Please help! I've been searching on Amazon half the morning reading reviews (all negative) so I have no idea who makes a good cross cut shredder (bf asked for one for xmas ) and who makes a good Crock Pot (my xmas list ).
The whole crock pot thingy has me confused. What size do I need 3qt,4qt, 5qt, bigger?? Also I want a programable one or one I can set to cook and then it goes to warm or off so it doesn't burn my food. Anyone have any suggestions??
I'd say go with a larger crockpot - we upgraded from a small round one to a large oval one (wedding gift) and I like it alot better. You can't really do roasts in the small one, and IMO the point of the slow cooker is that you can make alot of food with relatively little fuss. Small crocks don't afford much in the way of leftovers, even if only two people are eating out of it.
We got this one:
$50 @ Target
(It's 5.5 qts - you could fit a small turkey breast or a whole chicken in there no problem)
It's programmable, and has the 'keep warm' feature. From what I've heard, the large oval pots tend to run hotter than average, so I'd advise cooking on the Low setting and actually setting it to run for the shorter end of the time suggested (most dishes are like 6-8 hours on Low) - set it for 6 hours, and let it go for while longer on the 'keep warm'. The keep warm setting actually continues the cooking process more than you'd expect.
As for shredders, I'd say that it's actually one of those things that spending a few extra dollars on makes a big difference in quality. We spent maybe $40 on one (also from Target, it's got separate slots for paper, credit cards, and CDs) that's done us great. We bought it after our $20 one died while eating an envelope with one of those stretchy plastic windows in it .....
-- Edited by Elle at 15:50, 2006-11-02
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Thanks Elle. That is the one I've been looking at! I'm glad that it works well. I'm putting it on the list I give to my mom.
As for shredders I was thinking the $40-50 range also. I have a $10 target one that I use for reciepts and just addresses - nothing major since its just a single line shred. If you don't mind looking later can you tell me which brand you are using. I find that there are mixed reviews on aurora brand and bad reviews on fellows go figure since I've actually heard of fellows.