This is the perfect way to have hot lunch at our office. I work in a school and the closest microwave is down a hallway and around the corner, in a room that sometimes has kids working in it. With this, I plug it in at my desk and have hot food whenever I had a minute to it. I love it.
I've had mine for a couple of years but today it shorted out and I had to throw it away. The wires where the cord goes through the bottom of the crockpot were bare about 1/4 inch for wer it enters the bottom. Possibly caused from the way one has to wrap the cord around the base to store it? The cord needs to be able to be plugged in at the unit, instead of a permanent part of the crockpot, so one does not have to keep wrapping it around the base. It actually tripped the breaker in my breaker box. If it weren't for this I would give it 5 stars.
I bought one lunch crock pot just after Christmas. Since then I have purchased a second one. Also people from my office have bought another 5! We all love a hot lunch. So easy to use and clean. No more waiting to using the (sic) microwave in the break room.
I bought this on a whim... and as it turns out, I am loving it! Made some awesomely delicious Lentil soup with Chicken Sausage and Kale.. packed some into this little guy, it was piping hot so I was a bit concerned getting it to the office. It arrived without any issues, no the top did not pop off from the steam. Plugged it in 15 minutes before I could eat and it is piping hot once again. I LOVE this little guy!
I have used this nearly every day since purchasing it. I have heated a burger, soup, meatloaf and potatoes, and all kinds of leftovers. It is the best money I have spent in a long time. I am in a 2 person office with no kitchen facilities so this has been perfect for me. I purchased one for my daughter for Christmas and now we're exchanging "lunch" stories about what we've reheated for lunch.
I bought this primarily for my work lunches. I've been using it for a couple of weeks, and I have used it on lunches with a good amount of liquid (baked bean dish) and more of a casserole type (chicken and rice). The sweet spot either way seems to be about 1.5 hours for ready-to-eat now food. Two hours or more will give you hot food. I leave the crockpot at work but take the inner container back and forth from home to work with the food in it. I do put it in a plastic bag for extra protection but have not had any problems yet with spillage or leakage.