I have a couple of other crock pots, and I love them for winter meals and to keep some dishes warms for hours. But clean up is not always... a breeze. Frequently, we find that food has stuck or burned to the pot. Well this easy clean, 7qt, easy carry Crock-Pot seems to be worth a try. The inner Crock-Pot is coated with a silver color non-stick surface, or so they say. So I started with the dish I have had the most difficulty with, my extra cheesy mac-and-cheese. Something my kid wishes I'd make more often and in larger quantities. Well I started with a small pot, with 1lb of noodle's, a simple white rue, 1lb Velveeta cheese and 1/2lb of Tillamook Colby Jack, a sweet whole onion sautéed down and 1/2lb of crispy bacon. Once all was combined in the Crock Pot, I cooked it on High for an hour and then low for another hour. This Crock-pot has a timer on it to shift from the High Temp setting or Low Temp setting to warm. I really wish it could shift from High to Low and then from Low to warm, as I've used and done this before. Well, anyway I have some images below that shows how the cheese sause does not really coat and stick to the sides of the Crock pot. I still got a bit browning on the bottom of the pot, the cheese did not stick, and it cleaned up easily. Yea, it past the first big test with flying colors.
Next up a Tri-Tip dinner, with portabella mushrooms, potatoes and carrots. Cooked in Beef Broth and French onion soup. I started with a 3lbs roast, which I seared on the BBQ, and then combine all ingredients in the CrockPot, I set the temp on high for 2 hrs, and returned after a couple of hours and changed the temp to Low for another 2hrs. After that it auto switched to warm, and I left it there. Sorry you can't smell it, but it came out perfect, meat almost falling apart.
So I'm very happy with the non-stick aspect of this Crock Pot, and the timer works well (30m increments; 7h to 30m); The 7Qt size seems huge, but is an advantage. Except for not offering the ability to shift from high to low, to warms it's an excellent crock pot that looks great, and cleans up easily. The locking lid is really nice to have if you ever travel with your cooked meal.