How long do meatballs in sauce need to be heated in a crock pot? I'm participating in a pot luck lunch this week.  I'm bringing fully cooked meatballs, served in pasta sauce.  My plan is to make the meatballs (around 30 - 40) the night before, cook them fully in the oven, and refrigerate them overnight in the crock pot without the sauce.  

My question, to have everything properly heated before lunch time, how early should I start the crock pot?  I don't want to start too early and turn everything to mush, but I also don't want to serve cold meatballs.
They're meatballs.  It's a crockpot.  Why bother refrigerating them or cooking them in the oven?  Just brown them in the oven under broil and then set the crockpot on low and cook them overnight in the sauce.  They'll be perfectly done, perfectly safe, and delicious in the morning.  A few extra hours won't hurt them at all and then you won't have to worry about time, temperature and food safety.