I think the bacon tray thing I remember was made by Anchor Hocking. I've found them while thrifting and I leave them on the shelf for someone else -- bacon in the oven (or in a cast iron skillet) is just simpler, even including the differences in mess.

Man, slow cookers. My mom gave me one once. As such things were at that time, it was nice: Big, Crock Pot-branded, removable guts, stainless outside, glass lid, one knob, two or three speeds. She still has a big thing for them and was very pleased to give it to me as a gift.

A then-SO persuaded me to donate it during a downsizing. I was a little bit bummed, but then: I recognized that I had never really used it.

That was a decade ago. I've found that I haven't missed it a bit. The only thing it was really good for was shredded chicken sandwiches from locally-canned chicken (which seems to be an Ohio-only thing), and that was something I only ever made one time in my decades of cooking.

Otherwise it was just a glorified food-keeper-warmer, and there's other ways to do that.

I've politely refused other gifts of slow cookers.

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But these new-fangled Instant Pots (and their similar kin) are pretty sweet, I think. They don't really do even a quarter of the stuff they're advertised to do, but they're really good at doing things like beans and braised meats fast.

An electric pressure cooker allowed deciding to make a supper of chili with dry beans (another Midwestern thing) became a decision that could be made in the early evening instead of the night before. And with the Keep Warm function, it'll stay at a reasonably-safe serving temperature automatically -- much like the slow cooker's most-useful trick.

Swissed steak (you know, the economical dish that is ideally made with whatever low-grade hunk of cow is on sale cheap today along with some tomatoes and onions)? Fast, proper, spoon-tender, and delicious.

I don't use it as much as I could, but it's always pretty rewarding when I do.

(It's hypothetically no better or safer than a properly-used old-school stove-top pressure cooker, but the automatic timer and temperature/pressure regulation makes proper use a whole lot easier.)