Save time and money with your crockpot!
Ranked #16,312 in Food & Cooking, #284,539 overall
Use your crockpot to save money and time in the kitchen!
Your crockpot is one of the best tools in your kitchen for saving time and money. Like many folks, I'm a huge fan of saving time AND money wherever I can...AND I love my crockpot! One of the more fun ways to do it is to learn creative ways to use your crockpot to prepare meals and MORE!
Follow me as I bring you tips on caring for your crockpot, creative crockpot recipes and ideas for saving time with your crockpot!
Contents at a Glance
- Ten Tips For Saving Time In The Kitchen...
- Hamilton Beach Set 'n Forget 6-Quart Pro...
- Find The Right Size For Your Needs...
- West Bend 5-Quart Oblong-Shaped Slow Coo...
- What's Your Favorite Thing To Make In Yo...
- Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook
- Crafty Crockpot Crayons
- Maxi-Matic Elite Cuisine 1-1/2-Quart Rou...
- Video Tips & Ideas For Using Your Sl...
Ten Tips For Saving Time In The Kitchen With Your Crockpot
- USE your crockpot. It's a slow cooker. Use this to your advantage by setting meals and desserts to cook ahead of time! This is the biggest time saver!
- Cook once, eat twice. Make enough of your recipe to freeze for another dinner. Or, make some lunches for the week. This is a double winner! Saves time AND money!
- Expand your recipe base. Having plenty of recipes available will help you use your crockpot more without boring your family with the same recipes over and over.
- Start your meal earlier in the day so that dinner is ready when you are. Check out the "Fix it and Forget It" style cookbooks and recipes.
- Learn how to properly use and care for your crockpot. Read the owner's manual. Know all it can do.
- Due to the nature of a slow cooker, there is no need to stir the food unless it specifically says to in your recipe. In fact, taking the lid off to stir food causes the slow cooker to lose a significant amount of heat, extending the cooking time required. Therefore, it is best not to remove the lid for stirring.
- Get a crockpot with a removable crock. This way, you can prepare items even the day before, put them in the fridge with the lid on and you'll be ready to go the next day. However, don't put the *cold* crockpot on high. Put some very warm water in it and let it warm up before getting it going to keep the crock from breaking.
- Vegetables and potatoes take longer to cook. To save time with these, slice them thinner and place them on the bottom of the pot with everything else (meats, etc) on top. This will help everything cook more evenly.
- Defrost meats & chicken before using them in the crockpot. You can cook with frozen meats, but it adds significantly to the cooking time. When recipes give you a cooking time, they are basing it on defrosted meats.
- Spray the inside of the crock with non-stick cooking spray before adding your ingredients to save clean-up time! ;)
Find The Right Size For Your Needs...
At these prices, get two, like me!
There are times I've had both of my slow cookers going at the same time, cooking meals ahead; two different dishes at once. Very handy for freezer cooking because you're not tying up your stove or oven. Just set it and forget it! Then freeze your meals and you're done! Can't beat it!
What's Your Favorite Thing To Make In Your Crockpot?
How creative are you?
Do you use your crockpot for more than just soups and stews? Tell us what you like to make in it!
1
Apple Butter! YUM!
I made this from the recipe at Allrecipes.com and WOW!! more...0 points
2
Kitchenaid stand mixer
Looking to buy kitchenaid stand mixer at low prices? more...0 points
Crafty Crockpot Crayons
Great way to recycle all those orphan crayons

I've retired my older, smaller crockpot in favor of a newer model, but the older one still works fine. So, it's found a new home in my craft room!
A fun idea for party favors or stocking stuffers is to take those orphaned, broken crayons and make new ones out of them in fun shapes & sizes.
You can sort them into colors or you can make some crazy color combinations. Take the paper off the crayons you're going to use and place them in the crockpot. Turn it on low heat and let them melt. When they're melted, pour them into old muffin tins (don't reuse for food), candy molds, soap molds, etc. Be careful with that hot wax!
My favorite to use are soap molds, but it doesn't matter as long as your mold can take the heat of melted wax.
Let the 'recycled' crayons cool in the molds until firm, then pop them out--they're done. This is an activity you can do with your kids if you want to let them sort & unwrap the old crayons and pop the finished ones out of the molds. Don't let them near that hot wax!
Slow Cookers at eBay
A slow cooker is a wonderfully thoughtful wedding gift!
CrockPot Cookbooks!
These cookbooks are full of time-saving ideas for your crockpot
My favorite is the Fix It And Forget It Cookbook.
Do you have a favorite?
Fix-it And Forget-it 5-ingredient Favorites by Phyllis Pellman Good
So who has time to prepare food these days? We timestarved more...1 point
Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger, Julie Kaufmann
The slow cooker is perfect for today's lifestyle, more...0 points
Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes (Better Homes & Gardens) by Better Homes and Gardens
Great value-hundreds of tested and perfected recipes, more...0 points
The Healthy Slow Cooker by Judith Finlayson
A winning combination of healthy eating and convenience. more...0 points
Crazy About Crockery: 101 Easy and Inexpensive Recipes for Less Than $.75 a serving (Crazy about Crockpots!) by Penny E Stone
In this collection cookbook, Stone brings 101 of h more...0 points
Southern Living: Slow-Cooker Cookbook: 203 Kitchen-Tested Recipes - 80 Mouthwatering Photos! by Editors of Southern Living Magazine
Come home to home-cooked comfort food with this latest more...0 points
1,001 Best Slow-Cooker Recipes: The Only Slow-Cooker Cookbook You'll Ever Need by Sue Spitler, R.D. Linda R. Yoakam
Slow-cookers are a great complement to today's bus more...0 points
The Busy Mom's Slow Cooker Cookbook by Jyl Steinback
Family-friendly, easy-prep slow cooker main dishes, more...0 points
The Farmer's Wife Slow Cooker Cookbook: 101 blue-ribbon recipes adapted from farm favorites! by Lela Nargi
The early twentieth-century world of The Farmer's Wife more...0 points
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A Year Of CrockPotting From The CrockPot Lady
You do not want to miss this cooking blog...
She made a New Year's Resolution to use the crock pot every day in 2008 and we are the richer for her efforts. She's done a wonderful job on her blog, hasn't she? Why not visit her and leave a comment on her blog, thanking her!
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Did You Have Fun With My Time & Money Saving Ideas For Your Crockpot?
So many recipes, so little time...
Lemme know what you think! Hope ya liked it! =)

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Oct 1, 2010 @ 5:43 am | delete
- Great lens! I couldn't live without my trusty crockpot. I have to admit I've never been game enough to cook lasagna in it, but your pesto spinach lasagna looks delicious so I'll give it a go.
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BevsPaper
Jun 28, 2009 @ 8:18 am | delete
- I make chicken and noodles in my crockpot and they are so yummy! I Need to explore other recipes.
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machelle
Nov 30, 2008 @ 3:55 pm | delete
- Great Info! I am always looking for new ideas when it comes to feeding my big family. We all need resources and your have great information here. Thanks!
P.S. My crockpot is my best friend!!
Machelle at www.cheapfamilymeals.info
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DOUA
Oct 26, 2008 @ 1:06 am | delete
- I didn't know you could make Yogurt in a crockpot. Very well done lens.
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funcoolcollectibles
Sep 4, 2008 @ 11:07 pm | delete
- Oh I have been inspired to dust off my crock pot and put it to good use again! 5 stars!
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I am a wife, mother, and grandmother with a real passion for knitting, crochet, reading, and Squidoo. Here on Squidoo I am a Giant Squid, member of the... more »
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