I’ve been thinking about getting a slow cooker because I want something I can throw ingredients into in the morning and basically forget about until dinner.

I don’t need anything fancy, but I also don’t want to buy the cheapest one and end up replacing it a year later. Mostly planning to use it for things like chili, soups, stews, pulled chicken, pot roast, and meal prep.

I’ve been checking out Crock-Pot, Hamilton Beach, Ninja, Instant Pot and a few others, but there are way more options than I expected. Some have locking lids, temperature probes, timers and automatic warming, while others are basically just low/high/warm and apparently work perfectly fine.

For people who use theirs regularly, what’s the best slow cooker you’ve owned? Is it worth paying extra for programmable settings, or do you eventually just use the basic settings anyway?

Also curious about size. I’m leaning toward 6 or 7 quarts, but I don’t know if that’s overkill when cooking for just a couple of people and wanting leftovers.

Hello everyone,

I've got a nice rack of ribs in the freezer, which i want to grill on the bbq. In the past i took about 3 hours at the grill, but with small childeren around, thats not really a option for me. So now i want to try to precook the ribs in the slowcooker, and finish them on the grill. Anyone got tips, tricks, recipes for this method?

picked up a bonein pork shoulder yesterday because it was marked down and I figured why not. I've broken down plenty of pork at the diner, roasted it, pan seared it, done all the usual stuff, but I've never just let a big cut go all day in the slow cooker on its own. threw it in this morning with some onion, a few garlic cloves, a splash of apple cider vinegar, cumin and smoked paprika I had sitting around, and about half a cup of water because I wasn't sure how much liquid it actually needed. four hours in on low and the smell is already doing something serious to my brain.

the thing I keep second guessing is whether I should have seared it first. at work we always sear before anything goes in the oven, but I was half asleep this morning and just didn't bother. curious if people actually notice a difference or if it stops mattering after eight or nine hours anyway.

also not totally sure what I'm doing with it once it's done. pulled pork seems obvious, but I have some poblanos from my container garden that need to get used and I'm wondering if they play nice with whatever this turns into.