Slow cooker - what's the first thing I should try?

Lumiona

For any pasta dishes, cook the sauces all day with extra liquid and throw a load of pasta in with 45mins to go. The pasta is delicious as it absorbs the flavours in the sauces.

joedenise

greyteam1959 said:

Top tip.
Buy some slow cooker bags.
Saves the hassle of scrubbing the slow cooker after use.

I don't like them!  I've got a 3.5l oval slow cooker but I'm sure the bags are designed for a much bigger slow cooker and now wish I hadn't bothered wasting my money!

JIL

I use mine to make a batch of mushy peas or rice pudding.

I also batch cook for elderly parents, so a big chicken casserole using boneless thighs, a cottage pie base, a sausage casserole or a steak pie filling. I then divide into dishes and they go into their  freezer. 

I also never saute, starting from raw.

luvchocolate

I always put meat in without browning but how does that work with minced beef and sausages?

joedenise

I did a savoury mince and that when whilst still frozen, although it was free flow mince and it was fine.  Cooked just as well as using fresh.  The savoury mince, with loads of veg, was very tasty.  Just need to portion it and get it into the freezer now that it is cold!  Suspect I've got about 8-10 portions to be frozen so makes it a reasonably cheap meal by the time I add some mash and green veg to it.

Pollycat

Mince - including pork, chicken, lamb & turkey - cooks fine in the slow cooker.

For beef & lamb, I add diced carrots, swede, turnip, brussel sprouts - whatever I have in.
For pork, turkey & chicken, I add mushrooms and tomatoes.

-taff

I found a recipe ages ago for cheesy chilli pasta, no idea where, but you can google. Easy peasy, make the chilli and leave cooking, add th pasta about 20 minutes before the end, cook, stir in cheddar, done. It was surprisingly nice if you like pasta, cheese and chilli...

:

MSE_James

Thanks again all - I made a beef stew yesterday. Needed a bit more seasoning but not a total disaster by any measure! 

Pollycat

Looks good.
What seasoning did you put in?

For beef I sometimes add a spoonful of horseradish sauce or dijon mustard.
Always mixed herbs & black pepper.
Sometimes onion powder, garlic powder and any other herbs/spices I fancy from my well stocked cupboard.

fly-catchers

May sound a bit silly but when you put meat in (lamb/beef) etc should you fry it first and brown off. Or put it in completely uncooked. Same with potatoes should you boil them in water for about 10 minutes. Or just put them straight in.