Rival 4.5 Quart Crock Pot a Dinnertime Lifesaver

I may be a work from home mom with only one child, but that doesn't mean I necessarily have the time -- or the desire -- to cook dinner each night. But a home cooked meal is important to me, and that's where the economical (about $20-$28) and efficient 4.5 quart crock pot from Rival comes in. With its convenient meal prep and easy to clean design, not only is getting dinner ready a snap, but the clean up afterward is as well. My 4.5 quart Rival crock pot gets 4.75 stars out of 5.

Cooking has never been a great love of mine. Crock pot cooking, however, is a completely different story. I love trying new crock pot recipes since they are so easy and practically impossible to mess up. Using a crock pot has made me happy to cook. Maybe because my 4.5 quart crock pot by Rival doesn't actually require me to do much cooking in the slaving over the stovetop sense. And the food that comes out of the thing is delicious. And it is a time saver because normally I just toss the ingredients in and it cooks them during the day, leaving me free to do a little extra work or get in a little extra play time with my son. Plus, the crock pot's smaller size makes it perfect for my smaller family of three (we also have a 7 quart Rival crock pot for when we have company).

I also love that the crock pot makes a home cooked entree possible even in the hot summer months. As summer approaches, I use my crock pot even more, since I don't want the oven heating up the house. During the summer, on days when my husband doesn't feel like grilling, we use the crock pot. Many of the great entrees cooked in the crock pot are perfectly complementary with the fresh vegetables we get from our garden. And with the "high" setting, we don't necessarily have to wait all day for our dinner to cook. Some recipes only take two hours in the crock pot, and without using the same amount of energy that using the stove or oven would.

The low price of the Rival 4.5 quart crock pot is also a great feature. We got ours for a wedding present, but I have seen them for as little as $20 at some of the big box stores. And the inner ceramic pot comes out of the warmer (and is dishwasher safe!) for easy cleaning. This is extremely convenient for those dishes that I may want to marinade for extra flavor. I can even prepare something the night before and store it in the fridge overnight, making the next day less stressful. The only thing I wish my crock pot had is a setting for "warm" rather than just the "high" and "low" cooking settings. But even so, the Rival 4.5 quart crock pot is a dinnertime lifesaver!