5 things I wish I knew before using a slow cooker for all my meals for a week

After trying to cook all my dinners in a Crock-Pot for a week, I learned that some meals are not necessarily "set it and forget it."Erin McDowell/Insider

• I tried cooking every dinner in a Crock-Pot for a week and learned a lot through my mistakes.
• Depending on your slow cooker's settings, you might not be able to "set and forget" your dinner.
• You might also want to keep sides on hand, since a lot of Crock-Pot recipes aren't one-pot meals.

I recently tried making dinner in my Crock-Pot every day for five days.

While the week was filled with ups and downs, I also took away some valuable knowledge about best practices when using my Crock-Pot, which recipes worked well, and what I would do differently the next time I want to make a slow-cooker meal.

Here are five things I wish I knew before using a Crock-Pot for all my meals for a week.