Are You Worried Your Slow Cooker Will Burn The House Down?
Since releasing my How to Meal Plan eBook, I have started offering local classes to teach moms how to get dinner on the table.
I love, love , love these classes. It gives me the opportunity to really motivate moms in person to help them understand this IS something they can do and they CAN succeed at meal planning. But, one of my favorite elements of these classes is getting to hear the real struggles mom face when it comes to getting dinner on the table.
In a class I did earlier this month, at a local church, a mom of many little ones asked the group, “Is anyone ever afraid of their slow cooker or crockpot burning the house down?”.
I love these moments! It gives me real insight into what moms are thinking. If she is thinking this, so are other moms! Immediately I wondered how many moms worried about this.
The pulse of the room was instant. A few moms shaking their heads up and down confirming they had worried the same thing. A few shaking their heads back and forth confirming, like me, they have left their slow cooker unattended many times and this was not a fear at all.
If this is a concern with you I can understand why. We have always been taught to never leave the house with dinner in the oven.
The Beauty of a Built-in Digital Timer
How it is different for a slow cooker is things are cooking at a very slow pace and you really do not have to worry about over cooking. Especially if your slow cooker has a built-in digital timer. This is an amazing feature.
You pop your dinner in there, say at noon, and you are gone all day running tons of errands, homeschooling your kids, running to soccer practice, etc. Once the timer hits the designated cook time you selected, it stops cooking and automatically moves the food to warm.
So, if you put your dinner on before you leave for work and you’re gone for 12 hours, set the cook time for the 10 hours setting (which essentially is a low setting) and then once it is done cooking, it moves to warm. When you get home, all you have to do is make the salad, start the dinner rolls and wash some fresh fruit and dinner is done. And that food in the slow cooker is not overcooked, it is perfect and warm and waiting. You can also follow my tips for cooking in your slow cooker.
I ask you this, how many times have you had the slow cooker going while you’re at home and it catch on fire? I use mine multiple times per week and it has never happened to me. I let it cook over night and the same thing- just warm cooked food when we wake up.
Slow Cookers with Built-in Digital Timers
I admit to being one of those women who are scared it will catch fire! I’ve had mine quite a few years but an only really using it now I’m at home with my son. No matter how many times I’ve safely used it, there only needs to that one time where something goes wrong, and the house is gone!
Oh I wish you were in the Virginia area and could come and share at my MOPS group! Stopping by from Skip to My Lou 🙂 What an amazing ministry you have to moms!
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Andrea, you are too awesome to leave such a kind comment! Thank you.
More than anything, I just want moms to know we are all struggling with something. We are all doing the best we can and we need to stop being so hard on ourselves. I love encourage moms to utilize tools that will make life a little easier.
One time a friend admitted to a fear that her slow cooker would burn down the house if she used it while she was away and I thought she was so paranoid. It had never even occurred to me to be afraid of that. To me, it’s just like leaving your alarm clock plugged in. Not a big deal. Anyway, my friend will be glad to know she’s not alone in her fear.
Thanks for stopping by and linking up an awesome project. Stop by again soon!
Have a great week!
Susie@Bowdabra
http://bowdabrablog.com/2013/04/06/crafty-showcase-link-up-anything-fun-in-the-craft-project-linky-8/