Reply #252: As long as it's above 140 degrees

[Codeine]

it's fine. You have to replenish the water every once in a while, and of course add new ingredients as you eat up the old, but it's actually very safe. Some folks call it "perpetual stew."

And crockpots are one of those things you can get for dirt-cheap at a thrift store, usually in perfect shape. For some odd reason they seem to work forever.