How to cook the best one-person slow cooker. -- Ezine

How Do I Choose the Best Slow Cooker for Me?

As a single person, I needed to find the best one-person slow cooker. While many people will tell you to purchase the biggest slow cooker you can get your hands on, you'll quickly discover that they're not cooking for just one person and don't understand the challenges of cooking for one.

The factors you should consider in a one-person slow cooker are:

• Size
• Budget
• Shape
• Features

I believe the best slow cooker for one person is a 3.5-liter slow cooker that has the following features:

• Oval shape
• On/off light
• Well-known brand
• One step up from the entry-level slow cooker

As a single person living alone in a fairly small space, I've carefully evaluated what I believe single people should consider when buying their first slow cooker. See how I came to this conclusion below!

What Is the Best Size for a One-Person Slow Cooker?

The two basic questions you need to answer to determine the optimal slow cooker size for are:

1. Do you have a freezer?
2. If you do, is it large?

If you have a freezer, you can start looking at larger slow cooker options because you can preserve meals in single portions to eat over the span of a few months. If you don't have a freezer, your options are limited because you have to eat what you cook within 3-4 days of the day a dish is made.

In the United States, slow cooker sizes are often measured in quarts. In the UK, they are measured in liters. The terms "quarts" and "liters" when comparing slow cooker sizes are almost interchangeable because they're so similar in size.

Quart to Liter Conversions

• 1 quart = 1.1 liters
• 1 quart = 2 pints
• 1 litre = 1.75 pints
• 1.5 quarts = 1.7 liters

The Best Slow Cooker for Someone Without A Freezer

If you don't have a freezer, the best slow cooker size has to be a 1.5-quart vessel. This size will provide food for 2-3 meals, depending on how large you like your portions. While you can make smaller food portions that fit in your fridge, you may need to adjust some ingredient quantities, especially with canned goods. You could find that an adjusted recipe leaves you with several half-used cans of tomatoes, soup, or vegetables that you need to work into other dishes before they go bad!

Having to rework recipes and use up canned food was the main reason I waited to get another slow cooker after I bought a freezer. Life becomes easier if you have one, but even then a single person may have to share a freezer or only have a small one. It's unlikely you'd have unlimited freezer space and an extra chest freezer in the garage!

The Best Slow Cooker for Someone With A Freezer

For the stated reasons, I believe the best slow cooker for one person is a 3.5-liter slow cooker. This size allows for the most flexibility, and you have more choices because this specific size opens up the slow cookers options on the market.

With a 3.5 liter slow cooker, you can make a strategic four-portion meal. You have one to eat, one to stash in the fridge for later, and two to pop into the freezer. A slow cooker this size enables you to feed any visitors that may come round. Even if you host a dinner once every two years, you'll know you can make enough food to feed 3-4 people. It's meal planning made easy!

Source

Budget and Features

After you've determined the slow cooker size you should get for your needs, the next factors to consider are budget and features. If this is your first slow cooker, you don't want to drop a lot of money or choose an over-complicated machine, at least not until you've nailed the basics. I figured it was a good idea to stick with popular brands and to buy a slow cooker that was one level up from an entry level slow cooker. This gave me a fixed budget to use.

What's essential in a slow cooker?

• Shape
• Power and wattage
• On/off light
• Auto and warm features

I'll share my thoughts on each feature below.

Slow Cooker Shape

Slow cookers come in two basic shapes:

• Round
• Oval

The advantage of an oval slow cooker is that you can roast a whole joint. To be honest, I think this ability falls mostly into the family meal, not the single person's meal. At the same time, I did want to be able to cook oblong-shaped dishes! I concluded that an oval cooker would give me the most flexibility and went this route.

Round slow cookers are also useful! You can make cakes in a slow cooker, and it's easier to see if the entire cake is cooked while preventing the outside edges from burning. However, you can also do this in an oval slow cooker by placing the batter in a round cake tin to put inside the slow cooker!

Whatever size or shape slow cooker you choose, you can work with different dishes to cook two things at the same time or cook something in a particular shape.

