for those of you who use a crock pot

[Anonymous]

We have a slow cooker and a dutch oven that we (okay DH) likes to pull out on Sundays a lot of times to make a huge meal to last a few weeknights to avoid having to come home and cook.

I brought up the option of throwing some stuff in there during a workday and letting it cook all day, then we come home from work and it's ready. DH seems to think this is a really bad idea to leave something plugged in that gets hot all day.

What is the protocol? Do people do this? Can you recommend a safe crock pot? Or is he right and are people not doing this and it's a weekend thing?

[Anonymous]

I do it all the time and feel comfortable with it, as long as I take some basic precautions. I make sure the crock is away from the wall and isn't close to anything else (potholders, wooden spoons, plastic whatever...). Then I'm out the door.

Nowhere in the manual did I see anything about "do not leave unattended." I figure if the lawyers now have restaurants warning people that coffee is hot, then surely they would have jumped on this if there was even a remote danger.

[Anonymous]

I think the whole point of a crockpot is to be able to cook when you're away from home.

Use the dutch oven when you're home, crockpot when you're away.

[Anonymous]

I think it would depends on how many hours a day you are gone. If you are gone only 8-9 hours I would not worry.

[Anonymous]

That is the whole point of the crock pot. Food done while you come home (if you have a dog, you might want to test to make sure the dog doesn't go after it).

The one downside I have found is that all crockpots I have bought tend to sort of lose the "low" setting after awhile. So for a few months, there are a few things that are wonderful cooked on low for 10+ hours. But after a while, it all tends to burn (maybe because I keep them on so long, they "break"?) But I fixed that by buying a crockpot with a timer (it goes to warm after done cooking). I only use it for recipes I have tried, given I'd much rather have something burnt than undercooked.