I have always wanted a slow cooker, and there have been great-sounding recipes here that I want to try, but I need to find a good slow cooker in the right size. Perusing the net, I see that most people think the 3 to 3 1/2 qt size is too small for a family, and that 4 qts would be better. What do you think? And which slow cooker should I get? Rival? Hamilton Beach?
Well…how much do y’all eat? I find that I have to double most “servings” when looking at recipes or boxed food to satisfy my family for dinner. That is, for the 3.5 of us, I need 7-8 “servings” as counted by most recipes. For that, I use my old faithful 5 qt. crock pot. It’s not full to the brim - I could probably get away with a 4 qt, but my smaller 3 qt oval is too small for a one-dish meal for us. There’s no stirring room, even if I could get everything in there. OTOH, I won’t get rid of the 3 qt, 'cause it’s the perfect size for BBQ meatballs for a potluck, as well as heating river rocks for hot stone massage.
I think you should do like I do, get two of different sizes from the same company, and put them on the same shelf in your cabinet staring each other down.
That way you’ll have Rival crockpots.
d&r
My family of 4 is quite small at the moment (2 of them are under 6 years old), but we’d freeze leftovers anyway. I don’t want to get something that won’t grow with us (they’re boys; I expect their food consumption to increase exponentially over the next 10 years anyway).
Heating river rocks for massage? Can I come to your house?
I have two - one that is large enough to take a whole chicken, plus some vegetables, etc. and another that is just the right size for cooking only the meat or sauce component of a meal. This works pretty well for me.
It is possible to use the larger one with smaller amounts in it, but it does tend to overcook and dry out that way.
We’re a family of two, but we’re quite glad to have bought the Kitchen Aid 7-quart slow cooker. The oblong shape is great for holding big rectangular things like “seven bone” chuck roasts.
The current crop of Crock-Pot brand cookers is pretty lame. We bought their 6-quart “Smart Pot” a few months ago, and it couldn’t hold a temperature - on its second use, it smelled like burning, and it boiled away a batch of spaghetti sauce on “keep warm” setting. A quick look at Amazon and Epinions ratings showed that our experience wasn’t unique.
When I moved into my first apartment my dad gave me a Hamilton Beach slow cooker. It’s an oblong, Teflon-coated metal pan with a heavy glass lid and a heating base. That is, the pan is not surrounded by any structure. It’s about two quarts, I guess. Maybe two and a half. This is the perfect size for a pound of beans and two ham hocks. I’ve also used it to cook corned beef and cabbage, and a couple of pounds of pork roast for making ‘BBQ pork’ sandwiches. Being single, this amount of food lasts for days. (And sometimes days and days…) I think it would hold plenty for a family of four for a single meal.
When my roommate sold his house I bought his six-quart Rival crock pot for $2. I made ham hocks and black eyed peas in it last week. The mess o’ beans didn’t look like that much in the big pot, but there’s still a bowlfull left in the fridge. If I were to fill it to capacity, most of the food would have to go into the freezer.
Groan…but brilliant!
I vote for a crock as big as you can store in your kitchen. Having more room is better than overfilling. I have to think more in terms of 6-8 servings these days. I eat one, Spouse who has stopped snacking now wants more food is 2-3 servings and the teenage Offspring hoovers up 3 to whatever’s left servings. Such as: Spaghetti this week was 2 jars of sauce, 1 lb. burger, 1 lb. mushrooms, 1 mega-size onion and 2 medium zuchs. I got a serving in a big coffe cup and when I went back for a refill it was empty. :eek:
The Balsamic Chicken went even faster (3 breasts, 4 thighs). I didn’t get any. :dubious:
Terrorcotta (cool name, BTW): What size do you have? My new crock pot cookbook says that a 3 lb slab o’ meat with sauce should fit in a 3 qt cooker. I’m not sure how often I would go with a bigger piece of meat that that, but I might get up to 5 lbs. I want to believe that a 3 qt is big enough, but I’m having trouble picturing it.
I have a pair of 6 quart pots, that makes plenty of food if you fill it, bigger than you need is going to be better if you ever plan on cooking stuff that will freeze. my freezer has about 15 meals of beef stew/chili/chicken stew right now, all home made goodness.
the 6 quart will handle 6 pounds of meat easy for making sandwiches and the like.
Tanks!
I just checked the Official Rival Slow Cooker website and mine is a 3.5 quart. I always worry that it’s not big enough for the bronto ribs I need to wedge in there, but it works. Thanks for making me look, I found that they sell replacement knobs and mine cracked from the daily abuse.
This from someone named Terrorcotta. I love it!
I was astounded to find I have a Rival crockpot! Why we can’t we all be friends?
I would suggest something like this. The heating base is seperate from the pot, and you can put the pot in the dishwasher or submerge it in the sink. You can’t do that with the one piece crock pots, and it’s a pain when you have to be careful because of the wiring in the base at clean up. A 6 quart would be a good size for a family of 4, and it cooks great half full or completely full unlike the one piece crock pots. We have the 5 quart now an up size from the 4 quart we had. I could just squeeze in 4 pounds of meat into the 4 quart. We got a larger so we could add some potatoes and carrots. half way through cooking the roast.
They seem to mae plain cookers which just have low and high settings, and off, and “programmable” models that have different things you can do with them and are more expensive. Does anyone make one with a simple timer? I’m a little uncomfortable leaving a kitchen appliance on to cook indefinitely. All I can find is a nice Cuisinart with a timer and a retractable cord, but it’s very pricy, $80 for a 4-quart IIRC.
I would say buy the biggest crockpot you can get. You don’t have to fill a crockpot to its maximum capacity, but you can if you need to. It serves all purpose.
It’s one of those directional laws of cooking. You can always add more salt, but you can’t take it out.
I am highly disappointed that this is the SDMB and, 16 posts in, there isn’t a single cannibal joke.
Shame on you all.
-Joe
…Clarisssse.
Harmonious Discord has it 100% correct! Make sure the heating unit and pot are independant of each other. My first crock was a wedding gift that was all one unit. It was a pain to clean what with the cord and base and deeper-than-the-sink size so I rarely used it.
Fast forward a few decades and I get a new crock since Spouse has been positioned to cook and he can’t boil water. The new crock is removable and is now in use several times a week as the summer approaches and I don’t want to fight the heat of the oven with air conditioning.
We’ve decided to buy 2; the Kitchen Aid 7-qt behemoth and a 3.5 qt, brand undecided, although all the Rival jokes have me leaning in that direction. Thanks all for the opinions.