What's the deal with a crockpot?

[Anonymous]

I got one as a gift. Can I just throw a bunch of food in there -- chicken, rice, beans, frozen veggies, spices, etc. -- and let it cook all day and it will work? I plan on getting some recipe books, but honestly, the easier the better. My husband will eat anything and our kids are little.

[Anonymous]

When you add rice make sure you have a lot of liquid. I typically don't do dishes with rice in there because the rice tends to get really fat and soft (which I hate).

Meat (less expensive cuts work best), hearty veggies (not ones that will turn to mush) and stock. Sometimes I will come home and throw egg noodles in to cook for another 20-30 minutes and it turns out great.

[Anonymous]

OP, if you want to start very easy, you can go to the freezer section of your grocery store and they will often have packaged crockpot meals. So you pour the ingerdients frozen into the crockpot in the AM and cook on low for 10 hours, come home to dinner.

I would add some nice bread and a salad to have a meal that you can have on the table within 10 minutes of getting home -- 5 if you set the table before you leave for work!

If you want to have rice or noodles with the meal you should cook them ahead and heat up -- it's the cooking of the starch that takes the most time in a meal.

Of course it is cheaper and probably healthier to make the same meal from scratch ingredients, but this is a good way to ease into a routine of using the crockpot.

[Anonymous]

Also -- look on the food/cooking section of this forum... tons of crockpot recipies. Some are quite simple -- just dump ingredients in. But I wouldn't try that without a recipe. Some food doesn't take well to slow cooking.

[Anonymous]

I'm at my best in the morning, so I'll throw meat, spices, and veg into the crockpot and get on with my day. In the evening, when it would feel like a terrible chore to try to get dinner together, all I actually have to do is make rice or noodles and I'm done.

It really works well for me. DH is happy that I've started cooking more regularly.

The less expensive meat advice is really on point too. The lamb we get from the New York Avenue market is just wrong for chops, but makes for great stew meat in the crockpot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm at my best in the morning, so I'll throw meat, spices, and veg into the crockpot and get on with my day. In the evening, when it would feel like a terrible chore to try to get dinner together, all I actually have to do is make rice or noodles and I'm done.

It really works well for me. DH is happy that I've started cooking more regularly.

The less expensive meat advice is really on point too. The lamb we get from the New York Avenue market is just wrong for chops, but makes for great stew meat in the crockpot.

Can you share some of the actual ingredients?

[Anonymous]

Why a crock pot is good:

1. It is very efficient. Once you learn to use it, you can set it up in almost no time. For a while you will be following recipes, but after a while you will start dumping things in.

2. It dirties one dish. (Maybe 2 if you want to brown your meat in a skillet, but you can get crock pots that can be placed on the stovetop.)

3. You can cook a complete meal including veggies and potatoes if you like, so you don't have to do sides.

4. It saves money two ways. You are braising or stewing, which means you can use inexpensive cuts of meat. And you can use veggies that are a little on the old side, esp. onions and celery. Also if you have herbs that are dried out, bundle them up and throw them in.

5. The recipe doesn't have to be set. Do you have a half bottle of wine that is past drinking? Throw it in. If not, skip it. Out of garlic? Skip it. No celery? Double the amount of onion.

6. Braises and stews are yummy. How much would you pay for braised short ribs in a restaurant? Well, in the grocery store, short ribs are cheap.

7. When the dish is done, turn the crock pot on "warm" and leave it until everyone is ready to eat.

[Anonymous]

I have an issue (I've just started using the crock pot that I've had for five years... so ashamed). I leave for work at 6am and DH and I don't eat until 7pm. The recipes I've made so far have been on the weekends when I can do it in 6-8 hours... how does it work when you have to leave it for 12-13? Doesn't it just get super dry? Ugh. I'm hopeless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have an issue (I've just started using the crock pot that I've had for five years... so ashamed). I leave for work at 6am and DH and I don't eat until 7pm. The recipes I've made so far have been on the weekends when I can do it in 6-8 hours... how does it work when you have to leave it for 12-13? Doesn't it just get super dry? Ugh. I'm hopeless.

The food doesn't have to be finished cooking at the exact time you need to eat. Turn it off when you get home and about 1/2 hour before you are ready to eat you can turn it on again to heat it up.

[Anonymous]

Another crockpot and cooking newbie here...What are the "cheaper cuts of meat" everyone refers to? I dont' know because we cook three types of meat: boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pork chops and ground beef

Thanks for the help!

[Anonymous]

Does the food stay safe in the crockpot if it's in there for 10 hours? Is the low level of heat enough to kill bacteria?

[Anonymous]

Everything I cook in the crock pot winds up mushy. Is that just a fact of crockpot cooking?

[Anonymous]

Get a couple cook books specifically for crock pots. You'll be in LOVE with it!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does the food stay safe in the crockpot if it's in there for 10 hours? Is the low level of heat enough to kill bacteria?

I'm neither a food safety nor a cooking expert, but in my experience even though the crockpot is using a low level of heat, it's enough to boil whatever liquid I'm using for the cooking, and once the boiling starts it doesn't stop until the power has been off for a while. Given that the safe cooking temps for meat are all below the temp at which water boils, I've always figured it's safe.

[Anonymous]

for those who are gone for more than 6-8 hours, get a crockpot (slow cooker) with a timer. Mine automatically switches from cook to warm after the specified amount of time. Our first one (a Cuisinart) also did this, but the low setting was too high and everything burned. Our new one, a Hamilton Beech (I think) works perfectly.

Cheaper cuts of meat: pot roast, shoulder, butt, ribs. Things that are too tough to cook on the stove or grill for 10 minutes, but become fork-tender when cooked on low for 8 hours.

I think newer crockpots are required by USDA to cook on high for the first hour in order to get the food out of the "danger zone" quickly, then shift to low heat. It isn't recommended (by the USDA) to put frozen meat in b/c it takes too long to defrost and spends too much time in that "danger zone". But plenty of food bloggers will say that they ignore that advice and haven't had any problems. But that is a personal risk they are taking.

Peruse the recipes on http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ for ideas.