Slow Cooking Made Easy

Introduction

Slow cooking transforms simple ingredients into melt-in-your-mouth meals with minimal effort. The gentle, hands-off approach develops rich flavors and tender textures, all while freeing up your time for other activities. This Slow Cooking Made Easy recipe offers a satisfying comfort dish, perfect for busy weeknights, meal prepping, or feeding a crowd without the stress.

Why Slow Cooking Is a Game Changer

The beauty of slow cooking lies in its simplicity—just set it, forget it, and come back to a hearty, delicious meal. This method coaxes the best flavor out of even the toughest cuts of meat and infuses vegetables with savory depth. Plus, slow cookers excel at batch cooking, making it easy to plan ahead and enjoy home-cooked meals throughout the week.

Simple, Flavorful Slow Cooker Beef Stew

A classic beef stew is a slow cooker staple. Tough beef chuck turns juicy and fork-tender, while root vegetables absorb every drop of the savory broth. This recipe uses everyday ingredients and pantry staples, ensuring maximum convenience and flavor in every spoonful.

Meal Prep Friendly and Budget Friendly

This stew stretches your meal budget by making the most of affordable cuts and seasonal vegetables. The leftovers taste even better the next day, making it an ideal recipe for meal prep and packed lunches.

💡Meal Planning Tip: Save this recipe to automatically generate an organized shopping list with all ingredients sorted by store section—perfect for efficient grocery trips and easy weekly meal planning.

Instructions

1. Optional: Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Brown the beef cubes on all sides, working in batches for even caramelization. Transfer browned beef to the slow cooker.
2. Add carrots, potatoes, onion, celery, and garlic to the slow cooker.
3. In a small bowl, mix beef broth with tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, salt, and black pepper. Pour over the ingredients in the slow cooker.
4. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours, until beef and vegetables are tender.
5. If a thicker stew is desired, mix flour with a few tablespoons of water to create a slurry. Stir into the stew during the last 30 minutes of cooking.
6. Remove bay leaves, adjust seasoning if needed, and garnish with fresh parsley before serving.

Weekly Meal Planning

This easy slow cooker recipe is perfect for planning ahead and batch cooking. Save and schedule this recipe to effortlessly plan your week’s meals and generate a smart, streamlined shopping list that consolidates ingredients across all your planned dishes.

Planning Benefits:

• Automatically calculates total ingredient quantities if you’re doubling or tripling the recipe
• Organizes shopping lists by grocery store section—no more zig-zagging through the aisles
• Prevents wasted ingredients by tracking what’s needed for each meal
• Simplifies meal prep, so you can set and forget with ease

Pro tip: Schedule your recipes for the week to spot ingredient overlaps like potatoes or carrots, and let the app compile the correct totals for efficient, budget-friendly shopping.

Cook and Prep Times

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 8 hours (LOW) or 4 hours (HIGH)
Total Time: 8 hours 15 minutes (including prep)

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With these simple steps, slow cooking truly becomes easy, flavorful, and hassle-free—perfect for anyone looking to enjoy more home-cooked meals with less work!