For families a five cup model is a good choice. When you have a large family or you like to host dinner parties a ten cup capacity rice cooker is what you need.

Crock pots will cook food slowly all day while you are gone. They are a good way to make a home cooked meal for your family when you are very busy. Choose a model with a removable pot. The removable pot can be placed on top of the stove to brown meat and sauté vegetables. It can also be placed in the refrigerator with all of the ingredients in it; then all you have to do in the morning is place it in the base and turn it on. The removable pot is also easier to clean. Crock pots come in many sizes and you should buy one based on the size of your family and your storage space available. If you have the space you may want to consider having more than one size for preparing different types of dishes.

Toaster ovens are a good way to replace your oven for making many things. Look for models that can heat up to 500 degrees. Another great feature is a removable and adjustable rack. The adjustable rack feature will help when you need to cook different sized items. If you can remove it, it makes clean up a breeze, too. Toaster ovens will allow you to do everything from baking a pie to roasting meat without heating up your kitchen. Convection models use hot air circulation to cook faster and more evenly. Choose the convection toaster oven to eliminate hot spots from your baked goods.