Slow Cooker meals for kids??

granble

I nearly always use a timer with slow cookers and recommend their use in preventing 'mush'.
What gets cooked varies with availability, is largely seasonal and appeals to the 3 generations it's prepared for. I no longer brown items first.
Chicken with skin on tends to be too greasy for our tastes so either use prepared meat or skim before serving.
You could treat yourself & children to a visit to local library and borrow recipe books to get you started.

Bublin1

Fantastic ideas and suggestions everyone - thank you.

The timer is making a massive difference.

Regarding chicken or other meats not being brown, I add a teeny tiny amount of Browning Sauce....it has no flavour but darkens the food. Must only use the tiniest amount though.

Nix143

I tend to prepare/brown my meat, prep the meal and then throw the slow cooker bowl in the VERY COLD fridge in my garage overnight. When i leave for work the next day I pop the prepped, cold bowl into the slow cooker. I figure the extra time needed to bring it up to cooking temperature helps prevent mush and prepping the dish the night before saves me morning stress.



Someone is going to come along and tell me I'm about to die from the food poisoning, aren't they?

Fruball

Nix143 wrote: »

I tend to prepare/brown my meat, prep the meal and then throw the slow cooker bowl in the VERY COLD fridge in my garage overnight. When i leave for work the next day I pop the prepped, cold bowl into the slow cooker. I figure the extra time needed to bring it up to cooking temperature helps prevent mush and prepping the dish the night before saves me morning stress.



Someone is going to come along and tell me I'm about to die from the food poisoning, aren't they?

I prepare mine and leave it in the kitchen, in the SC ready to turn on in the morning! My kitchen isn't particularly warm and whilst I wouldn't do it in the summer, I don't mind this time of year. Haven't got food poisoning yet!

We didn't have fridges until very recently so meat wouldn't have been refridgerated anyway!

mrsHall2b

sausages & potatoes cooked in gravey (could add veggies if you like)
I cook a whole chicken in the SC as my oven isnt big enough for everything! if you have a deep fat fryer too you could do a cheats roast-
chicken in SC through the day (you could always remove and finish it in the oven to crisp up maybe) boil potatoes then put them in the fryer, cook some veggies.. all done.
I also cook gammon in coke in the SC + just add tinned potatoes
BBQ pulled pork which then gets shredded and put in rolls.

room512

Bublin1 wrote: »

Mince - I thought it would need browning before going in the slow cooker? Thing is I don't have that much time in the morning. It has to be something I can at least prepare the night before.

My mum didn't use to brown the mince. She just put everything into the cooker, turned it on and then when we came home she'd cook the pasta.

liney

I don't brown the mince to do bolognaise. I grate onion, carrot, celery and crush garlic the night before and leave in the fridge. In the morning I pop in the mince, add chopped tomatoes with herbs, passata, puree and seasoning. That cooks from about 7.30am to 5pm on low. When we get home, the pasta, salad and garlic bread take 10 - 15 mins.


When it's cold I layer up a couple of lasagnes for the freezer or portion it up for a later bolognaise.

Spendless

I've been using my sc quite a bit recently and have used some ready made jars. We have had chicken korma, using a jar. Though the sauce doesn't reduce it meant that there was quite a lot of sauce so DD requested a naan bread as well as rice to mop it up.

Another favourite was a Chicken Tonight Spanish sauce jar. I served this with a bag of new potatoes that come with herb butter in a microwavable pack, plus a tin of green beans. Really enjoyable and ready within minutes of walking in.

I left the house around 8am on both occassions and got home around 5.30.

MandM90

I often make creamy curry in the SC. I add an onion, chopped garlic and ginger (cheap crushed garlic/ginger/chilli can be found in the freezer section of the supermarkets), heaped tbsp of curry powder, can of coconut milk, cubes of sweet potato and frozen peas (or whatever veg I have) then cook on low all day.

DollyDabbler

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=1332010#post1332010

Is there anything in the above collection, that your children would enjoy?