Small slow cooker for single people

Fusspot

I have a medium sized slow cooker and live on my own, it makes more food than I need but I freeze portions then forget to take them out of the freezer and end up buying ready meals.

I've seen a very small slow cooker which will just make one meal at a time and wonder if that will be better. Any ideas?

elsien

I've got a Lakeland 1.5 litre one - I generally do single portions in it but it can fit enough for two people if I do want to make extra and freeze it.
Works for me as a single person.

I'm slightly baffled by your comment about forgetting to get portions out of the freezer though - do you not have a microwave you can use to defrost them?

Fusspot

Thanks for your reply. My medium slow cooker makes about four meals but it's a bit cumbersome to store and wash up.

I love my microwave but am wary of defrosting stuff like chicken in it. I prefer to thaw stuff out in the fridge overnight.

Fusspot

Thanks for your reply. I love my microwave but am wary of defrosting in it, especially chicken. I prefer to thaw stuff out in the fridge overnight.

Redlady.....

Argos have a 1.5 Cookworks one for £9.99. I have one of these as well as a medium one. The 1.5 does the main part of the meal (braised steak, mince etc...) for two of us. I love it.

carriebradshaw

I would probably either just make a smaller portion in the one you have,or write yourself a reminder note and stick it on the kettle lid so you'll see it and get your frozen meal out of the freezer

Hayleypoppins

The Argos cookworks one is really good and quite small

Eenymeeny

I bought a small slow cooker from Wikinsons thinking that it would be easier to lift and to store than my normal sized one. I was disappointed to find that it should only be filled to the halfway mark, so hardly enough for a meal for two with our appetites!
Worth checking before you buy. (I did use it for yogurt making before I bought my Lakeland yogurt maker and it is useful as an 'extra' for keeping things warm at Christmas etc)

PasturesNew

I am single and my SC is 3.5 litres. I think with a smaller one you'd struggle to get much stuff in it, so it'd limit your options on what you could make.

3.5 litres makes 4-5 portions and I generally cook something, then it's OK in the fridge for 2-3 days or so and I'll usually eat most portions then, generally leaving only one to actually freeze.

Before I got this one I thought a smaller one would be better, now I have it I think I'm grateful for the extra size of it as I think a smaller one would struggle to contain the ingredients I'd want to toss in. It'd be easy, then, to find you're putting in half a pack of (say) mince, then being annoyed at the remaining half a pack as now you've got to think of something else/different to do with that - and you don't need more meals as the SC's on the go.

So, I'd say a 3.5 litre's "the right size" to be most flexible in the case of somebody who has to eat everything that comes out of it.

Don't forget - with a larger one, you do have the option of putting a bowl in the SC and water round the bowl and just using the smaller space of the inserted bowl to cook in. Or floating a cooking bag of ingredients in water in the SC, again to cook less. One thing you can't do is make a small pot grow to take a full can of beans you want to toss in...

BrassicWoman

My small one bruned too hot.

Have a look at a wonderbag instead?

http://www.nb-wonderbag.com/Default

Linda32

Hi,

I prefer to defrost in the fridge overnight as well. Rather than buy something (it's a money saving forum after all) I'd go with the pen and paper route of leaving yourself a note to take dinner out of the freezer each night.

You could even re-use the note if you just write 'Dinner'