🦠 Why Cleaning Matters

Slow cookers are designed to cook food slowly, but that doesn’t mean food can safely sit around indefinitely after cooking.

Once food is no longer being kept hot, it should be handled appropriately.

Leftovers should be refrigerated promptly in shallow containers rather than being left sitting in the crockpot for hours.

And once the food is gone, cleaning the crock prevents old residue from hanging around until the next meal.

🥘 What About Leaving the Food in the Crock Overnight?

This is another household debate.

Someone might say:

“It’s already cooked. I’ll just put the whole crock in the refrigerator.”

But that isn’t necessarily the best way to cool leftovers.

A large, deep container of hot food can cool too slowly.

It’s generally better to divide leftovers into smaller, shallow containers so they cool more quickly.

Then clean the slow cooker separately.