Nice People 13: Nice Save

Generali

PasturesNew wrote: »

Utterly .... freezing ... now.

Bloody boiling here although cooling off now.

LydiaJ wrote: »

You'll be able to find loads of slow cooker recipes online. Or go and read the Old Style board.

Or you could ask me. Well worth buying a freezer if you have a slow cooker BTW.

GDB2222

lostinrates wrote: »

Or just think like us. We're going to want to make it ours anyway , why pay to undo someone else's to do that.

I hear you, but people overdo it. When my aunt went into a home, we helped her sell her home. It was an utter wreck. She had lived there 60 years without spending anything on it. There was no central heating. Electrics were original. Kitchen was original. Plumbing was original. A lot of the plaster was shot. Windows were original and in very poor condition. Garden was completely overgrown, with foxes living in it. It needed at least £50k spent on it to bring it into habitable condition. We got £20k less than the house next door had just sold for. That was iin great condition.

Generali

PasturesNew wrote: »

Yeah, I've been collecting them for 2-3 years as I thought I'd eventually get one to try.

The "trouble" with the Old Style board is they tend to be families, with big freezers .... and using huge crock pots

This one looks like it'd make enough stuff for two meals, so one to eat stragiht away and another to nuke in the following 2-3 days. Ideal size as I won't be daunted by making 5 litres

Sounds like a good size for you. You can make a brilliant curry in those things.

lostinrates

GDB2222 wrote: »

I hear you, but people overdo it. When my aunt went into a home, we helped her sell her home. It was an utter wreck. She had lived there 60 years without spending anything on it. There was no central heating. Electrics were original. Kitchen was original. Plumbing was original. A lot of the plaster was shot. Windows were original and in very poor condition. Garden was completely overgrown, with foxes living in it. It needed at least £50k spent on it to bring it into habitable condition. We got £20k less than the house next door had just sold for. That was iin great condition.

Absolutely. Its something I reported from my old line of inside knowledge when I first joined here. Fixer uppers were where the money was when I knew the London market and the 'money' market in rough area out here. .

Generali

When the market was really mental in parts of London in 2004 it was quite possible to spend more on a doer-upper than on a done up because Sarah Beeny & Kirsty Alsopp (sp?).

mystic_trev

Generali wrote: »

Sounds like a good size for you. You can make a brilliant curry in those things.

Yes, you can bung in any old meat and let it chug away all day with great results. It might be my imagination, but I sometimes think it tastes even better, after it's been sitting in the fridge for a few days, then (as PN would say)'nuked' :rotfl:

Generali

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'll be focussing on one main aspect: no prep. Too many recipes want stuff prepping first - I mean specifically meat needing to be cooked in a frying pan before being put in. I want to : gather/chop/peel some stuff, lob it in, add liquid, walk away.

The points of cooking meat before putting it in the crock pot are:

1. Nicer colour
2. Get the Maillard Reaction going (when the outside of meat is browned by frying/grilling/roasting it undergoes chemical changes which taste really good)

Any recipe which says you 'need' to brown the meat means that you will end up with a nicer tasting result if you do that. Sometimes it will be much better, other times a bit better. Almost always better though.

As with almost everything in life there is a trade-off between cost/how good it is/effort. It's your choice as to where to be in that triangle. You can eat cheaply and extremely well if you put a load of effort in. You can eat expensively and extremely well and put no effort in. You can eat badly and cheaply if you put no effort in.

Your dinner, your choice.

Generali

mystic_trev wrote: »

Yes, you can bung in any old meat and let it chug away all day with great results. It might be my imagination, but I sometimes think it tastes even better, after it's been sitting in the fridge for a few days, then (as PN would say)'nuked' :rotfl:

If it's your imagination it's mine too!

Generali

PasturesNew wrote: »

Actually, if I am worried about meat reaching the correct temperature .... I could nuke it first.

To be honest ..... now it's in the house it's scaring me. It'll be another of those things I am petrified to turn on "in case", in case it shorts or sets fire or something. I really suffer from fear of electrical appliances.

My largish slow cooker uses 250W. It has less risk than falling asleep in front of the TV.

Yorkie1

Generali wrote: »

Or you could ask me. Well worth buying a freezer if you have a slow cooker BTW.

Completely agree, although as PN has described a smaller model, probably less need.

When I use mine (not enough though) I make a vat of it and then freeze in small portions in plastic takeaway trays. I then get it out of the freezer and nuke it for a couple of minutes so that I can get the tray lid off without it splitting (cold = brittle plastic). Then decant the contents into a saucepan and reheat until bubbling away, then eat :beer:

Generali wrote: »

Sounds like a good size for you. You can make a brilliant curry in those things.

Any particular recipes?