Is it worth buying a slow cooker with a timer?

Fusspot

I am wanting a new slow cooker but wonder if its worth paying more for a timer.

I work full time and my colleague who works the same hours says she uses her timer or the food will be overdone by the time she gets home.

I don't want to pay the extra money if one without a timer will do as well.

funfairprincess

If its a feature you will use then yes. I've never had one with a timer myself I sling everything in on low because I know I'm going to be out at least 10 hrs. But then again I'm not a fussy eater:rotfl:

elsien

I just use a timer plug with it. I find the veggies can be overcooked otherwise.
Depending on the extra cost of the timer being built in, that might be a cheaper option.

Fusspot

Thanks for your replies. I always put my slow cooker on low anyway.

that

considered one like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6L-Multi-Functions-Electric-Pressure-Cooker-Sous-Vide-Rice-Slow-Bertelin-Digi/292466639781

coffeehound

You can often pick up plug-in timers for a pound or two in charity shops. The trouble with built-in electronics is they are often the first thing to break-down and then the whole slow cooker has to be replaced. Whereas standard slow cookers should have a long working life due to their simplicity. Plus with a separate timer, you can use it for other things when not cooking.

-taff

I thought the whole point of a slow cooker was that everything was supposed to be fully cooked. If you're over cooking something in a slow cooker, you're cooking the wrong type of stuff in it.

Mistral001

I bought a slow cooker about 20 years ago. I do not think you could get one with a timer then. I use my slow cooker quite a lot and I always thought that a timer is something would have been useful. I use a separate timer at the electrical socket as has been suggested above.

The big advantage I see with a slow cooker is having the meal ready when you want it. I work from home and usually prepare the ingredients to go in the cooker at lunchtime or during a morning break at work. So I do not often use the cooker on a timer.

I actually only use the timer in the winter when I can leave the ingredients in the cooker for a few hours before the timer switches it on. The cooker is in an unheated outhouse BTW. I would not be keen on leaving them in the cooker, if the cooker was in the kitchen to be honest.

Barbie61

Hello, I don't have a timer I just turn it on late afternoon and let it cook all night and until lunch-time if necessary on Low. If I want it faster I can put it on high and it will be ready in the morning anyway. Mind you I am vegan so only veg and pulses in mine but it's excellent coming home in the cold, after a long day at work and just having to reheat it - a couple of £ of vegetables and some pearl barley or brown lentils and I have a smashing dinner for roughly 5 days. I do like my herbs and spices mind you and I usually add some yeast spread (like Marmite but generic cooks better) and onion gravy right at the end. I make soup for lunch in the soupmaker kettle - that's amazing too and saves so much money. I am still learning but this is my new way of affording the vet bills.

PipneyJane

If you already have a slow cooker, don't fork out for a new one. However, if you need a new one, having a timer is useful so long as it switches to "keeping warm" when the programmed time expires.

More important is to get one with a good seal between lid and pot. We bought one for £20 off Amazon a few years ago and it was hopeless. Everything boiled dry. Steam leaked from all areas when the lid was on. A good slow cooker needs a third to half the liquid specified in a stew - anything more will have the ingredients swimming - however that one needed double or triple the specified liquid.

My betting is that your colleague has a cheap slow cooker with a really bad seal, like our old one. A couple of months ago, after another, nearly cremated meal, we thew in the towel and bought a Crock Pot. £47 in Costco. Can't be happier. There's a reason this brand is the market leader.

HTH

- Pip

buildersdaughter

-taff wrote: »

I thought the whole point of a slow cooker was that everything was supposed to be fully cooked. If you're over cooking something in a slow cooker, you're cooking the wrong type of stuff in it.

I would have agreed with you some years ago. However, when our household went down to 2, I bought a small slow cooker, and found that the modern ones are not as 'slow' as the older ones (and that small ones obviously heat up quicker). I had things 'overdo' in my new cooker, so had to use a timer.
However, i too, use a plug-in timer.