I use my new (purchased in 2023) crockpot for heating water, so that I have hot enough water all day long, hotter than a coffee pot would.

There is a rancid taste to the water after being in the crockpot, like old dirty beef fat, even after cleaning the crockpot several times. I also notice a dull headache after drinking the water. Toxic. I have tried several different times, still the same awful taste. And after drinking it, I feel fuzzy headed, almost a headache. Toxic.

I tested my water by boiling it on the stove, and it was just fine, no bad taste. Looks like we are being poisoned by our crock pots, ugh.

Brand:Elite Gourmet, purchased on Amazon, states crock is stoneware many times, also says it is ceramic. Love to be lied to, and sold a product designed to make you sick and who knows what else.

It’s not just you. Hence how I located this place. I have cooked in mine 3 times now and still taste metalish

It is not in your head. I recently bought a slow cooker, have used it twice and each time had to discard chemical tasting casseroles. I have binned at least £20.00 worth of ingredients and this poisoned chalice is going back to the shop!

I have a slow cooker. There's also a slow cook function on my Instant Pot. I don't use either one. I'd much rather use the pressure cooker or my stove. Crockpot meals always taste like they came out of a can, even if every ingredient used was fresh. Obviously a good many ingredients were never meant to spend all day languishing on low heat.

I used pressure cooker back in the 70s, 80s & 90s...never cared for taste of meat that was pressure cooked...tasted weird, strong to me...plus it was basically boiled meat...
I’m sure it’s ideal for busy families, but I like to stir the stew, boil the beans and eat crispy meat...

Us too. It smells horrible like leaching chemicals. I'm ready to throw it out. The food stinks too after. Really disappointed as we just got the crockpot pressure cooker.

I know what you mean about the funny taste. I've had the best luck avoiding it with fatty pork dishes in strong sauces. Like pulled pork or a sort of Asian thing with soy, brown sugar, lots of ginger, etc.

Totally agree, spiffypaws. I have a large, high-end crockpot, enamel liner, yada yada yada, but I just don't like the way the food turns out. So I fashioned some dividers and use it to keep party foods warm. And I've always thought the same thing about browning meat before adding to the crockpot; I guess since I never like the food anyway, I don't want to bother dirtying another pan.

I only use my crockpot at parties to keep foods warm. I think that unless you have tons of space a crockpot is a huge waste of space. You can do the same thing better by braising on the cooktop or in the oven. It's especially a waste of time and space when the recipe requires you to brown the meat in a separate pan, then put in crockpot.

I don't use mine often but I have noticed that when I have used it for recipes with meat and vegetables, the long, slow cooking time melds the flavors too much. It's like the sweetness in the vegs permeate the sauce that developes and it's not as savory as I would expect from braising or pot roasting. I've never made recipes with prepackaged ingredients (like canned or dried soup mixes), so maybe I'm not getting as much sodium in my preparations.

If your crockpot is coated w/ a non-stick coating it is most likely leaching several chemicals in to your food, some of which are known-carcinogens. You can read about it with a simple internet search. I did a lot of reading on the subject, spoke to my doctor about it, and in the end tossed out all my teflon/non-stick coated pots and pans. Not everyone would react like I did, but it's worth learning about the chemicals that end up in our food.

If your crockpot has a metal pot and you're using something acidic like tomato, I imagine there could be some leeching of metal if it's not a high-end crockpot. If you love crockpot cooking, you might want to look around for new crockpot with a ceramic or stainless insert.

Ditto! After several different recipes the funny taste was still there. I finally decided this type of cooking was not for me and sold it at a yard sale to a very happy customer. I also did not like the idea of leaving it unattended for so many hours.

It gets down to this, a slow cooker is a convenience appliance and not a real culinary tool. You have to make choices. You can now buy an expensive machine for sous vide at home. That's a choice I am not selecting. But back to slow cookers, it really does get down to how much work and loss of sleep you are willing to put into a meal.

Like nutcakes, I don't use my crockpot often, but I've noticed that if I use it to make a tomato-based dish, I don't like the flavor as much as if I would've made it on the stove. Hard to describe, but I guess it's kind of a sweet milk/metallic flavor. The flavors just don't seem as sharp or bright to me.

Yup. It's there. It's hard to describe, but it's definitely there. It's not strong enough to be totally off--putting, though. There's less of that taste when I sear and brown the meat first and soften the onions, and I no longer add a bay leaf to the pot.

Although I don't use my crockpot much, just occasionally. The few things I have made do not have any taste like that.