Replacement for slow cooker

[hooplady]

Hi all -
For the past few months, my Crock-Pot hasn't been cooking thoroughly - it's been taking several hours longer. Last pot of rice I tried to cook sat there on "High" for 10 hours but never cooked through. Pretty sure I got this used, maybe 10-15 years ago, so value has definitely been extracted. I use it every week or two to cook a big batch of rice, beans, lentils, etc. Occasionally something crazy like sourdough bread.

So my question is, how do I/should I replace it? I could get a similar slow cooker, or maybe an Instant Pot? Or I could forego either of those appliances and just cook on the stovetop. I have a gas stove and even though I grew up with one, I'm a bit leery of leaving things bubbling on the stove all day.

Advice? Thanks in advance.

[hooplady]

Before I posted I did check for a definitive answer to this question...given that rice an beans are such a basic to Mustachianism I thought perhaps the answer was already out there. Maybe my search terms were inadequate. I know that "rice and beans" can perhaps be a punchline for frugal living, but if you're gonna eat these regularly (as I do) then the best way to cook them is important.

[Tyson]

I like the instant pot because I can also make yogurt in it.

[englishteacheralex]

Get an Instant Pot. It doubles as a slow cooker but has a lot more functionality. You can sautee in an Instant Pot. It will also cook rice. You can steam eggs in it for hard boiled eggs that peel up really easily. If you like having people over for dinner, it's a must.

We use ours a couple of times a week. Slow cooker recipes are yummier in an Instant Pot.

[GilesMM]

Thrift stores are full of appliances people bought, used once and put in the closet.  Lots of instant pots, air fryers and toaster ovens.  Crock pots are less common - more of an 80s thing - but you can still find them.

[PhilB]

Get an Instant Pot. It doubles as a slow cooker but has a lot more functionality. You can sautee in an Instant Pot. It will also cook rice. You can steam eggs in it for hard boiled eggs that peel up really easily. If you like having people over for dinner, it's a must.

We use ours a couple of times a week. Slow cooker recipes are yummier in an Instant Pot.

This.  It has a slow cooker setting, but you'll probably never use it as things taste better when pressure cooked as they get hot enough for the Maillard reaction.  Also does perfect potatoes and great risotto.

[Morning Glory]

Get an Instant Pot. It doubles as a slow cooker but has a lot more functionality. You can sautee in an Instant Pot. It will also cook rice. You can steam eggs in it for hard boiled eggs that peel up really easily. If you like having people over for dinner, it's a must.

We use ours a couple of times a week. Slow cooker recipes are yummier in an Instant Pot.

This.  It has a slow cooker setting, but you'll probably never use it as things taste better when pressure cooked as they get hot enough for the Maillard reaction.  Also does perfect potatoes and great risotto.

Also cooks dried beans in 20 minutes and bone broth in an hour. Rice in 4 minutes. Eliminates a lot of advance planning.

[lhamo]

I like the instant pot because I can also make yogurt in it.

It isn't as automatic, but we use our slow cooker to make yogurt, following these steps:

1)  Heat milk to 180 F
2)  Cool to 118 F
3)  Mix in yogurt starter
4)  Re-cover pot and let sit on a fermenter pad (I got mine off Buy Nothing -- supposed to be used for kombucha but it works for yogurt, too) overnight

At our old house we had a "bread proof" setting on our oven that also worked great for stage 4.

[uniwelder]

Get an Instant Pot. It doubles as a slow cooker but has a lot more functionality. You can sautee in an Instant Pot. It will also cook rice. You can steam eggs in it for hard boiled eggs that peel up really easily. If you like having people over for dinner, it's a must.

We use ours a couple of times a week. Slow cooker recipes are yummier in an Instant Pot.

This.  It has a slow cooker setting, but you'll probably never use it as things taste better when pressure cooked as they get hot enough for the Maillard reaction.  Also does perfect potatoes and great risotto.

Also cooks dried beans in 20 minutes and bone broth in an hour. Rice in 4 minutes. Eliminates a lot of advance planning.

I feel like piling on to the awesomeness of the Instant Pot. It will also sous vide steaks. Plus the stainless steel liner pot is much easier to deal with than a heavy ceramic one.

