20 Forgotten Crockpot Dinners During The First Slow Cooker Boom

20 Forgotten Crockpot Dinners During The First Slow Cooker Boom




In the 1970s, the countertop slow cooker changed weeknights—parents worked late,
homework piled up, and dinner still arrived hot. This episode revives 25 real crockpot dinners

from the first boom: thrifty, comforting, and surprisingly timeless.

Our channel explores everyday American food history across eras. While this episode

spotlights the classic slow-cooker boom, we also cover immigrant foodways—like Irish

immigrants in Boston in the mid-1800s after the Great Famine—and what ended up on real

tables: corned beef and cabbage, chowder, colcannon, soda bread, salt cod, and humble

grains like barley/oats. Everything is people-first, historically grounded, and drawn from

newspapers, community cookbooks, and archives so you can see how ordinary families

actually ate—then and now.

What you’ll see

Packet pot roast, Italian beef, and pepper-onion steak—weeknight workhorses

Chicken & dumplings, porcupine meatballs, Salisbury steak—gravy plates that stretch

Ham & beans, beef-barley, lentil-sausage—soup nights that fill thermoses

Tamale pie, enchilada and tetrazzini bakes—casseroles without the oven

White chicken chili, tortilla soup—pantry cans with big flavor

Scalloped potatoes with ham, no-boil lasagna—crowd pans that travel well

Chapters -

Cola Pot Roast • Italian Beef Sandwiches • Chicken & Dumplings (Biscuit Hack) • Porcupine

Meatballs • Pepper Steak with Onions • Salisbury Steak w/ Mushroom Gravy • Honey–Garlic

Chicken Thighs • Apricot “French Dressing” Chicken • Swedish Meatballs • Cocktail

Meatballs • Country-Style BBQ Pork Ribs • Ham & Great Northern Beans • Beef Barley Soup

• Chicken Tetrazzini (Crock) • Enchilada Casserole • Tamale Pie (Slow Cooker) • White

Chicken Chili • Corned Beef & Cabbage

If this brought back a memory, tap Like.

Which slow-cooker classic should return to your table? Tell us in the comments.

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Disclaimer
Historical best-effort; sources include 1970s–1980s slow-cooker booklets (Rival/BH&G),
community/church cookbooks, newspaper food pages, and archives. Names and methods
varied by household.food history every week.