Learn how to make your crockpot work faster!
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If you were planning to use the "Low" setting, you can start out the slow cooker on "High," and then turn it to "Low" later. High cook times are approximately half those of Low, so if you start out for an hour on High, it's equivalent to two hours on Low.
Another option is to start the pot's stoneware liner out in the oven at 350 degrees F, or pre-cook your recipe in a conventional pot on the stove at medium heat, before starting the slow-cooking process. Since 15-30 minutes on the stovetop or in a fully-preheated oven equal 4-6 hours on Low or 2-3 hours on High, you can create significant time savings this way. Please make sure your pot lid has no plastic components, if you're going to go the oven route -- if it does, just forego the lid and use aluminum foil to cover. Then you can place the liner in its cooker, either with or without the foil.
Which brings me to my third tip for speeding up the slow-cooking process: Cover the crockpot with foil to reflect heat back down toward the food. I'd estimate this reduces cooking time by 30-50 %, but you need to play with it to figure out exactly how much it reduces the time for your individual slow cooker.
You can also set your slow-cooker up normally, with the lid and all, and then place a regular, stainless steel pot lid on top, or even an inverted aluminum baking pan. The same reflective principle applies. Although I feel that since the foil fits more tightly, it works better, a metal pot lid or pan still works remarkably well!
This works best, though, if you also cover with a towel -- a dishtowel will provide some reduction in cooking time, while a folded bath towel will reduce the time significantly.
Any combination of the above will turn your slow cooker into . . . a quick cooker! It'll still be a crockpot, but on jet fuel.
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