Sorting your tea (& slow cookers)?

Nine_Lives

Had a look which would be the best form to stick this & didn't have a clue. I figured it'd come under the "family moneysaving" bit of this forum.

My partner & I work similar hours. By the time we get home, assuming we've gone to the gym, it's 7:00pm at the earliest. If we don't gym then i'll be the first home between 6:00pm - 7:00pm usually, but we're trying to maintain the gym visits ... so 7:00pm for this scenario.

When we move out, depending on where we move to, it's likely that i will be even later home, whereas the gf might be a bit earlier - but still around the 7:00pm ish marker.

You don't then want to be preparing tea for an hour. I wont be having microwave ready-meals either!!


So i was thinking about one of these slow cooker things.

How good are they?
What sort of meals can you do in them?
Are they on a sort of timer so your meal can be ready for when you come home?
What about the safety issue - leaving them on all day while you're at work?
And anything else which i may not have thought of.

Thanks.

daska

They're brilliant, some have timers, others you can use a timer switch with (some won't work with that option). They're designed to be left unattended for hours - as is your boiler, do you worry about that when you're at work?

I've cooked curries, stews, soups, chickens, hams, puddings, jam... just remember that the water won't evaporate at the same rate as if you were doing it on the hob or in an open tin in the oven.

There's a huge thread on the Old Style board, currently 2,800 posts and rising LOL https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2197233

madvixen

K_P83 wrote: »

How good are they?
Awesome! In my opinion, they rank as one of the best kitchen inventions ever.

What sort of meals can you do in them?
So far in ours we have made: Curries, stews, soups, risotto, pasta bake, roast dinner, gammon, sausage casserole, mussel dishes, fish dishes and chocolate sponge pudding

Are they on a sort of timer so your meal can be ready for when you come home? Mine isn't. I just pop it on low and leave it for the day. It's a lovely smell to come home too

What about the safety issue leaving them on all day while you're at work?
Given how little power they use they aren't a safety issue as long as you follow common sense for electrical items.
Thanks.

Ours is a little cheap one from Tesco and it's certainly one of the best purchases we have ever made.

HTH

Tiddlywinks

How about getting this one from QVC - they do a 30 day money back guarantee for anything they sell so you can try it out and see...

http://www.qvcuk.com/ukqic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.item.800427.cm_scid.KeywordSearch

claire16c

I have a slow cooker but never use it. I really should. The problem is I cant be bothered to decide what to made and then chop up stuff, after work, or once I prepared it all then forgot to put it in in the morning as I was in such a rush!

I guess once you get into a routine of doing it, it would be worthwhile, as I am normally starving by the time I get back from work. I think I will check out some of the recipes on the old style board.

One thing I found to have that is pretty hand (although I admit I havent used it much for a while!) is an electrical steamer. I used it a lot at uni though, and you could put in stuff like fish, potatoes, veg etc, switch it on, and in about 20mins or less everything was done. I even made some desserts in it, and risotto. Im definitely going to start using that again, its really easy to use and when youre done you can chuck all the bits in the dishwasher.

meer53

I love mine ! It's a Morphy Richards one. Yesterday i made beef stew, carrots, onions, potatoes, garlic, braising steak, tin of red wine sauce and tin of Baxters Royal Game soup. It was on low for about 6 hours, served with Yorkshires. The smell when you come in is fab !

I always heat mine up before putting anything in it and make sure that whatever i'm putting in is hot too, i usually heat it up quickly in a big saucepan first. I tend to make it all the night before and put it in the fridge. I wouldn't be without it, i do chilli, spag bol, soups, they all freeze really well too, so make more than you need.

loztredders

I have a slow cooker and love it, it's brilliant, and nothing beats walking into the house from a busy day of work to smell your tea practically cooked for you.
I mostly do soups, stews, chilli etc in mine but have done a risotto type dish and other things. Get yourself a cheap slow cooker recipe book for some inspiration, they can be used for much more than just stews and casseroles.
I put mine on in the morning before I leave for work about 8am and then leave it unattended until I return at 6.30, never had an overcooked dish from it yet.

belfastgirl23

I'm with Claire, I have one but I don't really have time to set it up in the morning and you aren't really supposed to leave it overnight with the food just sitting so it does seem like a good idea but somehow doesn't work for me.

My one piece of advice is not to get too big a slow cooker if there's only the two of you. I had a bigger one but you have to use it 2/3 full and it was enough food for the two of us for three days and I threw some out. And there's only so many days you can eat the same stew

Nine_Lives

Some really great replies there. Thanks a lot for the feedback.

belfastgirl - thanks for the heads up about the sizing. Knowing me i'd just go out & buy something whopping lol. My gf is like you - she doesn't like to eat the same thing too frequently. I don't really mind myself - if i enjoy it then i enjoy it.

claire - that's a good point. I'd not thought about a steamer. When we move out next year, i'm looking at eating much more healthier & i guess you can't get much more healthier than steaming your food.
Though i know of someone who had a steamer & they said they didn't like the veg being steamed as it was still hard (i like soft veg myself, not hard veg). There were other things that didn't take too well to being steamed too (apparently - i've never used one myself).

belfastgirl23

K_P83 wrote: »

belfastgirl - thanks for the heads up about the sizing. Knowing me i'd just go out & buy something whopping lol. My gf is like you - she doesn't like to eat the same thing too frequently. I don't really mind myself - if i enjoy it then i enjoy it.

DH is a big one for eating the same thing over and over and even he was complaining on the third day and I just remembered his sis was visiting so we had an extra mouth to feed a couple of the days too!

As for the steamer, in the time it would take to steam fish you could boil a few veg if you prefer them soft? Great idea though for cooking your protein

daska

?! Steam is hotter than water! If the veg is still hard then it's not been cooked long enough, probably needed a few minutes more!

To give you an idea of size, my 6.5l slow cooker cooked ample for 5 with plenty left over. If I made rice pudding it would do 3 nights. Go small.