Do you leave your crockpot on while you are not home?

[SookieStackhouse]

Yes, I do it too. I know what you mean about pets not being able to be replaced, that's the only thing I worry about if the house were to catch on fire.

 

[sscassel]

Yes, all the time. But I do keep it on my flat top glass stove. I am not as comfortable with it on my countertops. Never had a problem.

 

[DeniseinNS]

I do all the time, it's usually just set on LOW though.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I do it all the time, but I have one with a timer.

 

[englishteacha]

I leave mine on when I'm out. DH works from home, so he's usually here, but I wouldn't hesitate to leave it on when I'm gone. Like someone else said, in my life's concerns, I'm no more worried about my crockpot catching fire than I am my fridge catching fire. I would be concerned that the food might burn and set off the smoke alarms if I left it on too long, but even that I don't think would start a fire. It doesn't get hot enough on Low to do that.

If you don't have a crockpot with a timer, you could use a lamp timer on it (like you plug lights into to come on and off automatically when you're not home). Set it to turn off power to the crockpot when you think it should be done so it doesn't keep cooking.

 

[DawnM]

THe newer crockpots have TIMED cooking on them! That would have prevented this. They shut off automatically.

Dawn

Used to all the time...UNTIL.... we were at work (this is usually when we used crock pot / slow cooker for convenience of dinner being done when we got home) and had a family emergency during the day so when we had to leave work unexpectantly to go to hospital and with everything going on forgot we even turned it on that morning. Got home about 10:00 pm and smoke detectors are going off smoke through the house, the sausage had cooked so long there was no water on and burnt the sausage and proceeded to burn the plug up, I would have to ask DH the details its been so long ago. Thank god we got there when we did or this could have been so much worse. Im sure many people would think this couldnt happen to them but no one is ever prepared for an emergency and when it does happen the last thing on your mind is did you leave something on especially if you are in the middle of your work day. Needless to say I only use a slow cooker when Im home and bought a pressure cooker to make a quick meal after work, this is just as good!

 

[DawnM]

I have two crockpots. An old one (3qt) and a newer one (5.5qt). I like the old one better, even though the newer one has a timer.

The old one cooks slower on a lower temp. It make the food so much more moist. The newer one cooks higher and I often end up burning the edges of things like lasagna.

Dawn

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

I sure do, ALL day long!

 

[fabfive]

I worry about leaving it on all day also. A friend of mine told me her trick is to use a timer cord. You know the kind you put outside for you Christmas lights that turn them on at a certain time and turn it off at a certain time. I thought that was a great idea. Some of my meals only call for 3 hours on low so I can program it to start at 2 pm and turn off at 5 pm just in time for dinner. Hopefully this is helpful.

 

[figment3258]

I hear ya! I am so nervous to leave other things on like the dryer. But the crock pot is the one thing I will leave on when we are not home.

 

[MEM]

I am as paranoid as they come about electricity, but the crockpot is one appliance I don't worry about. I work full-time and use my crockpot at least 4times a week, sometimes as many as 7.. As others have said, I only use the low setting on the crockpot and make sure to have several inches of space all around it. Mine will shift to "warm" after 10 hours on low and its safe to eat the food for up to 2 hours on warm.

 

[shortbun]

Isn't that the whole point of a crock pot? Otherwise, we'd all be using dutch ovens and turning our ovens on at a lower heat for long periods of time.

 

[Kathi OD]

I turn my crock pot on al the time when I'm not home. The house smells so good when you come in from wherever you've been.

Yes, been doing it for years.

I know people who have put dinner in the oven (on low) while gone to Sunday morn church.

For quite a number of years, ovens were sold with a feature where you could put the food in the oven when you left for work and program it to turn on at a certain time, so your meal would be finished when you got home. We had that type of oven in our old house. I used the feature once, and only once. I was a nervous wreck the entire time I was at work, thinking the house would burn down. I'm not sure if ovens are still made with that feature or not.

 

[MrandMissVacation]

Our newer crockpot cooks faster and seems to get hotter are gone too long to make a good meal in it.
So... I will cook in it the afternoon/night before on high for 4 hours (8 on low is too long/hot). I let the meal cool a bit and put n fridge and serve the next day( just have to reheat and make side dishes). Just did this with pork short ribs last night and it's what is for dinner today.

 

[ceecee]

That's what they're made for!
The newer ones get a lot hotter than the older ones, so I usually always leave it on low and make sure there's plenty of liquids.

 

[LisaNJ25]

I turn my crock pot on al the time when I'm not home. The house smells so good when you come in from wherever you've been.



For quite a number of years, ovens were sold with a feature where you could put the food in the oven when you left for work and program it to turn on at a certain time, so your meal would be finished when you got home. We had that type of oven in our old house. I used the feature once, and only once. I was a nervous wreck the entire time I was at work, thinking the house would burn down. I'm not sure if ovens are still made with that feature or not.

yep.. I remember my grandmother doing this when I was younger. Now that I am older I wonder if that meat was very safe leaving it in there also day.

 

[LisaNJ25]

I turn my crock pot on al the time when I'm not home. The house smells so good when you come in from wherever you've been.



For quite a number of years, ovens were sold with a feature where you could put the food in the oven when you left for work and program it to turn on at a certain time, so your meal would be finished when you got home. We had that type of oven in our old house. I used the feature once, and only once. I was a nervous wreck the entire time I was at work, thinking the house would burn down. I'm not sure if ovens are still made with that feature or not.

yep.. I remember my grandmother doing this when I was younger. Now that I am older I wonder if that meat was very safe leaving it in there also day.

 

[fortwildernessishome]

yep.. I remember my grandmother doing this when I was younger. Now that I am older I wonder if that meat was very safe leaving it in there also day.

I was thinking the same thing...can't imagine leaving meat sitting out like that. Somone else mentioned putting a timer on a crockpot to come on at 2:00 to cook until 5:00, I was wondering what type of food that would be, that could sit on the counter from sometime in the morning until 2:00... To the OP, I leave my crockpot on when I am not home all the time.

 

[gigi1976]

I do it, but I sort of live on the edge, I run the dishwasher and dryer when I'm not home too, and I know some people who would never dream of doing that. What I won't do is use those plug in scented oil warmers. My old boss received a photo from a fire department friend of one that had completely melted in the wall, and then I started thinking that oil and heat make fire...why would I put those together? At least my crockpot is connected to a circuit breaker that would hopefully trip before anything bad happened.

 

[SPBendersky]

We leave ours on. I think thats the point so you have a meal ready when you get home. Of course we plug it into a GFI and you should have other safe gaurds but it really doesn't get that hot if thats a worry.