A crock pot or a slow cooker is your best friend if you are a busy person.
Not a lot of people today can afford to spend a lot of their time in the kitchen , right?
We all have our jobs and other chores for which we need to make time .
More often than not , people of the corporate world complain that 24 hours a day is not sufficient for them .
However , this does not mean that you can not experience good food . Food delivery options and take outs are good , but as a popular Indian saying says “Ghar ke khaane ki baat hi kuch aur hai” which roughly translates to there is really something special about the food made at home .
So what is the solution ?
Well , for starters , you can leave your food to be cooked in your crock pot and return home during your lunch break and be welcomed to an absolute feast . Any food cooked in the crockpot does not just retains it’s juice but also it’s nutritional values and it’s richness in flavour .
Now , considering that you have read this article so far , and hoping that you have a slow cooker or a crock pot in your kitchen , let me tell you how much electricity does it use .
The amount of electricity used by a crock pot or a slow cooker depends on three important factors :
- What are you cooking : This is quite a common factor , isn’t it ? The structure of the meat , or the vegetable , is one of the most important things to consider . It generally takes more time for meat to be cooked properly as compared to a vegetable . It is also important not to over cook anything . By doing that , you ensure that whatever goes inside your mouth , feels like heaven .
- How long are you cooking it for : Time taken to cook different products varies . The more time you have the crock pot on , the higher is your electricity bill .
- Is water involved in the recipe : Water helps up in heating the food . Usually , water is only added if said in the recipe , else not . It is believed that water in crock pots slow down the heating process and therefore , the food takes more time to be heated or cooked .
- Setting of the crock pot : If you own a crock pot you would know this and if you haven’t bought one , it is important that you know that there are two settings in a crock pot :
- LOW TEMPERATURE ( 200 F ) : This feature is used to cook food for 8 hours or 10 hours . This feature in general would save you more energy than time .
- HIGH TEMPERATURE ( 300 F ) : This feature is used to cook food for 4 hours or 6 hours . If you have to host a quick fest for 8 to 10 people in a three – four hour notice , use this setting . It will save you time but at the expense of energy and electricity wastage .
Now , that we know about the factors which affect the amount of electricity used , it’s time to break the ice .
A slow cooker or a crock pot use 120 volts of A.C. (alternating current) which ranges from 0.6 amperes to 2 amperes and consume electricity that ranges from 70 watts ( low temperature setting) to 250 watts ( high temperature setting ) .
Let us say that you use an average sized slow cooker which has 180 watt power on low setting and 250 watt power on high setting .
And assuming you will be using it for 8 hours a day , it will take around 2000 watts which can be bit of a burden for you , but who doesn’t prefer quality , right ?
Some advice ?
It is advisable to use it in the low temperature settings to save some money !
Crock-Pot slow cookers are energy efficient, only using between 75 and 150 watts of electricity on LOW and between 150 and 210 watts on HIGH.
It cooks all day but only uses the same amount of energy as a standard light bulb/