I have used this twice, and each time it has cost me time and food waste. First, I was cooking a soup, and I never could get it to bubble. I transferred the soup to my old crock pot, and it was bubbling within an hour. Then, I tried a $30 chuck roast, and it took over two hours longer than normal. When it finally came out, it was so rubbery it was inedible, which was completely humiliating as I had guests over. The only reason I strayed from my crock pot was the fact this had a gray insert, and the black crock pot inserts are hard to clean. I was terribly disappointed in this.