Preparing for maternity leave - Is a slow cooker worth it?

Northern78

Hi all

I've been reading through a lot of threads about slow cookers etc. and I think I'm coming round to the idea of one.

My friend gave me one a few years back but to be honest it was massive (6.5l I think) so was too big to store anywhere. I also found that I never used it as I just presumed that the only thing that can be cooked in it is casseroles. I ended up handing it back to her. Having read a few things on here it would seem that’s just me being presumptuous and there’s a lot more that can be cooked in one.

I go on maternity leave at the end of October and was thinking a slow cooker could be handy for preparing home cooked meals whilst caring for a new born and entertaining a 2 year old.

The one I was looking at is a Crock-Pot 4.7 litre digital slow cooker. Now not knowing much about them do you think this would be an ok size for cooking say a whole chicken/joint of meat? Hubby works away most of the year so would mainly be me and DS but would also like it to be big enough for family meals too.

I really need to save money on the food budget and would like some proper home cooked food, I also need to lose a load of weight once baby 2 arrives so do you reckon a slow cooker could be the way forward for me??

Thanks!

rach_k

I think that might be bigger than you need, unless you plan to freeze left-overs. We have a 3L one (http://www.tesco.com/direct/tesco-scss12-3l-slow-cooker/173-0852.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=173-0852) and it does plenty for 2 adults and 2 kids. I've done a chicken in it before and had no trouble fitting it in (a big enough chicken for 4 with plenty left for soup/stock). I wouldn't buy a fancy slow cooker; our £15 one has been used probably once a week for the last 2 years and is still going strong.

Slow cooking is great with kids around; I tend to use frozen meat so I put it all in the night before with the meat still frozen then turn it on in the morning so I don't do anything while the kids are around. I'm lazy and use the Tesco slow cooking spice mixes. The kids really love the chicken curry (not very authentic but the husband likes it too), the Spanish chicken, Mexican beef and lamb tagine is a particular hit. They're all quite 'casseroley' type things but no complaints here.

tizerbelle

TBH I don't see the point of a digital SC. More gadgetry to go wrong.

I have the same SC as rach-k has and it works great. Why spend more than you need especially for your first SC when you are deciding whether slow cooking is for you. What if it isn't? £15 to find out is a lot better than £50.

rach-k: Question re those tesco SC mixes - how much do you use? Is it one pot of spices per dish or do you only use a portion? No use instructions on the website.

Rummer

I think a SC during maternity leave over the winter is a fabulous idea you can chuck everything into it in a blur first thing in the morning and by the end of the day when you are tired you have a filling, tasty and nutritious meal to enjoy!

Get a couple of books from the library for recipe ideas and look at the slow cooker threads on here too.

Good luck with your new arrival

pumpkinlife

I've never succumbed to the slow cooker, though I've used a haybox on occassion. I'm just finishing up my 3rd bout of maternity leave.

It really depends on your cooking style. I know people that love them, and I know people who used theirs once and they are now sat gathering dust.

I have a tiny kitchen and can't accomodate one. Back of fag packet calculations suggest that they are not as energy efficient as stuffing your oven to the rafters, using a pressure cooker or a steamer saucepan set up, so I have never bothered with one as I am home most of the time.

It might be useful if you return to work and want a hot dinner waiting for you, however.

[Deleted User]

I lurve my SC and actually own two a smaller one donated by my DD as her family got larger (5 kids) and a 3 litre one I bought from Argoose for about £15 3-4 years ago.The bigger one is oval so will take a decent chicken in it (meat just falls off the bones and you get great stock as well ) I use my SC several times a week when I'm haveing a cooking day and want to fill my freezer up with home cooked food that I can whoosh into the microwave in the evening when I'm pushed for time. I make soup,stews,hot-pots whole joints,rice puds chilli's curries and even large amounts of minced beef that gets made into spag bols or lasagnes.I also have a remoska so my big oven only goes on when I have lots of cake/biscuit baking to do.Why not ask around your friends or family and see if you can borrow one to try it out and see if you want to buy one first.

splishsplash

I have a slow cooker but use it very little, relatively speaking. I use it for stewing steak, making chicken stock and cooking a joint of beef or ham for sandwiches/pies. That's it.
I could certainly live without it but I do find it handy to just leave it on and forget it (I plug it into a timer switch).
Overall attitude to slow cooker? Meh. No good for soups or bolognese/chillis etc where you want depth of flavour - stuff can't reduce and develop in the slow cooker, so you never get that concentration, imho.

Upsidedown_Bear

"Preparing for maternity leave - Is a slow cooker worth it?"

I'm not sure you should put your baby in a slow cooker :eek::p

Northern78

Thanks for all the replies. Certainly given me food for thought.

I like the idea of being able to chuck everything in and leave it and do like spag bol and chilli. I also think cooking joints in there would be handy but what does put me off is what splishsplash says about not being able to get depth of flavour.

I'll have a look through a few slow cooker recipe books and see what kind of things I could do in one.

Upsidedown Bear from what I've already been told, this one wouldn't even fit in a 6.5l slow cooker!!!

dingdongsaving

I generally only use mine when I'm working. It is lovely to throw a joint/chicken/meatloaf/anything in and come home to a tasty meal. I do agree with splishsplash though - you do have to be careful with recipes and make sure you end up with a tasty meal and not just very tender meat in a very bland soupy slush. Experimenting is the only way...just be ready with spices and ready to make gravy by adding some extra flavours/flour by evening.

katylou6180

Hey Northern & Co,

I would say for losing weight a slow cooker would be a great idea, not everything that comes out of them is insipid and nasty and there's so many great recipes to try, and it's all cooked from scratch You can make a lot of things in them that you can in an oven, however if you want to cook a whole chicken you'd need a 6.5l, for other things a 3.5l would do a family of four easily (and other meat joints are easier to fit!). I work, but I even use it on the weekends sometimes when I'm coming and going, you can make lasagnes, spag bols that are to die for, nice slow cooked meats, stews, pastas (art is in making the sauce then slinging pasta in for last half hour), meat loaves, fakeaways etc- dishes take minimal prep, you know what you're putting in and feeding yourself and your family. You can prep while bubbas are sleeping etc and whack it on when ready, and later on when bump gets older as well as other little one, you can all sit down to the same dinner as you know there's no added nasties! You can even bake hubby a cake in one for when he comes home that you can just throw together and not have to watch that cooks in the slow cooker I never realised it could do so much until recently and now mine's never off! I would say though, they're all much of a muchness, go for the cheapest one you can of the right size as they all do the same thing. If you do take the plunge I can point you in the direction of some great free recipes if you want to pm, I don't know if you're allowed to post things on here- but deffo don't buy a book or anything! Good luck with bubba xx