Using a crockpot

[New-mom-to-be]

1) Is it safe to use overnight or all day (10 hours or more)
2) Will it cook beans or do they get mushy if you are gone all day?

thank you

[Lady_V]

I use my crock a lot. If I know I am going to be cooking overnight, I cook on low (to have something hot and ready in the morning).

I really haven't made beans in it yet, but I have made rice and even pasta in it. It does get a bit soft, but not mushy.

[Buc-O-Mama]

Generally, they are safe for extended periods of time. There is nothing like walking into the house after being gone all day to the yummy smell of dinner that cooked itself. As far as beans go, I cook dry pintos in mine but I want them to get mushy because they mostly end up in the food processor for homemade refried beans.

[dianne9106]

The dry red beans you can buy in the packages usually have directions on how long to cook them. If you crockpot has a warm option, then it should good from low to warm after you have told it to cook for a certain amount of hours. A crockpot is good to use for 10 hours and it is a huge energy saver compared to running your cooker for 10 hours! Just follow the directions on how long to cook things - if there are none you can look stuff up on the internet for general cooking times.

[cheles2kids]

Yes & Yes!
Yes, your food will get mushy if it's cooked too long.
That's why it's important to find a crockpot type of cook book (or you could probably even do a search online for a free chart of some kind) to give you a general time schedule for different types of food.

Yes, you can cook beans in them without them being mushy.

The only way I cook my beans is in the crockpot.
Sort beans.
Put into large bowl.
Cover beans with water.
Wash and repeat *at least* 5 times or so, to remove all dirt.
Once washed well, fill water with at least double the amount of water to beans.
Place in fridge overnight.
Take out mid morning, drain water off, rinse again.
Then pour into crockpot.
Add *at least* enough water to cover beans with about another 3-4 inches more above beans (I just eyeball it), you can always add more water, but it's hard to take it out if you get too much.
Cook on high 2-3 hours.
OR Medium for about 5 hours.
Add water as needed.
Season the last 20 minutes or so before eating.

Note-The cook times will vary greatly depending on the type of beans cooked AND your crockpot.
Black beans are the quickest to me, then red beans, kidney/pinto type beans.

So I would suggest the very first time cooking them, cook them when you can be home all day to watch them and know how long it will take.

HTH some!

[cheles2kids]

Another note on rice or past in the crockpot, I never do it.
When I'm serving something that needs either one of these, I always cook it on the side.

It never takes more than 10-12 minutes for either of these, unless of course it's brown rice and then I usually just end up doing a large batch of it at one time and storing some pre-cooked in the freezer.

[cheles2kids]

Another note on rice or pasta in the crockpot, I never do it.
When I'm serving something that needs either one of these, I always cook it on the side.

It never takes more than 10-12 minutes for either of these, unless of course it's brown rice and then I usually just end up doing a large batch of it at one time and storing some pre-cooked in the freezer.

Since I couldn't "edit" my post, and I misspelled pasta wrong, I wanted to fix it.

[cissylu]

I love cooking in my crockpot. the pintoand sasuage are so good.

[YankeeMom]

I love my crockpot.

But...I can't cook in it longer than 6-8 hours because it has a "hot spot". One area in one 'corner' (it's oval) that gets hot. There's no crack in the insert that might explain it. It just gets hot. It might be a bad element. But if I leave stuff in it too long, it burns right in that spot. If I'm able to stir it, it's okay. But to leave it alone I can't.

I also do not cook rice in the crockpot. The only time I do any kind of pasta is cp mac & cheese...and that's done in just a couple of hours.

I love my crockpot mostly because in the summer, I can cook a yummy meal and not heat up my kitchen.

[Frugal Cook]

I also love my crockpot (a HB) and it has a permanent spot on my counter. I cook mostly dried beans and soups, with the occasional chicken and roasts. I especially like my little "crockette" (4 cup) that I use to make Steel Cut Oats overnight and sometimes brown rice.

[MommaStumpf]

Just a note on crockpots we love using ours and we purchased our two smaller ones that we use three or more times a week at wal-mart the day after thanksgiving when they were priced 3.88 they aren't fancy but they work just fine for spaghetti sauce, taco filling, veggies, soup(just right for one meal for two grownups and three kids). Using the crock pot also reduces our a/c use in our second floor apartment

[PrairieRose]

I get raves on my pinto beans all the time. I cook mine all night and all day on high in my crockpot. I throw some salt pork or part of a pork roast (I buy em on sale, cut em up into about 8 different hunks, cut those hunks up into chunks, wrap and freeze) in, add water to almost the very top of the pot, let cook over night on high. In the morning I salt and pepper to taste and add about a tsp. of chili powder, add water if needed (sometimes when I get up in the middle of the night for a bathroom break...sorry tmi, I have to add more water). Mid afternoon I'll taste and if they need more salt I'll add more. Homemade cornbread, cut up onion as a garnish........YUM-MY.

If you're gonna be away for the whole day you could turn your pot down to low in the morning...... I've done that if I feared it would cook dry.

[Hannahs mom]

I'd cook something in the crock for a long period of time when you would be home, just to see how it would do. Mine has a tendency to boil, even if cooked on low for several hours. For this reason, I only use mine when I'm home (usually overnight).