Hi. I'm Gwen and welcome to Slow Cooker Kitchen. I started using my crockpot almost 20 years ago out of sheer stubbornness...
You can stroll down to the "About Me" area to read about that journey if you'd like. It's been a great journey and just keeps getting better.
I'm still stubborn. I doubt that'll ever change after this long. But I've learned to chill out along the way too.
And here I am chilling with two of my grandbabies. They aren't really babies. But anyone that has kiddos or grands...or is one, knows what I mean 🙂
In This Article (click headings to jump)
Why Do You Need a Slow Cooker?
Slow Cooker's are just simply amazing. They can make your life sooooo much easier in the day-to-day scheme of life.
You Can Save Lots of Time
- You can make a last minute soup in under 5 minutes.
- You can plan ahead and do a bunch of freezer meals. Here's just one example of what you can do with a little planning. 30 meals in 57 minutes with these Ground Beef Crock Pot Recipes. There's also a printable grocery list.
- You can toss in a huge roast and feed your family for a week if you'd like too.
- The list goes on and on. You can see the homepage and scroll toward the bottom for a look at the possibilities 🙂
Save Some Money
Take out pizza is awesome. I'm a fan, there's no doubt. But with a little planning, you can stock a few necessities and your pocketbook will thank you. We still go out to nice meals sometimes but these Slow Cooker Ribs with all the sides are a perfect example of why you don't have to if you don't wanna.
Less Stress
I don't have kids at home anymore. But, when they were there were always after school activities, friends coming over or something else that needed to be done. They're the center of your life and they well should be in my opinion. And if you work outside the home or have little babies, that's just more stress. I can't say your crockpot will take away all the stress or anything like that, but it can sure help.
Do You Have a Special Request?
If you have a special request you'd like to see cooked OR if you have any sort of crockpoting question...just ask. No question is stupid. I may not have the answer but I am willing to say that too. Just holler, you can reach me here.here.
About Me
I’m not even sure where my first slow cooker came from. Maybe it was a gift or maybe I bought it. I simply don’t remember. I do know I never thought about using it beyond making soup or roasts back then.
Then the Oven Broke...
And not only did it break, but it broke because I decided to use the self-cleaning option. It got stuck closed. It was also 4 days past its warranty. I was sure it was something I’d done wrong. So I go online to research. Nope, I’d done nothing. Thousands of complaints about the same issue but no recall. Did I mention two of the burners went out a few days later?
So that’s when that stubbornness kicked in. It was the first new stove we’d bought. It was probably one of the first new “anythings” we’d purchased honestly. So when my hubby offered to buy me another stove I told him adamantly no… I’m still not sure why but I did.
What was I thinking? Here I was a full-time college student with two part-time jobs, a spouse and two kids to feed. And now a stove with two burners, no oven and refusing a new one.
One of My 1st & Well Used Crock Pots!
But I had that dusty old slow cooker. I fished that fella out and sat down with a few cookbooks. And that’s where this journey begins.
I'm not sure if this is the first slow cooker I've owned. But it's pretty close!
18 Years Later...Here's What We Had...
I say had because they've evolved since this collage too! Sadly, I don’t have that old dusty crockpot anymore. It lived a long, well used life and has since been replaced by several others.
It’s sorta a joke and a mild addiction too.
I'll get around to a newer picture one of these days 🙂
Where We Are Now...
I also finished school and raised those two kids. They grew up...HOW does that happen so quick?...and they have their own spouses and kiddos now too.
So yep, I'm a grannie 🙂 I also still have the spouse and we live on a farm in Indiana.
Pst… I love gardening and animals too.
We also travel a lot for his work and live out of an RV when we do. Several of my slow cookers, my (sorta) new Instant Pot and my Carey Electric pressure cooker all travel with us.
That collage above is a bit older. And I'll get that updated one of these days. But right now it's winter and I don't have any pretty flowers to add to it. Hopefully this Spring 🙂 But I digress. And I have both sad and happy news there...
Like I said, that collage is outdated. And we do still have the farm and not much there has changed. But sadly, animals don't live as long as people. So everyone in that image has passed.
Happily, they all had long, good lives before they crossed the rainbow bridge. And after several months of mourning, we adopted two new fur-babies.
They now travel with us while hubs is working on the road. And we go back to the farm as often as possible so we're able to see those grandbabies too!
That's it about me and about the goals for Slow Cooker Kitchen. Or that's all I can think of at the moment.
