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

I have a Rival Crock-Pot that comes with a few different heat settings. It comes with two high heat settings, which run for either four hours or six hours, and two low heat settings, which run for either eight hours or 10 hours.

These might seem like enough settings to make slow cooking a snap. However, I found that many recipes called for either four or two hours on low, which meant I had to be home to switch my slow cooker to the "warm" setting.

I've been told by multiple slow cooker lovers, cookbook authors, and chefs that the best part about using a slow cooker is being able to set it in the morning and have it ready by the time you get home from work. However, depending on your recipe's cooking time, that may not be possible.

As someone who's a little more relaxed when it comes to grocery shopping and meal planning, I found using a slow cooker every day for a week a bit of a challenge. Since I had to start most of my recipes around lunchtime to have them ready for dinner, I had to be more organized about making sure I had all of the ingredients ahead of time.

One day, I forgot I needed to buy a jar of roasted red peppers. Luckily, I had a whole red pepper in the fridge that I was able to roast myself. However, if I didn't, I would have had to go back out to the store, potentially delaying my dinner by an hour.

There are tons of slow-cooker recipes out there, and a lot of them only require ingredients you might have in your kitchen.

For one night, I decided to make a super simple tomato sauce with tomato puree, a little olive oil, and seasoning. Throw in some chicken breasts, boiled pasta, and some cheese, and you've got a pretty impressive dish — without an extra trip to the store.

For every recipe I made, I accompanied what I was able to prepare in the slow cooker with sides like rice, pasta, or mashed potatoes.

While you can definitely make a one-pot meal in a slow cooker, having some easy-to-make sides in your pantry can make the process a lot easier and add more variety to your final meal.

The best part about every dish I made in the slow cooker was how much food I had left over in the end. Practically every day, I was able to eat delicious leftovers from the night before. After the week, I realized how valuable a slow cooker could be for meal-prepping lunches and dinners for the whole week.

Slow cookers are also a great tool for feeding a large family at a reasonably low cost. Most of the ingredients for the recipes I made were under $35 in total and made at least five servings. When it comes to slow cooking, it's possible to get good bang for your buck.