This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Because I believe slow cooking is key to getting and staying slim today I’m giving away a Hamilton Beach Set & Forget 6-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker!
Before beginning my Weight Watchers friendly crock pot cooking challenge back in October 2013, I’d never really thought much about the link between losing weight and slow cooking. But the truth is, if you are trying to lose weight, your slow cooker can be your best friend.
For most of us, dinner is the meal that often derails our best intentions when it comes to weight loss.
After a long day of work, you arrive home tired and hungry. And the last thing you want to do is think about cooking dinner.
So you end up grabbing the quickest thing you can get your hands on. And it’s rarely, if ever, light and healthy!
But, with a crock pot instead of worrying all day about what to make for dinner, you know a healthy and delicious meal will be ready and waiting when you get home.
Or you can use your slow cooker on the weekends to make light and healthy meals to warm up during the week. The slow cooker/crockpot makes it easy to cook healthy, affordable meals without having to spend hours in the kitchen.
Have you heard the saying, “20 minutes in the kitchen can save you 3 hours on the treadmill (affiliate link)“?
Well, it’s true!
Why The Slow Cooker/CrockPot is an Essential Kitchen Tool for Weight Loss…
1. Makes meal planning easier. Many Weight Watchers crock pot recipes are complete one pot meals.
2. Requires planning which is critical to weight loss success. If we want to eat right and lose weight we need a plan. If we leave it to chance we’ll end up opting for high calorie convenience foods: take out, the drive-thru, fast food, the vending machine, etc.
3. Lends itself to big batch cooking and leftovers. Which can be re-purposed or portioned out for future meals.
4. Saves time in the kitchen. You can put your ingredients in the crock pot in the morning or afternoon and dinner will be ready when you want it. I love the convenience of investing a little time and then moving forward with my day, while dinner cooks, practically unattended. No pots boiling over, burned skillets and last minute rushing around to get dinner figured out.
5. Provides variety. You can make a lot more than pot roast, soup and chili in your slow cooker, as I’ve learned during the last six months. Appetizers, beverages, breakfasts, main dishes, side dishes and desserts are all possible with a slow cooker.
6. Makes cooking possible even for those with little kitchen know-how. Slow cooking is practical, realistic and very forgiving, perfect for novice cooks. Recipes tend to be straightforward with minimal ingredients and very few steps. Meals made in the slow cooker may not be the prettiest ever. But, they can be some of the tastiest.
7. Naturally Low Fat. Because crock pot cooking is a moist form of cooking it requires less fat, so you’ll save calories and points.
8. Perfect all year round. While most of us think of the slow cooker during the fall and winter, it’s the perfect summer kitchen device. I’ve received lots of comments from folks in hot climates who depend on their slow cooker all summer to avoid heating up the kitchen.
This Giveaway has ended!
The randomly selected winner is Phyllis Zumbolo. Congratulations! Please send an email to support@simple-nourished-living.com to claim your slow cooker.
Slow Cook Yourself Slim Slow Cooker Giveaway Details
TO ENTER
1. Leave a comment below answering the question, “How has the slow cooker helped you eat better and/or lose weight?”
A winner will be selected at random and announced next Sunday.
Good luck!
Hamilton Beach Set & Forget 6-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker
Notes from The SweetHome review site on the Hamilton Beach Set & Forget 6-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker: “It’s not fancy, but the intuitive interface, locking lid, and modest price have made it the best deal for your money three years running—and it’s the only slow cooker with a heat probe to monitor the doneness of roasts and other meats.”
It also was featured in this Slow Cooker Savvy Class I took recently.
I am more organized about my meal planning. Buying the products I need for several days of slow cooking so make meal preparation so much easier. Put everything in the slow cooker and let it go throughout the day and have and easy delicious meal in the evening. We usually have leftovers so may do another meal in the slow cooker for the next night and then the following night have the meal prepared a couple of days ago. It makes life so much easier.
I would love to win the slow cooker which would help me prepare weight watchers recipes while I’m working and not be tempted to grab unhealthy food when I get home. I’m signed up and ready to go!
This would be amazingly helpful on those days I work 12 hour shifts to eat and prepare food which is healthy and easy.
using a slow cooker definetly helps improve meal planning efforts. It’s always good to be able to count the points BEFORE you eat them. The slow cooker commits me to a meal and helps keep things healthy and on track
If I use my slow cooker, I am able to cook meats (like chicken breast) that can be used in recipes throughout the week. It helps me plan better and not look for a quick fix when it’s time to prepare a meal.
My biggest downfall has definitely been the timeframe between when I get home from work until dinner is ready. I will grab anything to eat because I am hungry and stressed. If I had dinner all ready in be Crock-Pot or all ready cooked and just needing to be repeated I would be golden!! I am always on pointfor breakfast, lunch and snacks since I pack them ahead of time. Dinner time can seem so overwhelming for me. It is just this danger zone!
Makes meal preparation simpler!
Starting from scratch when I arrive home to cook dinner … can I just tell you that it was not good. I always defaulted to something easy that wasn’t the best choice. Using the crockpot allows me to plan plan plan! And plan meals that help us be well nourished with foods that provide us healthy foods that feed our bodies, not “fat” our bodies! Thanks for your recipes!
I totally agree with your comment number 2 above. The planning needed to use a crock pot really helps you stay on track as opposed to throwing something together last minute. And you get that feel good smell when you walk in the door after work!
I can use it in my meal prep. By starting a healthy dish in the slow cooker, then completing other meals while it is cooking; it definitely saves me time.
My husband and I frequently eat out because it’s so late when we get home and we’re both too tired to cook a healthy meal and clean up afterwards. Consequently, our nutrition suffers. It would be a Godsend to have a slow cooker cooking our healthy meal while we are working and coming home to the wondrous smell of our healthy meal.
I would love to be able to have this slow cooker and start cooking as I need to lose weight.