What can I do with a Crock Pot crock?

The lid to my trusty Crock Pot exploded. No, I don't know how; I placed it in the dish drainer, left to run some errands, and came home to find shards of glass spread all over the kitchen. Mysterious. I called Crock Pot to ask about a replacement lid, which of course costs nearly what a new one does, and I wanted a programmable anyway, so now I have a lonely crock. Is there anything I can use it for? Such as a Dutch-oven-like pot, although sans lid, obviously? I hate to just throw it away.

Use it as a serving vessel for soup, gravy, mashed potatoes, etc.

Make sauerkraut in it or fermented foods like kimchee or pickles. Other ideas are to sell it on ebay, or donate to a thrift shop. People look for the crocks because they crack or break. I have an old crock pot I put in the refrigerator and then turned on when it was cold and it cracked. I got a used crock insert perfectly matching at a thrift shop. Also try looking for the lid on ebay. You would be surprised at what people put on there. Around the holidays I also serve food in the crock pot to keep it warm. I put mashed potatoes in it. Even if you don't have a lid, you can put foil on it until it is time for people to dig in.

PS There are several crock pot lids being offered on ebay now and a few on Etsy. It might be worth saving an old crock pot as the new ones cook faster. They are not the same as the old. I did some research and found that they upped the heat on them seemingly to avoid food poisoning but I don't think this would really be a risk with the old ones as they got hot. There have been people complaining about the new ones not being as good.

Flower pot?

razbry wrote:Flower pot?

Nope, that what old toilets are for!

Hi- I belong to the Evanston branch of freecycle. There is a Chicago branch of freecycle which I have never been a member of, but if you sign up with the group, you can see if anybody has a lid for your crockpot. I will warn you though that once you sign up with them, you will get lots of emails from them. Every time somebody posts looking for an item, or offering an item, everybody on the list receives an email with the post. I get 30 or more emails every day from freecycle. You can also go on craigslist, and post in the free section. Hope this helps, Nancy

I'd think a double or triple layer of aluminum foil sealed tightly over the top of the crock would seal in the moisture and add as much insulation as the old glass top.

NFriday wrote:Hi- I belong to the Evanston branch of freecycle. There is a Chicago branch of freecycle which I have never been a member of, but if you sign up with the group, you can see if anybody has a lid for your crockpot. I will warn you though that once you sign up with them, you will get lots of emails from them. Every time somebody posts looking for an item, or offering an item, everybody on the list receives an email with the post. I get 30 or more emails every day from freecycle. You can also go on craigslist, and post in the free section. Hope this helps, Nancy

Going slightly off-topic....

Nancy- You can control how you get your emails from the Evanston Freecycle. When you log in, go to "My Groups" then "Change Settings". From there, you can choose from a drop-down of three email setting options.

And now back to the crock pot discussion...