Power and Wattage

I didn't consider the wattage as a major deciding factor. Slow cookers use about 160-250 watts compared to an oven's 2000-3000 watts. Typically, a 3.5-liter slow cooker will be 200 watts. It doesn't operate at this temperature all the time. It'll use 200 watts when set to high heat until it reaches the right temperature. After that, it just turns on or off to maintain the food temperature. If you're using your slow cooker on low, then it'll use even less.

With a slow cooker, you are only heating the one pot, which is why it uses less energy overall to operate. It's effectively a "heated simmering saucepan or casserole dish". As a single person, you can see how using a slow cooker has its benefits over running an entire oven for 1-2 hours to cook a casserole. You can save even more money if you use meat because you can use cheaper cuts for casseroles and stews. The long cooking process in a slow cooker enables the meat to break down and become tender.

On/Off Light

I decided an on/off light was an essential feature. If you're in a fixed routine and you fill your slow cooker and turn it on and off whenever you want, that's great. However, when you have a thousand other things to do, an on/off indicator is useful because:

• If you fill the slow cooker and intend to turn it on, a red light staying off will remind you it's not on.
• If the slow cooker's on, the red light indicates that the pot is hot, potentially preventing you from touching it and getting surprised.

It's that neat feature that I think is important. It's handy to be able to look across the room and see if the machine on or off instead of having to go to it to check. It's a small benefit, but I think it's a useful one. We're all forgetful at least once, and this light could save you the one time you are!

Auto and Warm Features

There are just two other features for entry-level slow cookers that are worth mentioning: auto and warm.

Auto: An auto setting will cook the food on high for the first hour then automatically turn it down to the low setting. This is handy but isn't usually available in lower-end models. As a rule of thumb, a dish will cook two times faster on high than it would on low, so if you have to run it entirely on low when following a recipe that says to use auto, then just add an hour to the cooking time.

Warm: A warm setting enables you to use the slow cooker to keep food warm once the dish has finished cooking. While handy if it's available, it's usually not a "must-have" feature. I will choose a slow cooker that has this setting if it's available, but it's certainly not going to be a necessity for me. My food needs are to cook food and then eat it!

A Final Overview

Cooking for your family is entirely different from cooking for yourself on a daily basis. Families tend to have larger kitchens, more storage space, bigger freezers, and a more abundant pantry of ingredients they can use for the occasional times they cook for one person. They also use up their leftovers more quickly than a single person! If you're cooking for one and make six portions, that means you have to eat that meal six times. A family that does this can either eat it all in one meal or split it into two 3-portion meals accompanied by a few side dishes.

If you're cooking for one, want the best slow cooker, and have a small freezer, here are a few reminders of what to consider:

• A 3.5-liter slow cooker is probably the best size to buy.
• An oval slow cooker will give you the most flexibility.
• An on/off light is really handy!
• Stick with well-known brands that have good warranties.
• Don't get side-tracked and go over your budget for new, fancy, features.
• Stick with what you know you'll need and use!

https://delishably.com/cooking-equipment/Best-Slow-Cooker-for-One-Person

A sneeze post-- Themed post on food

This sneeze post will direct you to the archives of posts I have selected these because I consider them to most beneficial for me reading to gain insight and material thinking on how to go about cooking at home and being aware of healthy foods to consumer. That is if you are into eating healthy. For those cheat day junk eaters I have some material on that as well.

