It is a common belief that using a slow cooker will save you money, that is not valid. Although a slow cooker uses less electric than say an electric stove, it is time that most people forget about.

Even though the Warm, Low, and High settings use less power, and are more controllable (that is the convenience), a dish may be cooked over a period of say 8 hours, and if just cooking in a skillet or pot on the stove, would take an hour. Basically the same amount of electric is used.

— Lee Thayer 2020/01/07 10:23

In my house, we remodeled our kitchen and installed a gas hob instead of electric. Electric costs a lot more then LP gas so we opted to use gas instead, which is a step up from what we were using, which was a wood fired pot to cook on. The gas hob, double burner, works great for nearly everything except a low simmer, like for cooking dry beans. I just cannot get the temp low enough and I actually burned a pot of beans once.

So I turned to my slow cooker, not to make a slow cooker dish in, but to use it to simmer things where I need a low temp without burning. Since a slow cooker cannot burn anything, it is perfect in this application. For instance I have a great sounding white bean and pork recipe, I use a pot to bring the beans to a boil, then carefully transfer that to my slow cooker as it needs to simmer for 3-4 hours, which I just cannot do on my gas hob. So in essence, it is not a slow cooker dish, just a slow cooker was used for some assistance. I foresee more use from my slow cooker from now on.

When it comes to using a slow cooker, many recipes are adapted from skillet or pot recipes but do not take into account the time needed for a slow cooker to work.

Slow cooking, basically simmering over a long period, releases a lot from herbs and spices added over time, so a rule of thumb, add a pinch more than what a recipe calls for, this applies to herbs and spices if you think the amount is low. This is particularly important for dried herds like rosemary, parsley, basil, etc.