The marvelous thing about slow cooking is the way that you can throw a tasty meal together with just a a couple of ingredients from the store cupboard.

Your slow cooker will pay for itself very quickly. The time you save when you are making a meal means it’s priceless. But, if you plan to make slow cooking part of your usual meal times, then it pays to have a few basics to keep in your cupboards to make meal planning easy.

Beans – Beans are a very economical source of protein that cook very well in slow cookers . Each bean has its own flavor which can be enhanced by the spices or herbs you use to cook them. Beans make a great meal base when you cook them with meat or be the main ingredient if you are a vegetarian looking to create a quick dish. Whether haricot, lentil, borlotti, or black-eyed, beans can create some fantastic slow cooker meals.

Fibrous Vegetables – For starters, these means good old spuds and the average kitchen has at least a few potatoes lurking around in the vegetable rack.  They are a really versatile food. Mash them, stew them, fry them, or chuck them in the slow cooker. Potatoes add density to stews, soups, and meat-free meals. Potatoes and other fibrous veggies like carrots, turnips and swedes, take a while to cook, so they can be added to the slow cooker with meat and can cook all day.

Fresh Herbs – Using herbs can dramatically change the flavour of almost any meal you make. You can use dried herbs, but they release a much richer flavor if they are added fresh. You can also grow your own fresh herbs in the house in pots on your kitchen window sill. You just need a nice sunny spot, some compost, and remember to water them regularly. Home grown herbs can even be dried to extend their life, making them easy to keep around without worrying too much about wasting them. Remember to add your herbs near the end of the crockpot cooking time so the flavor infiltrates the cooked meal and doesn’t disappear during the cooking time.

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