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- Slow cookers are available in a large variety of sizes and price points, so you have a lot of choices, depending on your needs.
- For an average-sized family looking for a bargain, we like the $4. It works great, it's easy to operate, and it has a surprisingly low price point.
Lots of people like comfort foods, especially during the winter months - even if those comfort foods don't always help out their waistlines. Unfortunately, most comfort foods can be time-consuming to cook and prepare, which means a lot of hassle for someone who spends eight-plus hours at a job. It's tough to feel comforted when you're spending several hours cooking after several hours working.
So you end up ordering a pizza, picking it up on the way home, and eating your comfort food out of a cheap box, which is not ideal.
If you'd prefer your comfort foods to be homemade, a slow cooker is the answer for a busy household. These kitchen appliances allow you to combine the ingredients in the morning before work, set the cook time and temperature on the slow cooker, and return home to a great-tasting, fully-completed meal. Now that's ideal.
A slow cooker is a simple appliance. Although some models have a series of advanced features, the basic operation of a slow cooker involves setting a cooking temperature and cooking time and then leaving it alone for several hours.
Slow cookers are available in many different sizes. The capacity of the slow cooker is measured in quarts. You can pick models with capacities ranging from 1 quart to 10 quarts, although sizes of 4 quarts to 6 quarts represent the most common capacities.
Most slow cookers will allow you to cook at low, medium, or high temperature settings. A lot of slow cookers will automatically switch to the warm setting after the cooking time has expired so your food doesn't overcook and disintegrate. Some advanced slow cookers will allow you to set an exact cooking temperature, while others offer multiple cooking features and double as pressure cookers.
Here are the best slow cookers you can buy:
- Best slow cooker overall: $4
- Best high-end slow cooker: $4
- Best programmable slow cooker: $4
- Best mini slow cooker: $4
Updated on 12/18/2018 by Malarie Gokey: Updated prices and added links to our picks for the best pressure cookers, Crock-Pots, and Instant Pots.
Read on in the slides below to check out our top picks.
$4
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Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the $4 team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners. We frequently receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising sales team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at insiderpicks@businessinsider.com.