Slow cooking is an age-old method of simmering food over low heat for several hours. This slow and gentle cooking process has many benefits that include tenderizing tougher cuts of meat to infusing dishes with more flavour than classical cooking methods. Slow cooking allows you to save money by using cheaper cuts of meat that still turn out delicious because this cooking method brings out the maximum flavour. 

Slow-cooked meals are generally healthier because they retain their nutrients better than other methods like boiling or frying. Plus, slow-cooked meals are great for cooking ahead because they require little input once you have prepared the ingredients, making them great for large or busy families. All in all slow cooking is an excellent way to create hearty and flavorful meals without spending too much time or effort. 

Today, we will explore the benefits of slow cooking, and share tips to make sure you get the most out of your dishes. By the time you have finished reading this, you will be wondering how you ever lived without your slow cooker. 

Why slow cook? 

There are several reasons why you may want to consider slow-cooking some of your meals. Here are some examples: 

  1. It will save you money 
  2. It will save you time 
  3. You can produce a lot more food with the same ingredients 
  4. It takes less effort
  5. You can plan and make food in bulk 
  6. It is healthier
  7. Slow cooking brings out more intense flavours
  8. It’s harder to make mistakes when compared to regular cooking 
  9. Slow-cooked meals are great for weight management 

It will save you money

Normally, we would recommend choosing only the finest cuts of meat for your cooking – life is too short to compromise and it gets much shorter if you don’t get your diet in gear. But, with slow cooking, even the cheaper cuts of meat produce a glorious meal that is packed with flavour and nutrition. 

That’s because the cheaper cuts tend to be the tough meat options like the shoulders and shanks, and other working muscles. Regular cooking often leaves them chewy and less enjoyable, but slow cooking tenderises them, making them as soft as your prime cuts. That’s just one of the ways that slow cooking saves you money. 

The biggest ingredient by volume in any stew is water. A stew is essentially a soup with bulk. The advantage of stews is two-fold: the water absorbs a lot of the flavour, nutrients, and calories, especially as far as fat is concerned (don’t be alarmed, animal fat is good for you). This means that you will get more energy from eating a stew containing meat and veg than if you simply cooked and ate the meat and veg normally. Just think, every time fat drips or is drained from meat that is being regularly cooked, you are losing flavour and calories. 

Also, eating soup makes you feel full quicker and for longer because the volume in the water causes your tummy to expand, which triggers the release of a hormone called leptin that signals satiety (that you are full) to your brain. With stews, you have the best of both liquid and solid volume, so your meals and money go much further. Also, you don’t have to worry about those extra fat calories because you will feel full before you get to eat them. 

It will save you time

Unlike ordinary cooking methods, you don’t have to worry about having to cook ingredients separately because of the different speeds at which they cook. You don’t have to worry about overcooking something and making it inedible, or undercooking it and making yourself sick. You also don’t have to worry about the presentation of your meal.

Just chop all the ingredients into sizeable chunks, put them into your slow cooker, add some water, and you can leave it for several hours, even overnight. What would normally take you over an hour, can be achieved in as little as 15 minutes, without compromising the quality of your meal. 

This is great if you have kids, a busy work schedule, or have to pop out for a few hours and won’t have time to come back home and cook. Slow cooking is a blessing for busy parents. 

You can cook a lot more food with the same ingredients

Take your typical ingredients, say a leg of lamb, two potatoes, an onion, and some celery and carrots. Normally, you glaze and season them, put them in the oven and you’ll have a meal for one or two people. Put those same ingredients into a slow cooker with some water (after chopping them into smaller pieces, of course), and now you have a meal for 4-6. This is another way that slow cooking saves time and money. 

It requires less effort 

Cooking your favourite meal often requires your full attention for the duration. It sometimes means preparing different ingredients in different ways and cooking them at different times. You may have to return to flip them, stir them, or recoat them with your favourite sauce or glaze, just to make sure that it doesn’t dry out and the flavour is at its highest. 

With slow cooking, there is no such requirement. Once you have chopped your ingredients and added them into your slow cooker with water and your favourite herbs and spices, you can go outside, get a tan, trampoline, visit some friends, go-kart, or all of the above, before coming home to a deliciously cooked meal. 

You can even forget about it and be reminded that you don’t have to cook once you return to the delicious smell of your home stew. Try that with any other type of cooking method and you risk burning your house down. Just so we are clear, we are not saying to try that, please don’t. 

