January is National Soup Month and National Slow Cooking Month. Busy schedules can make meal planning difficult. The Michigan eLibrary (MeL) can provide meal ideas and recipes to help save time.

MasterFILE Complete is loaded with soup recipes. For a trip across the globe, "Sip on Soups" from Seema has recipes from chefs at restaurants in Dubai and India. "The Wonderful World of Chicken Soup" in Eating Well also offers recipes from across cultures, taking traditional recipes from locales such as Colombia, Sri Lanka, The Philippines, and Iran to put a different spin on a classic. If Italian soup is more to your liking, "A Bowl of Soup" in Italia! provides several tasty options.

Slow cooker meal prep can keep families eating meals together even on the most hectic days. The eBook Public Library Collection has recipe books such as Busy-Day Slow Cooking Cookbook, Slow Cook Modern: 200 Recipes for the Way We Eat Today, and Cooking Light Slow-Cooker Tonight!: 140 Delicious Weeknight Recipes That Practically Cook Themselves. Magazines in MeL offer meal options such as frittata, macaroni and cheese, and chili in "Scrumptious Slow Cooker Recipes" and "Slow-Cooked to Perfection."

For those who are curious about uses for their slow cookers beyond meals, Australian Women’s Weekly has curated recipes for a variety of condiments such as bacon jam and orange marmalade in "Slow-Cooker Preserves." War Cry includes an easy recipe to make apple cider. Dessert recipes are offered in "Sweet As . . ." in Australian House & Garden.

If time is an issue and you have a pressure cooker, it can speed up the cooking process. They can also be used to make yogurt and quickly cook rice, according to "Do More With . . . Your Instant Pot" in Consumer Reports. If you have never used a slow cooker or a pressure cooker, "Slow vs Fast" in Better Homes and Gardens explains the difference between the two options and provides tips and tricks, as well as recipes using both methods.

Libraries can offer programming to get patrons involved in meal preparation by inviting an expert guest to teach about freezer meals. You might also consider adding popular small appliances to a Library of Things. No matter how you decide to incorporate cooking into your library’s offerings, there is an abundance of information to help you get started in the MeL eResources. 

If you have any MeL eResources questions or issues, contact [email protected] for help.