Here is a link to my healthy eating rant. I enjoyed this post because I truly belief eating healthy is a good way of life and to a better living situation.
http://hometimerecipes.blogspot.com/2018/03/healthy-eating-rant.html


I remember my Gordon Ramsey interview. He give good insight to his way of cooking for his family at home. I surprised he finds the time to do so in the first place!
http://hometimerecipes.blogspot.com/2018/03/gordon-ramsey-interview.html


This post I wanted to get across the specs of  a healthy diet vs a junk food diet. Hopefully this help some reader realize how much junk is really in the food you consume. Allow me to reiderate that a healthy life style stems from a healthy diet.
http://hometimerecipes.blogspot.com/2018/03/healthy-diets-to-junk-diets-comparison.html


My profile on Martha was an interesting post and one that has left me and my reading regarding Martha as a personal guru in the cooking word and someone to look up to. I hope you learn a little about Martha's success story and accomplishments in the culinary world.
http://hometimerecipes.blogspot.com/2018/03/martha-stewart-profile.html


I really put some effort into this post since I love to visit the farmers market and contribute to home town grown farmers from Illinois.
http://hometimerecipes.blogspot.com/2018/02/why-you-should-consider-farmers-markets.html

Hypothetical post

This "what if" post is on creating ideas for strange combinations of food, the unusual but seemingly delicious food dishes. I will list a talk about some strange food combinations that might not be too bad, so suggestions have come from reddit pages.

What if...

• ...you dipped strawberries in sour cream?
• ...put peanut butter on your hot dog? 
• ...peanut butter and avocado sandwich? 
• ..Salami and strawberry jam?
• .. Peanut butter and bacon on a Montreal style poppy seed bagel. 
• This one sound absolutely delicious to me. 
• .. Grilled cheese with mustard. Not the yellow watery kind, but the real Dijon Mustard. 
• I enjoy ketchup and BBQ sauce, but I haven't tried that one just yet.. hmm
• ..Pouring salt into your tea.
• This one might be an old Chinese secrete if i'm one to ask..
• ..Hot sauce on top of ice cream
• ah yes, combining spicy and icy. classic
• Crab flavored cupcakes, &
• Old bay crab seasoned with everything
• apparently that's what goes on in Boston. 
• A vanilla frosty with Wendy's fries
• This one brings back childhood. 
• Chocolate cookies and mashed up into applesauce.
• I could go for some of that right now
• Honey and Chicken nuggets (preferably from McDonalds)
• yet another throw back
• Pickel juice and a shot of Jamo
• That will get the night started
• Cottage Cheese and Srircahi
• This one, my roommate does... no comment
• Ranch on pizza
• some people really don't like this, not sure why
• 
  

Is Pineapple allowed to be on pizza? Debate post

This debate of weather or not pineapple is acceptable on pizza is arguably the most divisive food-related debate. Pizza eaters of all kinds of toppings always seem to argue over pineapple the most. Regardless, pineapple may be one of the top ten most considered pizza toppings.
  To reach a conclusion to this debate and decide on a winning side, the question should be answered by a conglomeration of professional chefs.
The simple pizza topping has been a source of contention among family, friends, and society. Today, I will try to make an understanding of the two sides, and bring them together. The Hawaiian Pizza that includes Pineapple and ham is said to have the original pineapple topping with inspiration from Chinese dishes.
Why do people dislike pineapple on pizza?

• It could mean it's just a step too far, especially from a religious meat eater. 
• People like their pizza spicy and not sweet.
• Maybe their allergic to pineapple, I know some people.

The matter of the case doesn't matter or the argument, it's always pizza that brings people together. 

The shape of pizza comes in multiple forms, shapes , and sizes all created through ingenuity, and the help of human curiosity. 

Pineapple will not be the last odd pizza topping nor the most debated. Chefs and consumers are always seeking new exotic topping ideas to get the right taste and texture out of every bit.
Personally I am a fan of close to many exotic toppings on pizza especially pineapple since and veggie pizzas 

