Crockpot Help - Start from Frozen?

[DCook]

Need some crockpot help. My husband and I work all day, so we'll often see crockpot recipes we may like to try but that only take 4-6 hours. We're out of the house for 9 hours, so that doesn't really work.

I know I've heard you can start from frozen, does anyone have any experience with this?

For example, I was hoping to do meatloaf in the slow cooker this week. From what I can see, it would take way less than 9 hours, so I figure if I freeze it and start from frozen, we might be okay. But looking for advice

[AngelaM]

I've always heard that you should not start from frozen due to bacteria growth, but there are tons of people ou there that think its perfectly safe (I am not one of them).

That said, there are now crock-pots that have digital timers on them. I can program mine in half-hour increments, up to 20 hours I think, and it will turn itself to warm automatically. It will stay on warm for 3-4 hours. I only use my crock-pot once every couple of weeks (mainlky because there are just two of us and they make a ton of food), but this always seems to work fine.

[sneezles]

I am one of those who uses my crockpot to cook frozen foods. Here are some tips:

Cooking with Frozen Foods
You can cook frozen meats in your Crock-Pot® slow cooker, however it is best to use the following guidelines:

• Add at least 1 cup of warm liquid to the stoneware before placing meat in the stoneware.

• Do not preheat the slow cooker.

• Cook recipes containing frozen meats for an additional 4 to 6 hours on Low, or an additional
2 hours on High.


That said I don't think I'd ever consider doing a meatloaf, especially a frozen one, in a crockpot.

[DCook]

Thanks for the info. I don't have a programmable crockpot, but it seems to me like bacterial growth would be worse by leaving meat at room temperature for hours before starting to cook it

But I'm certainly no expert

[Just Mary]

Dcook- I think what the timer function was mentioned for is you could cook your food in the morning, as soon as you put it in the crockpot, and then the pot can hold it warm (not cooking further but not in the danger zone) until you get home. The newer digital crockpots seem to have this feature and they're not expensive.

[patt]

[QUOTE=sneezles;1547072]
• Cook recipes containing frozen meats for an additional 4 to 6 hours on Low, or an additional
2 hours on High.


I don't hesitate to cook frozen roasts or whole chickens in the crockpot. The extra time mentioned above doesn't enter into it because my crockpot is usually on for 10-12 hours. I wouldn't do small pieces of meat because I can guarantee that it will be mush by the time I get home.

I'm sure Sneezles caution is valid and keeps food safe - I just don't worry about it. I base this on the strong scientific principle of "I haven't killed anyone yet."

Patt

[dreamer101]

You can buy a timer and have the slow cooker start and stop when you want. You can prepare recipe the night before and put the crock in the fridge. It will take a while (cold from fridge) to get to room temperature. Also there are lots of recipes that call for 6-8 hours on low.

[sneezles]

[QUOTE=patt;1547103]

I'm sure Sneezles caution is valid and keeps food safe - I just don't worry about it. I base this on the strong scientific principle of "I haven't killed anyone yet."

Patt

I wouldn't hesitate to cook a hunk of frozen meat but not meatloaf. The tips aren't mine they are from the crockpot website. And I follow the same "scientific principle"!

[AngelaM]

"I don't hesitate to cook frozen roasts or whole chickens in the crockpot. The extra time mentioned above doesn't enter into it because my crockpot is usually on for 10-12 hours. I wouldn't do small pieces of meat because I can guarantee that it will be mush by the time I get home."


Actually, I was just reading yesterday that you should never cook a whole chicken in the crock-pot because they don't get warm enough on the inside to prevent bacteria. This was from a "quiz" from a crock-pot manufacturer.

As far as the frozen thing, I never said to thaw on the counter instead. I have seen arguments both ways on this safety issue, but I just don't risk it.

As far as the timer...if you purchase your own from the hardware store, the problem with this would be that it just would turn the power to the crock-pot off, not keep it warm. That's why I like the programmable ones.