Kitchen

[Jordan2]

I have never owned one before but am interested in purchasing one. I don't really want to spend more than about $50. I know they come in different sizes with 6 quart being the most popular. I know there are manual and programmable slow cookers. I live alone but I do like to make enough to freeze meals. Some of the 6 quart cookers are less money than the smaller ones. Is it worth it to spend the extra money for the programmable ones? What brand would you suggest?

[faeriemoon]

I have the Crock Pot brand.  I think it's a good one; nothing fancy.  Select the cook time, select high or low, puts itself on warm once the cooking time has ended.

Got it at Costco for a bit less than your price limit.  I'm sure it would be more expensive elsewhere.

[ScrapHappy]

I have a Rival Crock Pot.  Nothing fancy.  Nothing to program.  I can cook on low for 8 or 10 hours or high for 8 to 10 hours.  Also has a warm function.  I've owned mine for 19 years now.  I'm happy with it.  $50 will get you a nice crock pot.  A lot of sales going on right now, I'm sure you'll get a good price.

[deepwaterdotter]

Another vote for the Crock Pot brand slow cooker.  It has been a good, basic tool that does everything I need.

[denisemb]

I, too like the 6 qt. Crock Pot brand as described by @faeriemoon .

We had one of the early Ninja cookers with coated metal pot and ability to brown (DH is also a cook/gadget freak around here) but found the coating wore off easily, even though we NEVER used metal utensils on it.  Upgraded to a pricy DeLongi which is holding up better.

But I still use the 20+ y.o crockery Crock pot for chili, soups, etc and simply brown things in a different pan

[itsmagic]

I had been using the original Crockpot for at least 25 years (maybe more).  It had 3 settings - high, low and off. And the inner crock was not removable to clean.  So I decided to retire it and buy a new one.  I again bought the Crockpot brand but this one has a removable crock for cleaning and a timer.   Since there are just two of us I bought a medium sized oval crockpot. It is not programmable other than the timer.  I’m retired so I didn’t really feel I would use anything more programmable.  I really like the new upgrade. 

[Icegoddess]

I think most of the digital ones are multi-Cookers like my WP one that also sears and does some other functions.  But, for basic slow cooking High & Low should do all you want. I think my Crock Pot had a setting called Auto-Shift which I think started on High and then switched to Low for some reason, but I never used that function.   I also have an Air Fryer with just 2 knobs for time & Temp.  Simpler sometimes can be better and one less thing to malfunction.

[Ibby114]

I've seen basic crock pots on sale for as little as $20 during the holiday season! I make  soups, chili and steel cut oats in mine often- and portion out the servings for the freezer. Easy meal prep! The only suggestion I'd have is to be sure the crock pot has a 'warm' setting. My newer one has it and it's so useful!

[NicksmomESQ]

   Mine is a 6 quart slow cooker from Corning.I got it from QVC about 15 years ago. It's oval in shape. It's programmable.I love it.

   I cook to capacity in it. It's only DH & myself so there's a lot of leftovers. 
  

[Jordan2]

I saw one I liked on BB&B, however when I put it In my cart I got a message the amount in cart exceeds what is available. If it's sold out, remove it from the website.