3 CafePress products promotion post

I sell hoodies, long and short sleeve T-shirts and tank tops
you can order in this link https://www.cafepress.com/hometimerecipes
The need for the shirts are simple, short sleeve or long sleeve, they cover your body with soft cotton so that you don't walk around naked. The shirt can protect against elements such as cool wind, bugs, dirt and thorns. The shirts came from inspiration of my blog, and the logo symbolized the need for healthy food in everyone's life. These shirts can last a life time and you'll always enjoy wearing them.
Made in Vietnam from fine cotton, the shirts are on sale for a range of  nineteen to thirty dollars. They come in male and female with sizes small, to medium, to large up to extra large. Short and long sleeve options are available along with black and white color options. These shirts will allow you to walk around in public without being naked. This is a casual shirt you can lounge and relax in. They are versatile and can be worn while on a walk, or playing a sports game, and most importantly while cooking. The black and white colors allow for easy matching of pants of jackets and shoes and shocks. These shirts are talked about whenever i'm wearing them out. These could be considered the most interesting T-shirts since 1920. My V-neck veggie shirts are hitting the market as well and they're hot. They are fine stitched at the seems to hold even the toughest pulls on it. In addition to my long and short sleeves there are hoodies and tank tops available as well. These one of a kind hoodies and tanks and shirts can't be found anywhere else on line or in stores. Special pocket can be added through contacting me on my email. perfectrecipeforall@gmail.com  The hoodies come in grey, black, and white. price range is between nineteen and thirty dollars. From cotton to customer you strut your stuff with confidence in the entire vegetable brand shirt collection. For a low investment these shirts or hoodies can last a life time. People will wonder where you bought this shirt and you'll just say it's a good place called home time meals. While you wear the product you can make the meals I post about in your kitchen. Create what is on the shirt in real life. It's more delicious than a shirt that way. There is a link post under the shirt picture at the bottom of this page. You can clip on it then go online to choose from a variety of options of shirts and hoodies. Order the shirt online and it can be shipped to your house in a little amount of time i'm sure. If the price seems a little step don't worry about it because the shirt or hoodie will last for years to come. 

Food waste--- Problem post and Chitika Ad

People lack to realize that much food is gone to waste. Some without even being opened. Food expiration dates and managing consumption of food while eating left overs is important.
Some sources of food waste starts where most people don't know about at home.

• Planning poorly 
• It's common that some people buy too much food at the store and don't make the food in time before it goes bad.
• Making too much.
• Food is usually wasted when someone makes too much for any given sitting and meal. Then the food is tossed in the garbage. An easy alternative is keeping left overs.

The results can bring a large amount of food to the land fills. Food waste can impact the world's health as much are material trash can. Too much food consumption calls for more food to be produced. This increases and leaves a carbon imprint and a loss of more land to farmings. People could take unwanted canned foods to shelters for people in need of food. Balancing food and production is essential to harness. Ensuring people at home regulates how much food is being made it tough because it's an individual effort. At the market, buy what is needed for the week. Make food preparation meals and plans to consume the food bought in order to maintain waste. Cutting back on food footprints is not an easy task. Recycle your food so that left over are eaten in a timely manner.

This will in time save money and reduce the amount of food wasted. 

Inspirational cooking ideas post and Chitika Ad

Cooking is easy once you get the hang out it. Many people tend to shy away from home cooking, but these meals I can tell you will want you cooking and baking in the kitchen daily.

Chicken and vegetable stir fry- can be done in thirty minuets.
making stir fry from 100 percent scratch is neat and easy. Get a hold of a lot of veggies and a stir fry sauce. Of course chicken too and maybe a lime for some zest.
Some tips to make it

• Get a big wide pan to hold all the ingredients 
• Always cook the chicken breasts first before the vegetables.-- Always a good idea to make sure the meat is almost done before adding the veggies
• Add your spices and herbs, limes 
• Add your sauces at the end-- once the food is hot and ready, stir in the sauce

Kale and bean salad

• This seems pretty straight forward but some people can still mess it up. Don't do that, here is a good lesson on how to prepare the salad. 
• For the base use rare Kale leaves. Use white beans for more protein and toss in some walnuts. Get yourself a lemon to squeeze over the top. Pick and healthy dressing like tahini. Then mix it all up! Simple and healthy. Toss in some sea salt too!!

Other food and dishes that might spark inspiration are:

• Lemon baked spaghetti squash with chicken
• Homemade tater tots
• Oven roasted Vegetables
• Fudge brownies from scratch 
• Homemade banana bread
• Apple crisp