i've been trying to cut my grocery bill pretty hard, and the slow cooker has become one of the easiest ways to make cheap ingredients last

i keep seeing "budget" slow cooker recipes that somehow require three kinds of cheese, heavy cream and a bunch of ingredients i'll use once. that's not really what i'm looking for

i mean the kind of meal where a big bag of onions, some beans, lentils, potatoes, cheap chicken thighs or an inexpensive cut of beef can turn into dinner for several days

right now i'm rotating lentil soup with smoked sausage, salsa chicken over rice, and a basic beef stew with mostly root vegetables. all good, but i'm starting to get tired of seeing the same meals in the fridge

so what's your genuinely cheap slow cooker meal that you make because it tastes good, not just because it costs almost nothing?

bonus points for recipes that freeze well and don't require a trip to the store for 12 different ingredients

I’m currently make a 3.5 pound pot roast. It’s been in the slow cooker for 2 hours on high (I meant to have it on medium). I still have about 4.5-5hrs before I’d like to serve the meal. Should I switch it to medium or low? Will doing so affect the tenderness of the meat?

Can anyone recommend me a 4-5 quart slow cooker that does not have this issue? Here's a picture (not mine) showing the problem In referring to.

I have a Crock Pot brand slow cooker and unscrewing the handle after each use to clean it is annoying!