Crock pot cooking safety for meat

[CCJWGM]

Are there some hardfast simple rules for what meat needs to be seared and what meat doesn't.  How long do you sear?

I'm married to a Mr. Food Safety.  Per him all meat has to be seared before going in the crockpot no matter what it is.  I've had him do this so I can see.  I cut up chicken breast cubes and he seared them for about 15 minutes.  They were so small they were almost cooked all the way through and they hadn't even hit the crockpot yet. 

I want to embrace crockpot cooking to save time because isn't that what it is supposed to do? But if I spend all this time searing meat it seems like I could just cook a meal in the same amount of time. 

His job specialty is food safety but he goes overboard and forgets our house kitchen isn't an industrial kitchen feeding 1000. 

So....what are crockpot safety rules for normal people?

[laohaire]

Hmm. As far as I knew, searing was for color retention only, so your meat comes out looking nicely brown.

I'm married to a meat-a-phobe (must cook meat to charcoal) too but, yeah, 15 minutes would be just about DONE.

Can you use a thermometer to show him that the meat is done, when it's done?

I NEVER cook meat in ANY way prior to dropping it in the crock pot.

[Arduinna]

Ignore him and don't start the crock pot until he has left for work LOL. He has got to be joking? Searing diced raw chicken breasts before putting them in the crock pot is nuts. The only thing I sear is short ribs, and I do that for the flavor and texture.

[Emma Bryan Fuller]

I never pre cook and we have eaten out of our crock pot for years with no problems. I have seen my friend put frozen chicken breasts. I have read that you need to keep in on high for the first part of cooking to get the temperature of the meat up? Sorry not sure for how long. If raw meat is cooked too slowly bacteria can develop. I LOVE our crock pot but wouldn't if i had to cook meat first! Isn't that the idea so the veggies get tastier from the meat cooking all together! :)

[CCJWGM]

Thank you everyone!  I like the advice Adruinna gave.  I think I'll follow that.  :)
 

Originally Posted by Arduinna 

Ignore him and don't start the crock pot until he has left for work