Wanted to add that I find myself using the crockpot quite a bit on the weekends... ie, we'll be out and about Saturday afternoon, but I can have something going in the crockpot for a decent dinner (and leftovers for lunch all week!). Similarly, if I am feeling "lazy" the crockpot is good for prepping during naptime (DD takes a very early nap) and then magically having a complete meal whenever she melts from hunger in the late afternoon

I just made a great lentil soup with carrots, celery, onion, garlic bay leaf, salt and pepper. I put a bag of lentils and 8 cups of chicken broth (you could use veg instead). At the end I added diced up Canadian bacon, which is already cooked and lower fat than the usual pork flavoring for soup. It was delicious.

I use mine a lot. I find the food better than most convenience food (aka - frozen meal from Trader Joes), but its not fine cuisine either. But none of my cooking is, so the crockpot works great for me. I have found that most of the cheaper crock pots, even if they work at first, break after a year. So the low setting is not low, which is when the food starts to burn. I now have a great working one (crossing my fingers) that has a good low setting (hot enough for safety, but doesn't burn the food) and has a timer.

I also reccomend the crockpot lady's website. She has a cookbook if you prefer to read hardcopy.

The biggest struggle I have with the crockpot is we have a small family and most recipes just make too much food. So I do try to stick with soups and stews, as we are more likely to freeze or eat the leftovers.

"Those recipes from the early days of crock-pottery, with the can of creamed whatever dumped over totally raw meat? They still taste like ass."

How do you know?

Anonymous wrote:I use it all the time! It's great in summer since it doesn't radiate heat. I prefer vegetarian food, but we do make chicken and pork (esp BBQ pulled pork) with it. Great for curries, too. I love my programmable rice cooker.

If I had all the time in the world on my hands, I probably would use the crockpot a lot less, b/c sometimes the quality of the food that comes out isn't the best (ie, chicken can dry our, vegetables mushy if it cooks too long), but nothing is TERRIBLE and often it's quite good. I can deal with homemade, healthy food that may not be gourmet if it makes the after work scramble easier.

I love using the cookbook by American's Test Kitchen- Slowcooker Revolution. The recipes are so much better than what you can find online.

Anonymous wrote:I love my crockpot, but it isn't a good answer to after work meals. Most crockpot receipes take 6 or 8 hours and will burn if left on for the 9 to 10 hours it takes to drop off at daycare, commute, work 8 hours, commute, pickup at daycare, etc.

But I do use it all the time on weekends.

Ditto. Sometimes I cook something on a Sunday in the crock pot for Monday and Tuesday, cook something else for Sunday night dinner and those left overs go to lunches.

Also, you can do a few things on high for four hours so if you throw it in after the dinner rush you (or DH if he stays up later like mine) can pull it out before bed and serve the next day. Also great if you work from home once a week like some people I know (I don't).

I use my crockpot at least once a week during colder weather. I agree with PP's who said that chicken is not the greatest. However, tougher cuts of pork and beef are absolutely the best in the crock pot provided your expectations are in line with what the thing is capable of doing.
Larger cuts of beef and pork will be fine all day at low, even if "all day" means 10-12 hours. Pulled pork is a great example.
Short ribs and pot roasts can easily go that long.
I do have a model with low, high, and "warm" settings, and you can program it to cook on high 4 hours, high 6 hours, low 8 hours, or low 10 hours (i think) and thenl it will automatically switch itself to "warm" which is nice.
The other great thing about a full size crock pot is it makes tons of leftovers. Which go into the freezer and automatically save time... another night.

I always thought I would but it was hard to find 10 hour recipes and I usually didn't want to deal with starting dinner before walking out the door in the morning.

very limited, most to Chili, spaghetti sauce, and lentils.

NEVER for large pieces of meats. A slow cooker basically steams the food and IMO, it leaves it flavorless. Slow cooking in an one at 200-250 is very different. It is dry heat and does not rob the meat of all of its flavor.

I'm old school and favor Julia Childs and the Barefoot Contessa. I only have time 2-3xs a week to create full blown meals like that, the rest of the week I rely on bulk cooking.

no way. it takes forever to cook rice with it.

I use it to braise meat. Probably twice a week. Chuck roast, pork shoulder, etc. I make enough for leftovers for a few days.

OP, if you like to cook, a slow cooker is a great idea -- it basically braises stuff while you're at work. So short ribs, brisket, pork butt (ha ha, I said "butt") are all great. You can eat minutes after you walk in the door.

I don't think it will save you time, because if you want to make something that tastes good, you will still have to do chopping and you will have to brown the meat. Those recipes from the early days of crock-pottery, with the can of creamed whatever dumped over totally raw meat? They still taste like ass.

I actually have never had luck with the slow cooker. The food, particularly meats, just do not taste good to me. What I find really helps with weeknight dinners is menu planning. I have created a word document of my favorite go to recipes and I will look through it every week and make a plan of the meals for the upcoming week.

Once a week I use a prepared food from the supermarket like a rotisserie chicken or freshly prepared pasta and serve it with a side salad. Also on Sundays during the winter months, I try to use my dutch oven to prepare a large pot of a dish that can be reserved for another meal during the week (soups, chili, curry). This leaves me with only 3 meals to prepare during the week and as long as I keep them simple, I find this manageable. I also LOVE my Zojirushi rice cooker, it is expensive but completely worth it for me b/c my entire family loves rice.

The first few weeks of cooking regularly were difficult but it became much easier once I got in the habit and had a cycle of easy recipes. Good luck!

I agree that chicken is not the best meat to cook in a slow cooker. Even chicken thighs do not taste good. I use my slow cooker loads in the winter. I find it's good for things like chili, bolognese, beef stews and pork dishes. Sometimes lamb can dry out a bit if the pieces aren't large enough.

But I don't think a slow cooker is the answer to your problems. I don't really find that it saves too much time. I'm a big fan of my rice cooker and like to cook stir fries which are very quick and popular in my family. You can use precut veggies from the salad bar, keep sliced meat in the freezer, and prepare a nice sauce the night before.

Quick pasta dishes are good too. I sometimes just make spaghetti with a good quality bought sauce and some shredded percorino on top. You can serve this with a salad. Spaghetti carbonara is another quick favorite. We also like to eat fish and veggies with bread for starch. Fish is so quick to pan fry, and you can steam the veggies in the microwave. I make my own herb butters and keep them in the freezer to add different flavors to fish and meat.