[jeninco]

Get an Instant Pot. It doubles as a slow cooker but has a lot more functionality. You can sautee in an Instant Pot. It will also cook rice. You can steam eggs in it for hard boiled eggs that peel up really easily. If you like having people over for dinner, it's a must.

We use ours a couple of times a week. Slow cooker recipes are yummier in an Instant Pot.

This.  It has a slow cooker setting, but you'll probably never use it as things taste better when pressure cooked as they get hot enough for the Maillard reaction.  Also does perfect potatoes and great risotto.

Also cooks dried beans in 20 minutes and bone broth in an hour. Rice in 4 minutes. Eliminates a lot of advance planning.

I feel like piling on to the awesomeness of the Instant Pot. It will also sous vide steaks. Plus the stainless steel liner pot is much easier to deal with than a heavy ceramic one.

Add me to the pile-on. I've actually gotten rid of our smaller crock-pot (we still have the one big enough to cook an entire pork shoulder...) in favor of the Instant Pot. We use it for
cooking beans
pressure cooking (or slow-cooking, depending on how organized I've been) meat
making yogurt

I'm sure I'm missing out on a ton of functionality. Hmm -- we actually have a dedicated rice cooker, but perhaps I'll try the Instant pot next time and see what we think? (On principle. We have the space for both of them to coexist...)

[Cranky]

I don’t like pressure cooked meat, so I’m sticking with the crockpot. There isn’t as robust a selection of crockpots as there used to be, but I picked up a nice one at Goodwill last year for $5.

[PMG]

I’ll pile on to say I recently used the slow cook function on my instant pot for the first time and it did not work well. It did not get hot enough. After 3 hours the contents were less that 150*. A brief google showed many similar comments in reviews. Perhaps it works better in different models (or different brands). It was a disappointing discovery. I had pressure cooked beans then added my remaining soup ingredients and switched it to slow cook thinking it would simmer for a couple hours and save me both watching it and dirtying a second pot.

Otherwise I am a very happy with my instant pot. I still really on to basic ingredient cooking in it, but use it multiple times a week since I started in March. One favorite of ours that hasn’t been mentioned here is “baked” potatoes. They aren’t quite as good as true oven baked potatoes but they are far better than microwave baked potatoes. We often do a pot full (previously we did a crockpot full) and eat them half a dozen ways through the week.

[bacchi]

We use a fancy pants rice cooker. $35 maybe? Besides rice and lentils, it can also sauté and slow cook, which I use for soups.

[innkeeper77]

If you can use a pressure cooker, instant pots are great! HOWEVER- if you use it as slow cooker, it works significantly better if you also buy the slow cooker lid. The lid that comes with it has a pressure seal and all, the slow cooker lid is glass, letting you see your food, but more importantly does NOT seal. This means normal slow cooker recipes work instead of retaining way too much moisture!

We use ours at least three times a week, but we go through a lot of dried beans and at altitude, dried beans basically require a pressure cooker.

[ChickenStash]

I have an Instant Pot and it has a few uses but I'm not a fan of the way most pressure cooked food (mainly meat) turns out.

For a slow cooker I use one from Aroma that has a nice locking/sealing lid. It does well with white and brown rice consistently. Also great for making stocks and soups.

[redhead84]

I’ll pile on to say I recently used the slow cook function on my instant pot for the first time and it did not work well. It did not get hot enough. After 3 hours the contents were less that 150*. A brief google showed many similar comments in reviews. Perhaps it works better in different models (or different brands). It was a disappointing discovery. I had pressure cooked beans then added my remaining soup ingredients and switched it to slow cook thinking it would simmer for a couple hours and save me both watching it and dirtying a second pot.

Otherwise I am a very happy with my instant pot. I still really on to basic ingredient cooking in it, but use it multiple times a week since I started in March. One favorite of ours that hasn’t been mentioned here is “baked” potatoes. They aren’t quite as good as true oven baked potatoes but they are far better than microwave baked potatoes. We often do a pot full (previously we did a crockpot full) and eat them half a dozen ways through the week.

We had the same issue - the slow cooker function is terrible on the instant pot. There are a lot of other great features of the instant pot, but slow cooking is not it.

