Rival Crock Pot By Markmyboy By markmyboy on Jan 30, 2008 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

I've had a Crock Pot for years, but haadn't started using it until last year. Our kitchen was being remodeled & the stove was in storage, so that meant eating out a lot or pulling out the crock pot. Our first few meals ended up a little dry, I came to find out that is because my crock pot was too small.

Once the kitchen was done a family memeber gave us the new 5 quart Crock Pot as a house warming gift & dinner just hasn't been the same. While I cook mainly roasts in the crock pot, I have also made chili, chicken breast, meatloaf, and many other foods that you wouldn't think you could cook in a crock pot. I am constantly finding new recipes for the crock pot & my family is enjoying the variety, while I like the fact that we save money by eating in & I don't feel like I am spending all afternoon cooking dinner.

I can put the roast in the crock pot in the morning with a few veggies & by dinner time the meat is tender & ready to serve. I feel like we are eating much healthier now as well. I have been cooking with fresh ingredients and we usually only need to add rice, noodles or potatoes to make a full dinner.

The crock pot is pretty easy to clean as well, I have just been rinsing out the stoneware bowl & cleaning it in the dish washer. The base rarely gets messy & when it does I just wipe off the mess with a wet cloth. For our family of four this 5 quart crock pot is the perfect size.