Curiosity is about to kill the cat. I grew up in a home without a crock pot and never really understood why someone would want one. But after months of reading about them on other blogs, I’m curious. I sure love the idea of coming home from work and having a fresh home cooked dinner ready for me.
Because I have zero experience with crock pots, I need you to recommend your favorite brand or model to me or tell me about what important features I should be on the look out for.
I’m usually cooking for one and my 9 inch wide freezer can only fit so many leftovers so something that’ll cook up to 4 servings would be perfect.
What do I need to know about crock pots?
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{ 12 comments }
I adore crockpots. It’s like having your own personal chef! I think all the slow cookers now have lift-out liners. (My first one years ago didn’t have that feature) You can get slow cookers that are programmable if you are away from home a lot. The most important feature is getting the size to match your needs. You might invest in a cookbook that features slow cooking recipes for 1 or 2 to match your needs and freezer size! Good luck!
I LOVE my crockpot. I use it several times a week. It’s great for dinners as well as great for making dips for parties in. Mine is a rival.
You can get one just about anywhere for under $20 and they are almost always on sale. kraftfoods.com has some great crockpot recipes. I like the tex mex chicken recipe on their site. It’s so good and the family loves it and there is never leftovers, lol.
I love using mine for roasts. I use the leftovers for sandwiches the next night!
I agree with Nancy’s suggestion to get one with the removable crock. You can prepare the meal at night, put it in the fridge, then put the crock into the slow cooker the next morning. One of my favorites is to take a roast and with a knife poke a few slits into the meat. Then take slivers of garlic and poke into the cuts. This helps to flavor the meat. Slice an onion and layer it into the bottom of the crock. You could also put in a couple of carrots, sliced and chopped, and a potato or two, then set the roast on top of the vegetables. Cook on the low setting for 10-12 hours. The smell in your home, when you arrive, will be enticing and welcoming. I think the slow cookers with a timer might be more expensive, so you might want to instead buy an appliance timer (start at about $4) to plug the crockpot into. That way if you are going to be away from home for say 14 hours, just set the timer to turn off the electricity at 12 hours. If you have refrigerated the contents overnight, you could set the timer to come on after the crockpot has been sitting about an hour. The contents will stay hot for quite some time. If you aren’t into roast and veggies, empty a can of green chiles in with the onion and roast and you can have green chili beef burritos. Good luck!
I love my crock pot. If I didn’t have it, I’d be eating all my meals at Subway. I live alone and I have a 4 quart rival; it cooks enough food for 4 people. The programmable crock pots cost a lot of money and if you aren’t home you can use a low cost digital timer. That’s what I do with mine since I work two jobs. I usually set the crock pot to low and program the timer to start 3 hours after I leave the house. I try to pick recipes that say 6-8 hours of cooking time so I don’t burn my house down while I’m away. Good luck and I hope you enjoy your new culinary helper.
Memphis, TN
Crockpots/slowcookers are great helpers. I have a few different sizes & sometimes run 2 at a time (Sometimes I don’t want my potatoes etc. to taste like the meat or I cook dessert along with the meal). For the past 2 years Walmart has run a 2 day sale starting the day after Thanksgiving selling a 2 quart white pot with a removable crock for less than $4 ($2.88 I think it was last year). One reccomendation I would give you is to make sure you get one with a removable crock for ease of cleaning. Having high & low settings are standard & I personally think all the other features like a time delay are just more features that can break & are a waste of $ to pay for. Most recipes call for 6 – 8 hours of cooking & I don’t believe you can over cook something in a crockpot as long as you have enough liquid in the pot. I also don’t feel the need to pay more for stainless steal or a beautifully decorated heating element because I store mine in a cabnet when it is not in use. Most importantly though whatever pot you choose make sure you register it with the manufacturer. That way if there is a recall you will be notified.
Hope this helps.
Slow cookers: Convenience is key (Hope this helps. Taken from Consumer Reports)
Illustration by Jim KoppThe faster the pace of your life, the better slow cookers look. What’s not to like about stirring together ingredients in the morning, attending to other tasks while the slow cooker bubbles away on the kitchen counter, and spooning out a completed dinner come evening?
Amazon Borders Barnes & Noble IndieBound Powell’s
The 15 slow cookers that we tested (all with a 6- to 7-quart capacity) turned out tasty spare ribs, pulled pork, honey chicken wings, and apple brown Betty. Prices, which ranged from $40 for some Hamilton Beach and Rival models to $250 for the All-Clad 99005, didn’t predict performance.
