They might look the same as they always have, but crock pots have really changed.

There is nothing to compare with the satisfaction and comfort of a home cooked meal. How can you provide a full meal for your hungry family every day? It’s really hard to do.

With the changing schedules a modern household has to endure, it hard to shop for food let alone make meals everyday, especially dinners. The old reliable crock pot or slow cooker has saved many a night with an easy meal. Though they have been around for decades, they have undergone updates and still save you money and time.

Today’s health findings have shown that food should be cooked faster than it used to be in older crock pots. You don’t want to have food cooking for 6 to 8 hours at low temperatures anymore. Vegetables and meats keep their flavor better if cooked faster at a higher temperature.

Programmable crock pots are everywhere these days making it easy to prepare stews, roasts or even barbecued meats with a little more heat and less time. The programmable timers allow you to set them to start cooking at the right time for your specific recipe. This makes meal preparation a snap

You can still use you old tried and true Rival crock pot, but there are many new models to choose from now. The newer programmable crock pots come in various sizes from very small, individual slow cookers to large roasters capable of cooking full size turkeys or roasts.

Here are some ways of using a crock pot to save time and money:

- Crock pots save energy using less electricity than ovens and no gas at all unlike ranges.

- They generate almost no ambient heat leaving the kitchen cool on warm days.

- You already put time and energy into making dinner before you even turned on the crock pot.

- Slow cooking renders cheaper cuts of meat tender and flavorful, saving you money.

- Foods cook in their own juices adding more flavor.

- Water is saved because steam is generated during crock pot cooking.

- Prep work is reduced by cutting vegetables, adding liquid meat and spices, turning on the unit and walking away.

- After cooking for hours, your food will still be moist and flavorful.

- Only one pot to clean after the meal is over.

- Large families or big parties can be fed with only one large crock pot.

So if you want to have simple and quick alternative to the long and involved process of making the family dinner everyday, try the new generation slow cooker, the programmable crockpot. You can make all kinds of food in this versatile kitchen appliance quickly and easily. You save time and money making great tasting soups, stews, roasts, curries, chili, casseroles even deserts like bread puddings and custards. You are only limited by your imagination.

Give it a try. Remember, it’s not your mother’s crockpot anymore.