Dust off Your Slow Cooker: 1970s Trend Picks up Speed.MINNEAPOLIS -- Betty Crocker Betty Crocker, an invented persona and mascot, is a brand name and trademark of American food company General Mills. The name was first developed by the Washburn Crosby Company in 1921 as a way to give a personalized response to consumer product questions. Introduces New Slow Cooker A slow cooker is a countertop electrical home appliance that is used to cook stews and other dishes containing water at relatively low temperatures, with correspondingly long cooking times (several hours). Helper(R); Allows Moms to Create Evening Meal in Just Five Minutes in the Morning The slow cooker, first introduced in the 1970s, is experiencing a comeback in America's kitchens as time-crunched families rediscover Re`dis`cov´er v. t. 1. To discover again. Verb 1. rediscover - discover again; "I rediscovered the books that I enjoyed as a child" the benefits of using this time-proven appliance. Food manufacturers, responding to the renewed interest, are introducing new products such as Slow Cooker Helper. Created by Betty Crocker's Hamburger Helper Hamburger Helper is a brand of boxed meal product produced by General Mills and sold under its Betty Crocker brand. It consists of a starch (most often pasta, but also rice or potatoes) and specially measured dried sauce packets separated in a single box. , this new dinner kit requires just five minutes of preparation time in the morning for a hearty, home-cooked meal at night. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a Slow Cooker Helper national survey of 600 moms ages 25 to 45, more than three quarters (82 percent) own a slow cooker. "Our slow cooker recipe magazines have been best-sellers the last two years, so we began development of a slow cooker dinner kit that saves moms time, yet still tastes homemade," says Helen Kurtz, marketing manager for General Mills' Family Dinners division. "Based on consumer feedback, we developed four comfort food varieties of Slow Cooker Helper--meals enjoyed for generations, so families can come home at the end of the day to a familiar aroma and a satisfying meal, without a lot of prep time in the morning. It's a great meal solution for busy moms," says Kurtz. To create a mouth-watering mouth·wa·ter·ing or mouth-wa·ter·ing adj. Appealing to the sense of taste; appetizing: the mouthwatering aroma of a baking pie. Adj. 1. meal, home chefs simply add water and beef or chicken to one of four Slow Cooker Helper varieties: Pot Roast, Beef Stew, Chicken & Dumplings or Beef Stroganoff beef stro·ga·noff n. Thinly sliced beef fillet sautéed and mixed with onions, mushrooms, sour cream, and herbs, often served on a bed of noodles or rice. . Three of the varieties include Green Giant(R) vegetables and potatoes, and the fourth variety, Beef Stroganoff, combines pasta, onions and mushrooms; all of the family favorites come with a scrumptious sauce mix. According to the survey, pot roast was the meal that most reminded moms of their own mother's cooking. More than half (61 percent) of moms surveyed said that when coming home from work, the aroma of a home-cooked dinner makes them feel more at home than anything else besides seeing a family member. In consumer testing, taste-testers praised Slow Cooker Helper for its aroma, easy preparation, fresh vegetable contents, taste of seasonings, lack of mess, and perhaps most importantly Adv. 1. most importantly - above and beyond all other consideration; "above all, you must be independent" above all, most especially , the time it saves them. Homemade Dinners Mean Better Family Communication "Moms today are absolutely starved starve v. starved, starv·ing, starves v.intr. 1. To suffer or die from extreme or prolonged lack of food. 2. Informal To be hungry. 3. To suffer from deprivation. for more family time, making each moment with their families count," says time management expert, author, founder of MomCentral.com and mother of two, Stacy DeBroff. "The dinner table is the perfect place for families to connect and catch up--and with Slow Cooker Helper, a mom can feel good about bringing her family together to enjoy a tasty, home-cooked meal." According to the Slow Cooker Helper survey, sitting down at the dinner table can do wonders for family relationships. An overwhelming 80 percent of moms surveyed say sharing a meal improves communication, while 52 percent believe it encourages more conversation, and 40 percent say it produces more laughter amongst the family. Moms Prefer Homemade Meals According to DeBroff, "I prefer to sit down with my family to a homemade meal, it's just another way I can show my family how much I care." Moms in the survey agree. Sixty percent of American mothers believe it's important to eat a home-cooked meal every night of the week. In fact, nine out of 10 moms surveyed prefer a home-cooked meal to take-out Take-out A cash surplus generated by the sale of one block of securities and the purchase of another, e.g., selling a block of bonds at 99 and buying another block at 95. Also, a bid made to a seller of a security that is designed (and generally agreed) to take the seller out of or delivery food. "Slow cooking makes it easy for busy moms to provide a homemade meal, and gives them extra time to do other things," says DeBroff. Given an extra hour in the day, nearly half (46 percent) of the moms surveyed would spend the extra time with loved ones loved ones npl → seres mpl queridos loved ones npl → proches mpl et amis chers loved ones love npl , one in four would spend time on a hobby and the rest would exercise or sleep. Product Availability Slow Cooker Helper will be available in grocery stores in August 2004. Each variety makes seven servings per every 8 to 10-ounce box, and is sold at a suggested retail price of $3.99. For more information visit www.bettycrocker.com. Kelton Research conducted the national survey for Betty Crocker's Slow Cooker Helper in July 2004, among a national probability sample of 600 mothers ages 25-45 living in the continental U.S. The sampling error for this survey is +/-4 % at a 95% level of confidence. |
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