The differences were in the details. The $70 Hamilton Beach Set ‘N Forget 33967 offers the best combination of features for the money. Other worthy choices include the $50 Rival Crock-Pot SCVC604H-SS, a CR Best Buy. For those who like mechanical models, pick the Hamilton Beach Stay or Go 33162H, $40.
Features that count
Electronic controls let you program a dish, usually in 30-minute intervals, and automatically switch to “warm” when cooking is done. While a mechanical model is simpler to use, you must manually turn it to warm mode.
You can place an oven-safe pot in the oven for quick reheating.
An easy-to-clean pot and lid can go into the dishwasher. Touchpad controls are easier to clean than knobs and buttons. Slow cookers with a stainless-steel exterior might look sleek but can be more work to keep shiny.
A locking lid helps keep food from spilling during transport, say, to a potluck supper. Some slow cookers have a serving ladle that fits snugly into a notch in the lid.
Overall dimensions vary, even among models with similar capacities. Bulky models are more difficult to store and transport and take up more counter space.
I do know that the very best book for me is Make It Fast, Cook It Slow
by Stephanie O’Dea . Her blog has Loads of information http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/
Girlfriend, you need Stephanie O’Dea’s website, http://crockpot365.blogspot.com. She dedicated a whole year to using her crockpot every day, and she’s got an amazing assortment of recipes for all kinds of things you can cook in the crockpot. I use mine at least a couple of times a week, lots of soup and chili and stuff but I also use it to make yogurt and applesauce and all kind of frugal green things. (I have a bunch of recipes on my own blog, but it’s nothing compared to Stephanie’s.)
Only other recommendation I’d add to what others have said–definitely you want a removable crock, and one with an auto-shutoff (most of them will cook for a set amount of time and then switch to “warm”) is also helpful. Crockpots cook best if they are at least 2/3 of the way full, otherwise things cook too fast. My first mistake was to buy a large crockpot figuring it was better, back when I was single, and I should have gotten a smaller one.
I personally always always try to make double or triple amounts of everything so I don’t have to cook as often. I freeze large amounts of stuff. My crockpot is right at the center of my own frugal green efforts, along with the big freezer in the garage…
Good luck!
I try to freeze as much as a can but I have a pathetic narrow old side by side where the freezer is seriously only 9″ wide and two of the shelves are breaking so I can’t stack too much on them. I’m dreaming of a new fridge but just not ready to pay for one yet.
At Target
Prices good November 15–21, 2009
Crock-Pot Sale $29.99
Beloved Crockpot!!!!
Costco has a nice big one for a reasonable price — about the same as Target’s. Actually, they’re showing two: one with electronic controls and one with a switch for low, medium, and high heats. I went for the switch: fancy controls aren’t necessary & are probably just something else to break.
Thanks to Jenn for the lead to the slow-cooker recipe treasure trove! I definitely will check that out, too!
Crockpots are great not just for stewing meat and chicken but for making glorious soups and delicious mellow beans. It is THE way to cook beans! One thing that seems to improve the flavor of meat, BTW, is to brown it (and also saute the onions) before putting it in the crock pot to cook. If I’m going to start a meal before leaving for work, I’ll often brown meat and onions the night before, put them in the fridge, and then assemble the crockpot ingredients in the morning. So wonderful to come home to a fragrant meal, all ready to go to the table!
I have a Rival one, not quite sure on the size, but it’s oval and has the manual settings: Hot/Low/Warm I think.
It’s worked out perfect for me, but I do wish I would have gone ahead and got one with the automatic shutoff. At my job it’s not unusual for something to come up and I’m stuck there an extra couple hours so I don’t use mine as often as I like because I don’t want to burn the house down.
Also, if you look around a bit you should be able to find one that comes with a travel case or “Little Dipper” for free. I didn’t do that and after I bought mine I noticed that alot of the time stores will offer a package deal where you get the accessory for no additional price, it’s just a bundled deal.
I know you can probably get one for cheap, ~$10, but I’m a big believer in you get what you pay for, and I’m not sure I’d be comfortable getting something just because it’s the lowest price. You are going to leave this product cooking in your home while you’re away, and to me spending a few extra bucks is worth a little bit of peace of mind.
If I was to buy another crockpot I would buy one with the lockable lid (handles lock the lid into place). Name escapes me but I love crockpot for church potlucks and to do soups but they always end up on my lap or all over the car. My mother has a lid-lock crockpot and I’m awaiting my weekly used crockpot to die. However this seems like a long lasting brand (WestBend) so taht is a +. Just 2cents worth.
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