Slow cooker question

natley

Thinking about buying one as I am now working two jobs and sometimes I am not getting home until after 10pm. And with 2 kids and a man, I feel like we have not had a decent meal in weeks as I am not home to cook :-(
So, I am looking for opinions/advice on slow cookers. Are there any that you would recommend? Do they need plugged in to cook?:o
Would it be more cos effective to cook using one of these for 8hours as opposed to 4 hours gas oven?
And lastly, does the food taste as good or better than if it was cooked in a casserole dish?

marywooyeah

Yes they do have to be plugged in lol! I would definitely recommend getting one I can honestly say my slow cooker is one of the best things I have everbought, I have 2 and sometimes have both going making two meals.


I usually leave mine on low all day and every meal tastes great, particularly meat and the meat juice all soaks into the sauce its yummy.

As for the cost they are very cheap to run, I remember reading somewhere that it costs less per hour than leaving a light bulb on! X

mountainofdebt

would also recommend batch cooking.

I've batch cooked chilli,curry & cottage pie and it saves so much time,I wonder why I never did it before

xxdeebeexx

I LOVE my slow cooker.

I got mine for about £6.50 from Argos about 3 years ago and it's fab!

If my kitchen/ workspace was bigger I would like to get a wide based slow cooker as things cook quicker. As it is, mine is tall and skinny.

The lovely thing is, that you can serve meals from the slow cooker when you are ready. Leaving it on for another hour doesn't spoil the food (unlike ovens) and family members can 'dip' in as they need to.

I cook up 2 meals at a time. Mince for spag bol and braising steak for a 'gravy' dinner. Once cooked separate the different meats, pop one in the fridge and use the other straight away.

I always warm through the food first, in a frying pan, and use boiling water/stock in the cooker to get things off to a quick start.

Get one... you wont look back!

dx

RobotsinDisguse

Ditto all of the above. I love mine.

There are a few threads on the Old Style forum here about slow cookers / which one / cost to run / recipes etc. go have a look around there for more info than a book could tell you

trolleyrun

Another yes for a slow cooker. I love mine! You can use very cheap cuts of meat as they will be tender by the time the food is ready. You can also bulk out meat with other things like lentils.

There are a lot of recipes and help on the Old Style section as mentioned above

daveyjp

Well worth it. Argos Cookworks 6.5l is £19.99, you don't need to spend any more.

Don't restrict yourself to casseroles, curry etc. Joints of meat and chickens cook just as well. It makes the best pulled pork I have ever done using cheap pork shoulder.

cazziebo

Use mine at least once a week, usually twice! Lovely coming home to the aroma of a hot cooked dinner.

susancs

I love my slow cookers and have two that get a lot of use in the winter. I cook stews, bolognaise, chilli, curries, homemade soup and even rice pudding in it. In the morning (or sometimes leave it in the fridge the night before) I pop all the ingredents in the pot on low and in the evening I just thicken up the gravy part with cornflour and water and cook the rice or pasta to go with it (or sometimes they just want bread rolls). It is great for my hungry teens and friends . Food seems to be a lot more tasty than using the oven or stove. I do have the bigger sized slow cooker. I don't cook joints of meat in it but my friend does and she says they are really tasty when done in the slow cooker.

I would definately recommend it to anyone with a family. It is great for keeping food warm too for parties e.g. hotdogs for a fireworks kids event.

natley

Thanks everyone. Will definitely be investing in one now and searching for some tasty recipes.

poorly_scammo

natley wrote: »

So, I am looking for opinions/advice on slow cookers. Are there any that you would recommend? Mine's a Breville with 3 temp controls. It's a large one so I can do joints of meat and poultry in it. Do they need plugged in to cook?:o Yes
Would it be more cos effective to cook using one of these for 8hours as opposed to 4 hours gas oven? Way, way more cost effective. Apparently they use about the same amount of energy as an electric lighbulb but that might be outdated now. Nevertheless they use much less energy than an oven and they don't overcook things in the way that an oven sometimes does as the cooking temperature is very low.
And lastly, does the food taste as good or better than if it was cooked in a casserole dish? Depends on what you cook. Meats especially cheaper cuts of beef like shin taste fabulous and are very tender as the long slow cooking breaks down the fibres.

In addition to the OS board, a good starter book is 'Slow Cooking Properly Explained' by Dianne Page. Most of the meals in it are quite cheap and very tasty.

They're a good tool for batch cooking which is what mine is mostly used for.