The Crock-Pot SCR200 is a small, two-quart slow cooker that is perfect for college dorms, one-person households, or for heating dips and side dishes at a party. It is super inexpensive, costing just $17.99, and it can often be found on sale for $10 or less. It also performed well in our testing, and its small size makes it easy to store and travel with. Since it is such a simple device, it is missing some features that are common with the best slow cookers with larger capacities.
Crock-Pot SCR200: Performance
Our taste testers weren't blown away by the beef stew this slow cooker created, but they still liked it. The meat was tender, and the broth was relatively flavorful. We found it somewhat difficult to ladle out the stew – especially compared to the similarly sized 2-quart Elite by Maxi-Matic – because the bowl was so narrow and deep. The same would go for any meat-intensive dishes since they are heavy and hard to scoop around. You wouldn't have this problem with a soup or nacho cheese recipe, though. However, no matter what you make, you will want to have a small ladle to make the scooping process easier.
In our evaporation test, this device only lost 10 percent of moisture on the high setting and 3 percent of moisture on the low setting. With these numbers, it's likely that your food won't dry out during cooking as long as you place a good amount of liquid inside. The exterior of the device was 140 degrees Fahrenheit above the settings knob and 154 degrees by the handles. The handles were just a little warm during our cooking sessions, but you could easily lift the device without burning your fingers. These are neither the hottest nor the coolest temperatures we measured. But, like any slow cooker, you'll want to keep it away from pets and children.
You will find ten recipes in the included instruction manual. If you happen to lose the manual, you can find these recipes and the instructions on Crock-Pot's website.
Since this is such a basic slow cooker, there are no included accessories. The card only measures 25 inches, which made it somewhat difficult for us to reach a plug when testing, and there is no built-in cord storage, so you will want to be careful with the cord when storing it away.
This slow cooker is small, weighing only 4.7 pounds, and is about the size of a small terra cotta pot. This unit will be easy to lift, store, and transport. Unlike most other slow cookers, you could probably even fit it onto a cabinet shelf to save some counter space.
There are only three knob settings: low, high, and off. That means that there is no warming setting to prevent your food from overcooking. This won't be important if you plan on eating your food right away, but it would be a nice convenience feature for get-togethers where you may not eat immediately. When you are done using it, you can easily hand wash it or place the bowl and lid in a dishwasher.
Crock-Pot covers this unit with a one-year warranty, which is standard.
Should you buy the Crock-Pot SCR200?
The Crock-Pot SCR200 is a small, two-quart slow cooker that is perfect for college dorms, one-person households, or for heating dips and side dishes at a party. Its compact size makes it easy to store and travel with, and it's an affordable option at just $17.99. While it lacks some features found in larger slow cookers, it performed well in tests, and its evaporation rate was low. The device is easy to clean and comes with ten recipes in the instruction manual. However, it has a narrow and deep bowl, making it difficult to scoop out meat-heavy dishes, and it lacks a warming setting.