You can plan ahead

One of the best things about slow cooking your meals is that it allows you to make plans and stick to them. We know of no other cooking method that provides you with so much flexibility and with so much flavour and nutrition. 

As we said, you can prepare this in the morning before you head out for work, or at night before you go to bed. Either way, slow cooking makes meal times something that you don’t have to worry about.

If you are into meal-prepping, slow cooking is a godsend. You can make 4-6 meals each round of cooking to keep you full when you’re on the move. 

It is healthier

Society is becoming more health conscious and there is no better place to start than with our diet. Sometimes we forget that eating is not just a leisure activity based on flavour and enjoyment and we overlook our nutritional needs. 

Fortunately, slow cooking offers the best of both. When you use regular cooking methods like frying, grilling, boiling or roasting, you lose a lot of nutritional value. This is because those methods expose the ingredients to a lot of high heat that either compromises their minerals, or the minerals escape in the liquids they are being cooked in (oil or water), or when the fat leaks. Remember, fat carries fat-soluble vitamins that your body needs. 

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Must read: Animal fats, friend not foe

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When you boil ingredients, many of the vitamins are left in the water that you discard. You have probably read about gardeners that save that water to feed their plants. With slow cooking, the low heat preserves the minerals and vitamins, which remain in the water and some are reabsorbed. This means that you get the nutritional benefit of the ingredients when you eat the stew and its soup-like water. 

Slow cooking brings out more intense flavours

When it comes to flavour, slow is best. 

Slow cooking turns even the toughest cuts of meat into delicious dishes, where the meat just melts away from the bone. That’s because the low heat softens the muscle fibres and connective tissues by turning them into soft gelatin that is rich in flavour and nutrition. Another benefit of slow cooking is that the low temperature allows the meat to retain its natural moisture, which is packed with flavour. 

Speaking of bones, they are packed with flavour too, but traditional cooking methods do not utilise this reserve to its full capacity. The low temperature and high duration of cooking causes the bones to soften and sweat their rich flavours, which are absorbed by the water carrying them. The same is true of vegetables. 

The soup-like water becomes an elixir of intense flavour that brings a party of wonder to your taste buds.   

It’s harder to make mistakes when compared to regular cooking

There is no denying it, we have all made the mistake of turning the oven heat too high; leaving something in the oven for too long; or, simply letting something cook on the outside, only for the inside to be somewhat raw. It’s more than embarrassing, it is disappointing – especially if you have guests. 

With slow cooking, there is no such issue. The longer you leave it (within reason) the better. You don’t have to rush back and forth to check on it, you just need enough time to let it work its magic. We recommend 6-8 hours, and if you have the chance to let the food sit overnight, even better. That’s because the meat will reabsorb some of the flavours and the cooling process somehow intensifies the taste. 

 Slow-cooked meals are great for weight management 

Slow-cooked meals are a great option if you are trying to get into shape. 

Firstly, they make you feel fuller quicker and for longer. Planning your meals also means that you are less likely to steer off course and eat something that conflicts with your weight goals. You will get more nutrition and calories from a smaller portion, than from eating regular dishes, but remember that you will feel full sooner, so there is little risk of overeating. 

Stews are great for hydration too, and if you are hydrated you are less likely to overeat. Above all else, slow cooking lets you cook in bulk, so a single meal prep will have you sorted for 5-6 meals, which helps you stay in control of your diet, which is probably the hardest part of any diet plan. 

Final thoughts on slow cooking   

All in all, there is no real downfall to slow cooking, except for the fact that it takes time, but it is called slow cooking for a reason, so there is no argument there. 

You can save as much as four times the spend of a regular dish, owing to the cheaper cuts and getting a meal that is twice the size it would have been. It has more flavour and more nutrition than a regular dish, and you don’t even have to be home while it’s cooking. 

If you haven’t asked yourself already, perhaps it’s time now, ‘how did you ever live without slow cooking before now?’. 

At Halal Origins, we provide the highest-quality organic ingredients that make for a perfect slow-cooked meal. Whether you like lamb, beef, or chicken, we have everything that you need. 

All of our meat is sourced from local farms that take great care of their animals. The animals live on a grass-fed diet that is rich in clovers and flowers, which brings out the best flavour in their meat. All of the animals are reared for at least 80 days, which lets their muscles reach full maturity. 

Order your favourite organic meat before 3 pm today and we will deliver it in time for dinner tomorrow. You will be glad that you did.