[uniwelder]

I’ll pile on to say I recently used the slow cook function on my instant pot for the first time and it did not work well. It did not get hot enough. After 3 hours the contents were less that 150*. A brief google showed many similar comments in reviews. Perhaps it works better in different models (or different brands). It was a disappointing discovery. I had pressure cooked beans then added my remaining soup ingredients and switched it to slow cook thinking it would simmer for a couple hours and save me both watching it and dirtying a second pot.

Otherwise I am a very happy with my instant pot. I still really on to basic ingredient cooking in it, but use it multiple times a week since I started in March. One favorite of ours that hasn’t been mentioned here is “baked” potatoes. They aren’t quite as good as true oven baked potatoes but they are far better than microwave baked potatoes. We often do a pot full (previously we did a crockpot full) and eat them half a dozen ways through the week.

We had the same issue - the slow cooker function is terrible on the instant pot. There are a lot of other great features of the instant pot, but slow cooking is not it.

I don't have any issues with mine.  I wonder if it's a malfunction or we're using them differently.

I don't think it's reasonable to expect to put a bunch of cold ingredients and fill with water, then expect it to get hot very quickly.  Even then, it shouldn't take 3 hours, but it could if the ingredients were frozen.  I use the saute function to brown meat and fry onions, then put everything else in.  I keep it at saute until it's all hot, then select slow cook for whatever time I want.

[englishteacheralex]

For pressure cooked meat, I find if you do slow release (so just let it sit for 20 minutes or so) rather than de-pressurizing quickly, that makes the meat actually more tender and juicy than slow-cooked meat. Back before the Instant Pot, I actually had three slow-cookers in varying sizes that I used all the time, so I do have quite a bit of experience with slow-cooked food and I do believe pressurized food is superior in quality. I gave away all my slow-cookers after we got an Instant Pot and I never miss them. We do also have a cheap rice-cooker that I will never get rid of, but we only use it for rice.

As far as the slow-cooker function, we almost never use it anymore because we like pressurized food so much more. Also, I have found it to be true that the slow-cooker function on the Instant Pot doesn't work as well as a dedicated slow-cooker. However, one work-around for the slow-cooker fucntion is to cook everything on sautee first (because it gets things hot much quicker) and then change to the slow cooker setting. Another is to sautee and then put it on the keep-warm function. Sautee turns off automatically after 30 minutes, so you can't use the low sautee setting as a slow-cooker.

Finally, I will echo another poster that cleaning up an Instant Pot is much easier than a slow-cooker, because you can put the stainless steel in the dishwasher. If you don't have a dishwasher, that wouldn't matter as much, but it IS much lighter and easier to clean than the heavy ceramic slow-cooker insert.

[PhilB]

The only thing I'd complain about with the instant pot is the number of recipes shouting about it cooking things in 'only 20 mins' or whatever,  that completely ignore the 5 to 15 mins to get to pressure in the first place and the 15 - 20 minute slow release at the end.  Once you realise that, it's still wonderful as you can be doing other things while it cooks and the automatic keep warm function takes all the stress of timing things away, but don't expect to be eating in the advertised times!

For pressure cooked meat, I find if you do slow release (so just let it sit for 20 minutes or so) rather than de-pressurizing quickly, that makes the meat actually more tender and juicy than slow-cooked meat.

This is spot on, but I think cut matters too.  With a cut like skirt (hanger in the US?) you don't even need to saute the beef first to get perfect texture and flavour in the instant pot.  Beef shin though didn't work for me in the instant pot.

[BlueHouse]

Go on your "buy nothing" group or any similar group and ask for a slow cooker or instant pot.  You'll get one.  Nobody has room for all these things anymore.  And once people buy an instant pot, most get rid of their slow cookers (I did!)

[neo von retorch]

Mustachian Shopping

Want to "pile on" but with a twist. We bought the Best Buy Insignia 8 qt Multi Cooker for $40 + tx over 5 years ago and it has been awesome. Sadly it seems to have been discontinued, and the Instant Pot version (in that size) is over 4x the price! There are some alternatives out there, but I think the brand recognition has become too strong, and most people just pay more.

