I'm looking at slow cooking a beef stew on a workday. The stew includes raw beef.
Recipe: http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/14685/slow-cooker-beef-stew-i/
Is it safe to combine the ingredients the night before, refridgerating the crock overnight, then cooking it in the morning?
Assuming it's a proper removable (some old ones weren't) inner crock pot you could (as in your other answer).
BUT
That pot will take a long time to warm up when you put it in and turn it on. I would suggest assembling all the ingredients in another container (which may also fit better in the fridge) and turning them out in to the (ideally preheated) crock pot in the morning. Otherwise you will probably need to add some time even on top of the extra time for starting all ingredients at fridge temperature.
This is roughly what the manual for our previous slow cooker recommended. Our new one is a non-stick steel inner pot (for easy browning) and will warm up much faster - there's no recommendation to preheat this model.
I see absolutely no possible reason for not doing it the night before :-) if anything it might taste better.
I have heard that the more ingredients in your Crockpot recipe that are refrigerated, the longer it may remain in the food danger zone. Ideally you would have your vegetables room temperature, then leave your meat out on the counter for 30 minutes warming up while getting ready for work before adding and putting the crockpot on high. Or if you have to put in the fridge overnight, bring everything to say 120 - 140 degrees on the stove then put on the crockpot on low during the day.
