Have You Ever Wondered About The History Of The Crock Pot?

I also discovered an interesting article dated Wednesday, April 14, 2004, in “The Tuscaloosa News”, written by Diane Peterson, where she outlines the introduction of electric slow cooking:

“Over time, slow cooking has evolved alongside modern technology, sticking to its clay pot roots but relying on an electrical outlet rather than flame for heat.


In 1970, as part of an acquisition, the kitchen appliance company Rival inherited a strange-looking appliance called the “Beanery”, with a glazed brown crock and white steel housing, for cooking beans.

After a few experiments with pot roast and other classic dishes, Rival decided to update the Beanery and manufacture 25,000 units.

By 1971, it coined the catchy phrase “Cooks all day while the cook's away” - and voila, the Crock-Pot was born, ushering in a whole new era of slow cooking.”


My mother survived the 70's and 80's as a full time working mother without a crockpot, because she had an automatic oven... I survived working 10 hour days with a 45-90 minute commute each way, for the last two decades by relying on my slow cooker to have dinner ready whenever it was that we managed to get in the door! There are so many positive thoughts and feelings the come up, when you are on your way home, on a cold winters night and you know there is a steaming hot yummy chicken or beef casserole waiting for you! On the days when I didn't manage to get the slow cooker on before I left home, I would get to a certain point in the journey home and start actually stressing about what was at home I could quickly make a meal with!

My slow cooker is my favorite kitchen appliance because it saves me stressing about what's for dinner at that stressful end of the day, it saves me money because I am not tempted to eat out or stop for takeaways, and it save me time! Making a quick casserole before I leave for work in the morning takes 15 minutes at the most. Most times when I cook side dishes I double the quantity so I am cooking once and eating twice. It's obviously faster to reheat than cook from scratch for the next night. I tried to always have salad fixings on hand from the garden, and good quality frozen vegetables in the freezer. We survived pretty well. I found something like Thai Chicken Curry and rice was always a good idea the night before I went shopping, when all the fresh vegetables would be gone, it didn't matter!

If you don't already own a slow cooker, you really need to get one. When I was working, there was no such thing as a 'smart pot slow cooker' – but this is exactly what I would have loved to have had in those days. If you looking for a easy programmable slow cooker that is so intuitive to use, that switches to 'warm' when the cooking time has elapsed, check out the Crockpot 6-Quart Oval Smart-Pot Slow Cooker with Dippers here in this article – it's an incredibly good slow cooker for an incredibly good price!