Did anyone else here save some money on an alternative, or is everyone else here an Instant Pot brand loyalist?

[uniwelder]

Mustachian Shopping

Want to "pile on" but with a twist. We bought the Best Buy Insignia 8 qt Multi Cooker for $40 + tx over 5 years ago and it has been awesome. Sadly it seems to have been discontinued, and the Instant Pot version (in that size) is over 4x the price! There are some alternatives out there, but I think the brand recognition has become too strong, and most people just pay more.

Did anyone else here save some money on an alternative, or is everyone else here an Instant Pot brand loyalist?

We got an Instant Pot as a wedding gift 10 years ago and use it regularly.  I was listening to a news story maybe a year ago where the company was being discussed because it's doing pretty poorly financially.  The biggest reason seemed to be that their units are so reliable, people don't need to ever purchase a replacement.  Whoever has already bought one has contributed whatever amount the company will ever see for their sales. 

[hooplady]

Thanks for all the feedback! I think I'll pursue an Instant Pot on the yard sale pages, but if I have to get one new it seems like that wouldn't be the worst solution. Cooking meat isn't an issue since I don't plan to do that.

[crocheted_stache]

I like my instant pot for making dried beans and lentils go faster. I occasionally use it in lieu of a rice cooker, which is the only object in my kitchen it actually replaced.

I still like a stock pot or Dutch oven on the stove for most other soups and stews, because I have better control over time and temperature when I can see what's going on. I can also prevent cooking onions and veggies into mush. In the absence of experience to judge cooking times, I'd direct someone straight to the instant pot.

I still have a crock pot, which I mostly use with the lid off or ajar to cook down apple butter or tomato sauce. I honestly haven't tried the instant pot slow cooker function for this purpose.

[uniwelder]

I still have a crock pot, which I mostly use with the lid off or ajar to cook down apple butter or tomato sauce. I honestly haven't tried the instant pot slow cooker function for this purpose.

We've done apple butter and tomato sauce in the Instant Pot.  It's probably a little hotter than a crock pot because on the 'low' slow cook setting, it will send messy spurts of bubbles as everything thickens.  We deal with it by putting a colander over top so water can still evaporate but mess in contained.

[SmashYourSmartPhone]

We got an Instant Pot as a wedding gift 10 years ago and use it regularly.  I was listening to a news story maybe a year ago where the company was being discussed because it's doing pretty poorly financially.  The biggest reason seemed to be that their units are so reliable, people don't need to ever purchase a replacement.

That's certainly a big part of it - they are quite reliable units.  About the only reason people would buy another one, short of a weird catastrophic failure, is "expanding the kitchen" - if you have a 6qt unit and want to add an 8qt to deal with growing food consumption (I know a family that's doing this - their kids are getting into being teenagers of the "eat you out of house and home" variety, and they're adding another pressure cooker to help with bulk rice cooking for meals).  But even then, the used market is robust, because they last and a lot of people apparently end up not using one much.  Or get multiple as gifts.  I've no idea, it's easily the most used countertop kitchen appliance we have, even beating out the bread maker for weekly use.  Once you get a few good solid "Oh, right, I've forgotten to plan for dinner..." recipes worked out, it's wonderful.

Yet I can't help but wonder how much of the "poor performance" is a result of the sort of heavily speculative based, "Must always grow!" approach to business that has taken over.  Companies seem to reliably ruin themselves over "We must replicate our successes," instead of settling into a stable, lower income but profitable sort of company that purrs along.  New Instant Pots are being sold, new people are discovering them, new people are being born, but it's not going to be an exponential growth.  It could, however, be a perfectly profitable little moderate size business.  That's just no longer considered an acceptable option, it seems...

[jeninco]

I still have a crock pot, which I mostly use with the lid off or ajar to cook down apple butter or tomato sauce. I honestly haven't tried the instant pot slow cooker function for this purpose.

We've done apple butter and tomato sauce in the Instant Pot.  It's probably a little hotter than a crock pot because on the 'low' slow cook setting, it will send messy spurts of bubbles as everything thickens.  We deal with it by putting a colander over top so water can still evaporate but mess in contained.

When I do this in a crockpot I use a wooden spoon to prop the lid ajar. I wonder if that would work?