My husband and I have this deal that whoever cooks dinner, the other half has to clean the dishes. I like to cheat sometimes and make Crock Pot dinners. Therefore, my stress level is greatly reduced by the mere fact that I do not have to rush home to cook. Then, since I technically mix all the ingredients that morning, my husband is on Crock Pot cleaning duty.
Yesterday, I made a delicious chicken and rice meal in the Crock Pot. As my husband was in the kitchen filling the Crock Pot with soapy water, he yells at me, “For your next blog, you should write about Crock Pot problems.” I started laughing and said “like what?” He then unleashed his tirade about our beloved Crock Pot.
Problem #1: There is no way to delay the cooking start time.
Most of the Crock Pot dinner recipes that I use suggest cook times to be between six and eight hours, if cooking on low. The issue that arises for my husband and I is that round trip of driving to work, working and then driving home is 10+ hours. Now, the Crock Pot we have does allow me to set the timer for eight hours and then it switches over to keep warm. By the time we got home last night, the chicken was slightly dry and the rice was burnt around the edges. Being frustrated by this in the past, my husband has tried to rig the Crock Pot to the Christmas lights delayed timer. We are still working out the kinks in that process. Therefore, Dear Crock Pot Gods, please find a way to delay the eight hour cooking time by two hours for my husbands’ sanity.
Problem #2: We have to soak the Crock Pot in soapy water for three days.
Ok, so we may not need to actually soak the Crock Pot that long, but, it does make it easier to clean. However, it is about 50/50 who really ends up cleaning the Crock Pot, due to my husband letting it sit in soapy water for this long in order to loosen up all the food. Half the time I end up cleaning the crock pot because I am sick of it sitting on the counter and taking up valuable space. I beleive that his intended goal is to get me to clean it, whether he wants to admit it or not. Above all things to cook in the Crock Pot, making Queso is probably the worst. Now, that I believe should soak in soapy water for three days!
Problem #3: We are too lazy to return the Crock Pot back to its home.
Even though this wonderful dinner maker takes up valuable counter space, we still find ourselves leaving it on the counter for another three days after it is cleaned. Why? Reason number one: we bought a house that does not have a pantry. We underestimated the importance of a pantry and house number two will definitely have a pantry. Therefore the Crock Pot’s home, since it is so big, is shoved in a bottom shelf behind the smaller Crock Pot and electric griddle. The process of removing these items and putting them back in front takes more effort than we are willing to put in on a week night. Honestly, it would probably take five minutes, but we would rather spend those five minutes with little man. Unless, little man decides to throw a fit, and yes we have entered into that fun stage. At this point, I usually let my husband handle the tantrum and I suddenly found myself five minutes to complete this task!
In light of these problems, we are reduced to using our crock pot on the weekends for chili during football season. GO CHIEFS!Maybe a handful of times during the year do we dust it off to test out a quick dinner solution. Then we remember how much of a pain in the ass it can be. A month later, we forget the whole process and dig it out wondering why we do not use it more often. The vicious cycle of the Crock Pot starts over, once again.