I don't need a Slow Cooker, because I have a pot! A Rant.

I don't need a "crockpot" any

more! That feels good to say! I don't need a slow cooker anymore and chances are, unless you are an avid Slow-cooker user, you don't need one either. I don't really need to ask how it is that everyone and their mother came to believe that a "Crockpot" was a kitchen necessity. Advertising and novelty is the reason. 

I used to fret about using my slow cooker- "oh man, I have to make sure I put this in to cook six to eight hours before my family is going to want to eat. Oh no! It's already two P.M.! Guess pot roast is off the menu!" No! No no no no N-O! People have been cooking without slow cookers since for-e-v-e-r. It's called a dutch oven or a deep Baker and it works perfectly. I can get that pot roast or chicken in to cook two to four hours before I eat it and it is succulent! 

You can cook stock on the stove top or in the oven all day! I have done it y'all. You can cook a pot of beans in two hours on the stove top and you can leave it just as you would a Crockpot! 

One less kitchen gadget for me! I don't​ have to worry about lead in the glaze, or overcooking everything or undercooking anything. I have more control and I can get sidetracked all day and still have my dinner plans work out!
Now, I am a Stay-at-home wife and mother with a toddler. Maybe down the road when I have a teenager and am out of the house literally all day then I might find my slow cooker useful again. I am sure working mothers all over the globe find a slow cooker to be a huge blessing. But, we don't have to feel obligated to use one just for the sake of following in mother's, or grandmother's, or a trendy neighbor's footsteps. Every kitchen does NOT have to have a slow cooker in it! 

I feel it's important to recognize these things especially trends that last generations. This is not the same thing as a tradition because it is built around a purchased gadget. This is, dare I say, brain washing? Yep, I just said it. I guess it's not an unrecognized concept that marketers brain wash us through commercials and adds to makes us think we and everyone we love needs their product. The commercials of today are the peddler-men of "yesterday." But, it's rarely spoken of, and I think we forget and get sucked in now and then. Let's not leave it to extremists to call it like it is so we can sigh, roll our eyes and continue to ignore problem just so we don't have to make a change in our lives. Let's live mindfully and make good choices based on present needs instead old notions.