I won't use mine when I'm gone either. My best friend dated a firefighter for a long time. He went through my house and unplugged everything that has a heating element except the range. I used to leave all sorts of things plugged in...hair dryer, iron, toaster, coffee pot, etc. They have off switches??? He asked me, how much did you pay for that ____? How much do you think went into the safety mechanisms? How many house fires have I been to that could have been prevented by just unplugging these devices?
He made a convert out of me. Nothing with a heating element stays plugged in anymore. DH sometimes leaves the coffee pot plugged in but I unplug it when I find it that way.

I prefer to put the stuff in the pot in the evening, cook it overnight (while I'm home to hear if the smoke alarm goes off!), then turn it off in the morning. Then I just turn it on long enough to heat it up when I get home, or we just scoop some out and microwave it since it's already cooked.