Buying a slow cooker (which? & why?)

Gambit

Got the MR 3.5 slow cooker today

Went to Robert Dyas but they only had the display model left which was in good condition so I bought that with a 10% discount so it came to a grand total of £17.99 - Bargain me thinks :T

LilacLillie

I've just ordered from Empire Catalogue, with a code from the discount board.

Hinari 1.5 lt item number HL0809 for £11.49 each.

I wanted one each for my 2 son's. There was nothing else I wanted so ended up ordering 3 @ £11.49 = £34.47 - £15 discount code = total to pay £19.47.

So it works out cheaper to buy 3 than 2 with the code
The spare one I'll take to our place in BG.
Bargains all round.
LL

Daniel_B

Hi guys,
noticed a thread elsewhere about the usefullness of slow cookers.

I didn't know they existed prior to this, so have some questions:

What kind of meals can you cook in them, is it only casseroles and soups?
Can you leave them running unattended, or is this a serious hazard?

My thinking being, that both myself and my gf work during the day, and are out from roughly 7.30 - 6.30, so to come home to a ready hot meal would be superb :-)

Is 11/12 hours too long for one of these meals to cook?

One more thing - my breadmaker (Fantastic) takes 5 hours to make a loaf, but has a timer function, so I set it overnight, and I suppose it starts off about 2AM - if there is a similar function on a slow cooker, I could maybe use this and start it further through the day.

Advice appreciated.

Cheers

Dan

cozzie

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

Am still learning myself as I got one for xmas, but, this thread is fantastic and if you have any questions then the OSers will have an answer for you within minutes.

As far as I know most slowcookers have a high, medium and low setting. The low setting on mine is for use upto 12hours cooking. I have mainly done joints in mine so far and done the veg separately. I have also been thinking about the timer function as I hope to be in Uni next year, I was thinking about getting one of those timers that you plug lamps into when you go on holiday, but, if I put it on low then there really isn't a need. Just need to keep practicing.

Hope that helps some.

kazzagrezza

I find my slowcooker brilliant in the winter. I have only cooked casseroles, stews etc in mine and they cook just perfect. Just chuck everything in, turn it on and away you go. Great for coming home after a hard day at work to a hot meal. Do as I do and buy your fresh veg in a microwave bag, pop it in the micro and your evening meal can be served up in 10 mins. Be careful though and make sure you cook on the low heat setting if you are out at work all day.

Daniel_B

Thanks for that peeps, lots of info there already

That will keep me busy for a while!

I haven't trawled through all of it yet, but assuming the settings are all manual, unlike a breadmaker, I would assume a plug in timer would do the job fine.

Thanks again

Dan

boysmum3

I use my slow cooker (only purchased few months ago so still experimenting!) for stews/casseroles that you 'slap' all ingredients in together - i put on first thing on lowest setting and its ready to eat at 6 - although my 10 year old moans that the potatoes get 'too soft' !!!
My mum does a wicked rice pudding in hers too - takes few hours on medium!

ariba10

They do not all cook at the same speed. We have two, a small one and a new large one. The large one cooks a lot faster. The best thing to do is try few things while your are at home to get used to it. You will be suprised how quickly you learn to get on with it.

Debras_Angel

As well as what everyone else has said re the stews etc, I also cook full joints of meat and full chickens in a little water in mine and the meat is tender and succulent.

dooj

good on you for getting a slow cooker, im pretty new to it also and its just a matter of experimenting a bit. I do soup in mine veg and dried broth mixture with stock in the slow cooker for about 9 hours on low then add a tin of cheap tomato soup at the end to give it a nice colour. I also do chicken breast in jar of curry sauce over about 5 hours (the chicken gets nice and soft and moist) Also do joint of beef on a sunday over 3 hours on high. Good luck with experimenting, let us know how you get on.