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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.
On those super busy days I can set dinner in the crock pot instead of running through the drive through when everyone is grumpy and hungry. Walk in the door and smell the yummy goodness!
Drive thru is fast, but by the time I’m home the food is cold. Slow cooking makes for a hot meal as soon as I’m in the door. Much better!!!
You and your recipes have literally saved me on my weight loss journey. I have been so fortunate to have found you as a resource. There is so much variety in your offerings that I attribute your recipes to my success. Thank you for all of your hard work and for sharing your story with us. The first week I made so many different soups that I had to freeze some so I packaged them in serving sizes and now can defrost exactly what I want on any particular day.
The slow cooker has been a life saver for me. It helps with meal prep, saving time in the kitchen, and helping me eat healthier! I often plan a date with family or friends to make several crockpot meals in advance. My husband and I have joked about using an outlet timer to help with cook times in the crockpot so this would be a safer alternative!! Love the site!! Off to go make salsa verde chicken in the crockpot!
I have struggled with 64 pounds and have lost it 3 times. I tried frozen dinners and did get the weight off that way. Then one day I heated one up and couldn’t even tolerate the smell of it. I couldn’t eat it and it resulted in going back to foods that put the weight back on. Then as Weight Watchers changed to eating less processed foods and eating healthier, along with not being able to even look at frozen food, I purchased a slow cooker. Just a small one to see if I would even use it. I started eating healthy, the smell in my home was wonderful and the weight came off again. Unlike with the frozen dinners, I can keep making new recipes and continue to eat healthy and keep the weight off. I would love to get the bigger one and cook more in advance (larger portions) so we continue this journey!
Although I love weight watchers smart ones meals it gets boring after so many and the way I work I don’t feel like cooking when I get home so with this I could set it to cook and not worry about leaving it on when I’m at work.would make meal planning slot easier.
It’s an easy way to get a great low calorie dinner on the table when you are very busy during the day.
Such an easy way to eat healthy. Put lots of veggies into the crock pot in the morning with meat or beans and a healthy meal will be ready hours later.
My sister and I have made a commitment to tackle our weight issues ! I am a new member to your site and I gotta say it’s just what we needed to get rolling. Your recipes take the tedious work out of trying to figure out what to eat. We are doing WW online as both of our schedules are not conducive to the meeting scheduled. Yesterday we spent the afternoon picking out your recipes, and completed grocery shopping. Today we started with 2 chicken dishes and a soup. We will be cooking for the week, we sure could use another crock pot !! We’re still trying to get the hang of the Smart Points system !!! very different for us. We both find crock pot cooking encourages us to “eat” for one thing !! as we both are very bad at disciplining ourselves to eat in a timely manner.When we get home we’re tired !!! not that we’re any different than anyone else of course. But when the blood sugar drops watch out sweets !!!!
The crockpot is a lifesaver for me! I’m disabled and can no longer spend much time in the kitchen prepping and cooking meals like I used to do. That’s where the crockpot does so much for me. I can load the entree and one or two vegetables with it and the slow cooker does all the work! I may have to cook some cauliflower rice or quinoa or brown rice or pasta to round out the meal but that’s all! I’m able to make a few meals at a time so it saves wear and tear on me. It also saves on clean up! I wouldn’t be able to eat as well as I do without my crockpot.