Best Crock Pots: Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker

Fall and winter meals cook up great in a crock pot!. A slow cooker will help you make dinner while you multi-task all your many jobs and preparations for family events this time of year.

Beginners can learn a new cooking technique (or refine your knowledge and recipe repertoire) by getting into slow cooking.

The Hamilton Beach Stay-or-Go 6-quart Slow Cooker has several bells and whistles that your mother would have wanted with her first crock pot, more than 30 years ago.

Even before Super Bowl parties and tailgating became common gatherings, cooking for a crowd got easier by using slow cookers to make, take and keep the food warm while everyone had a good time.

These small appliances, generically called slow cookers today, were an immediate hit because they are such a kitchen time-saver. The original Crock Pot by Rival, introduced in 1971, was an innovation. I remember when these came out, and they were as hot as any small kitchen appliance you see advertised today.

The technology continues to evolve, and models have become smaller, larger. The newest models include multiple temperature settings, removable stoneware inserts, hinged lids, clamp-on lids, and the list goes on.

Slow cookers continue to be popular because they serve the needs of busy moms and home cooks to make easy, delicious meals for their families. With a slow cooker, you can create a meal, set it cooking in the slow cooker, and have dinner underway while doing other tasks. Or, cook the meal overnight, refrigerate it while you are away from home, and reheat it at dinner time in your microwave.

The innovations found in today's slow cooker models are born directly from customer experience over the years. Stoneware inserts are removable for cleaning. Temperature controls allow for a broad range of cooking methods, and programmable features let you control the settings as your dish cooks. Some models even include a probe which is inserted into the meal, to monitor the progress of recipes that require the food to reach a certain temperature.

As you review the comments made by people who have used various slow cookers, the excitement of experienced and new slow cooker users will rub off. I know I've got my eye on these models, and several recipes as well. It's easy to see why slow cookers are popular when you think about saving money and eating better at home.