Leaving a slow-cooker unattended all day. Does it seem a little questionable to you? (dishwasher, laminate)
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I've been perusing slow-cooker recipes, many of which require cooking the food for 6 to 8 hours. I own a slow-cooker, but haven't used it in months. (Last time I did, I was home, cleaning, while the slow-cooker cooked my chicken chili.) I've heard of people starting their slow-cooker in the morning, then letting run until evening, while they go to work or on a day trip. Then, when they come back, their dinner is ready.
This sounds easy and convenient on paper, but I have a lot of reservations about running a heat-generating appliance while I'm not home. (After all, I'd never run my stove that way, even an electrical one.) Especially considering that oftentimes, the running slow-cooker sits on a wooden table or a kitchen counter. The most benign case I can think of is an electrical surge shutting off the slow-cooker, causing the food in it to go to waste. But what if it catches fire, for one reason or another? With me being gone all day, it could get pretty bad.
One method I have in mind, is placing the slow-cooker into an empty, dry kitchen sink. (My counters are laminate, so they're not fireproof.) This way, if the food spills out or something happens to the slow-cooker, it won't result in a destructive fire. (Just possible damage to the sink.) After all, the sink is stainless steel.
Actually, I'd be a little wary of leaving it on while gone, too. It seems appliances used to be more reliable than they are now (or maybe we didn't worry as much back then) so I think you're right to worry.
A compromise would be to do the cooking overnight and refrigerate the meal until you get home from work the next day. I know some people on here would say, well, it could catch fire overnight, too, and then you'd be sleeping and the house would be burning down on top of you. So what's the answer? Either you trust the appliance to work while you're not watching it all the time, or you don't.
I do my slow cooker cooking at night and set the cooker on a metal tray, but your idea of the sink seems fine, too (if you don't have a slow leak in your faucet, haha)
I know a lot of people leave their slow cookers unattended, but I've always been paranoid about that, so I only use it when I know I'm going to be home all day. (I have a friend whose husband is a fire chief, and she told me she would never leave hers unattended either.)
Maybe I'd be more concerned about a $15 crockpot but not a $75 InstaPot. And I don't leave mine sitting on "wood" or anything flammable but on top of my ceramic cooktop so there is nothing that close to catch on fire.
There could always be a freak accident but think....you leave outside lights on all night...flip your dishwasher to run before you run out the door...start a load of laundry the same way....the list goes on. I have to figure I have homeowners reason for a reason, and this is it.
I don't however run my dryer while I'm out - for some reason the odds of a lint fire seems higher.
What's "all day"? I've left them for eight hours, no problem. I probably wouldn't leave it unattended longer.
"All day" wasn't meant literally, i.e. 24 hours. It was meant the way most people use the term: from early morning until evening.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ndcairngorm
A compromise would be to do the cooking overnight and refrigerate the meal until you get home from work the next day. I know some people on here would say, well, it could catch fire overnight, too, and then you'd be sleeping and the house would be burning down on top of you. So what's the answer? Either you trust the appliance to work while you're not watching it all the time, or you don't.
I do my slow cooker cooking at night and set the cooker on a metal tray, but your idea of the sink seems fine, too (if you don't have a slow leak in your faucet, haha)
I have a double sink. So I'd just turn the faucet to the vacant sink section.
I live in an apartment building, and it's hooked up to my suburb's municipal fire alarm system (per city ordinance). So if a fire were to start in my kitchen at night, it'd trip the alarm and wake up all my neighbors, and I'd have a small crowd of cranky, half-awake people in my building's parking lot. Like a school fire drill, basically.
I've been perusing slow-cooker recipes, many of which require cooking the food for 6 to 8 hours. I own a slow-cooker, but haven't used it in months. (Last time I did, I was home, cleaning, while the slow-cooker cooked my chicken chili.) I've heard of people starting their slow-cooker in the morning, then letting run until evening, while they go to work or on a day trip. Then, when they come back, their dinner is ready.
This sounds easy and convenient on paper, but I have a lot of reservations about running a heat-generating appliance while I'm not home. (After all, I'd never run my stove that way, even an electrical one.) Especially considering that oftentimes, the running slow-cooker sits on a wooden table or a kitchen counter. The most benign case I can think of is an electrical surge shutting off the slow-cooker, causing the food in it to go to waste. But what if it catches fire, for one reason or another? With me being gone all day, it could get pretty bad.
One method I have in mind, is placing the slow-cooker into an empty, dry kitchen sink. (My counters are laminate, so they're not fireproof.) This way, if the food spills out or something happens to the slow-cooker, it won't result in a destructive fire. (Just possible damage to the sink.) After all, the sink is stainless steel.
What does everyone else think?
"This is US" dejavu ???
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