how early can I put food into a slow-cooker?
I am considering getting a slow-cooker. I leave for work by 8am, return about 4pm and feed my family dinner about 5pm. Can food sit in the slow cooker that long? Thanks.
Best Answer
Yes. A typical slow cooker's low setting ranges between 8-10 hours, which is within the range of your listed times.
All (or nearly all) slow cookers come with a removable ceramic bowl/insert that the food cooks in. Most families do most of the preparation in the evening, putting everything into that bowl, and putting the bowl into the refrigerator. Then when they wake up in the morning, they put the bowl back into the slow cooker and start it up.
Your bigger concern should be what size of slow cooker to get. If you don't fill up that ceramic bowl to at least 1/2-2/3's full, you can end up burning the entire dinner.
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Can you put all ingredients in a slow cooker the night before?
If you're going out to work, and everything is a mad dash in the morning, it's easy to prepare ahead. You can prep your ingredients and brown any meat if necessary the night before, put everything into the slow cooker dish, cover it and keep it in the fridge overnight.How long can food sit in crockpot before cooking?
The general rule of thumb is that two to four hours is the maximum length of time you can leave food in a slow cooker on warm. After this, it needs to be transferred into the refrigerator.Can you put cold food in a slow cooker?
Yes, but it is very important to understand that starting to cook with cold stoneware and cold food will affect the ramp up time of the slow cooker. Always add sufficient time into the cook time to ensure food is safe, as well as tender.Can you keep food warm in a slow cooker?
Use Your Slow Cooker To Keep Food WarmYou can use your slow cooker to keep for warm as long as the temperature of the food stays above 140 degrees F.Mistakes Everyone Makes Using The Slow Cooker
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Answer 2
Easy, that's what slow cookers do. Not all recipes do well for all day cooking, but many do. Here's a little collection to get you started. Here's a Google search for all day recipes. The whole point of the Crock-Pot is that it gets food out of the "danger zone" (above 140F, 60C) quickly, but cooks the food slowly. There are tons of well loved recipes that will serve you well.
As for all recipe searches, look for strong reviews.
Answer 3
My grandmother says that if the recipe calls for 8 hours, she will sometimes cook it for as many as 10 hours and it comes out great. So I think it's fair to say if you cook for 8 hours and then leave on warm for 1 hour that it will be perfectly fine to eat.
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