On the days that I work, I am away from home for 12 hours. Most crockpot recipes call for cooking times of 6-10 hrs. I have a crockpot which just sets to "warm" after the set cooking time, but am still finding that sometimes the recipe still gets burned or dried out. Any one have suggestions or 12-hour recipes? Thanks
Prepare the recipe ahead of time and heat it up. You could put it on when you go to bed, put the cooked meal in the refrigerator before you leave for the day, and heat it up when you get home. In the alternative, you could do what I do, which is to do my lengthy preparations for all the week's meals on Sunday afternoon and then heat up at dinner time.
Ooo, 12 hours is a long time.. I wonder if you could purchase one of those electric plug in Timers and set it to go off 4 hours after you leave for work.. You could place the meat in there frozen in the beginning.. What do you other moms think?
Here is a link to a timer..
I am sure that hardware stores have lots of them..
http://www.amazon.com/Timex-L12-###-###-####P03-Electroni...
If your crock pot doesn't have a timer, put the stuff in at night. It will be done in the morning and you can turn it off. Then all you have to do is warm it up that evening.
I actually prefer putting things in the crockpot at night. I never have spare time in the mornings.
Best wishes!
Have you ever tried cooking meat on "low" from frozen? I have cooked a whole frozen chicken in the crockpot on high and it was done in 6-7 hours, but I'm thinking that if you did it on low, it might take 12. Or, a pot roast from frozen, with plenty of liquid, might work.
You might want to check out the 365 days of slow cooking blog...that was the gal who used her slow cooker every day for a year...
I'll keep a watch, because I'm curious too!
My mom used to do stuff in the crock while she slept overnight. Then you just pop it in the fridge right in the crock and all you have to do is heat it in the microwave and dinner is served. If you work nights, then maybe you could just load it right before you lay down when you get off. Hope that helps! I don't know of any twelve hour recipes either.
I am like you, I am gone for about 10-11 hours and find the same problem. I have done what Laurie suggested, get one of those timers that you use when you are out of town - the kind that will turn a light on at a certain time and shut it off at a set time. I will set teh crock pot to start about 4 hours after I leave and shut off about 1/2 to 1 hour before I get home.
Though I REALLY like Jen's answer about cooking overnight!
Regarding frozen roast...I just microwave/thawed a roast, then seared the edges and plopped it in the crock pot on high for about 4 hours and it was cooked, but not as tender as I like. Normally 4hrs/high cooks it perfect. I think a frozen roast should be fine for 12 hours on low. I never add water, it makes it's own juice and is never burned.
Try www.crockpot365.blogspot.com
She might have some good ones.
