Buying a slow cooker (which? & why?)

Pink.

I prefer to brown meat etc before adding it to the slow cooker but that's my personal choice. I know others just throw in the ingredients and let the slow cooker do its stuff.

You can read other people's opinions on this thread:

slow cooker question browning meat

With the water I think it only refers to a recipe that needs added water (or other liquid) and is suggesting using boiling water as this will kick start the cooking so the food will be sitting at room temperature for a shorter time.

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QueenBeruthiel

Patr100 wrote: »

Well I just bought the Argos Value on but looking at the recipes included with I am disappointed.

I thought the point was you can just bung in stuff and leave it to cook? If I have to precook ot prepare stuff as the enclosed recipes suggest then I might as well cook in the conventional way and finish the job!
And it says "Boiling water must always be used" but when? How do I know if it needs water added to cook?

It's in real danger of going back.

Don't send it back! Chuck away the recipe book and follow the suggestions on the threads here. Remember that slow cookers work best in making anything with a high liquid content - soups, stews, stocks, rice pud.

Patr100

The trouble is I'm not normally much of a cook and I don't make stews, soups etc
I normally just use stuff from the freezer. chicken, veg and stiry fry or microwave but I don't have any stock or similar ingredients to add yet apart from instant gravy granules!.

omen666

Just bought the morphy richards 6.5l one, more than enough space for me and the missus and for work.

Got it for £19 from argos RRP £50

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4233433/Trail/searchtext%3ESLOW+COOKER.htm

rozeepozee

Okay guys, I need some guidance here please. Seriously thinking about buying a slow cooker. We eat curries here at least 2 or 3 times a week and I am partial to soup. Plus, I've been known to batch cook in the past. I really like the idea of shoving a load of food in a pot and having a meal waiting for me 8 hours later. I could probably incorporate getting a meal ready first thing most mornings and leaving it to cook while I'm out and about in the day. We're also about to get a campervan so thinking we could use it in this too (it only comes with a hob with two rings, so it would expand our cooking capabilities).

However, I know kitchen appliances are one of those things I like to buy and don't necessarily need and just end up taking up cupboard space, so is this a MS buy or a green eyed consumer buy?

If the answer is yes to the former, do I buy the 6.5L Morphy Richards that's on offer at Argos atm (reduced to £20) but has no timer and might be too big? Or the Crockpot Saute 5.7L SC with timer that you can also "use on the hob, in the microwave, in the oven, in the freezer and refrigerator" and is dishwasher safe? It's £63.59 in Argos but only £41 in Costco. We're a family of 3 about to become a family of 5 in April.

Or do you have any other suggestions?

Decisions, decisions! Thanks in advance.

jollymummy

Rozeepozee - I'll watch any replies with interest. We have 2 adults and our 4 year old in our house and I fancy a slow cooker but I'm not sure what size to get.

rozeepozee

If you check my posts on another thread (Live on £4K) there are some replies there - the vote seems to be for the Morphy Richards in that camp.

uolypool

jollymummy wrote: »

Rozeepozee - I'll watch any replies with interest. We have 2 adults and our 4 year old in our house and I fancy a slow cooker but I'm not sure what size to get.

I have 6 in my family and i use a 6.5 litre cookworks one (bought when on offer in argos) and that suits us fine however the children bought there dad the 3.5 litre cookworks one for xmas as he works long shifts so cooks throughout the day and he has reported back that he can cook for example a stew in it and eat a portion freeze 2 portions and pop one in fridge for next day hth

FW1000

We are a family of 3 and thinking of getting a slow cooker. We tend to be out 10 - 11 hours in the day so I think we'd need a slow cooker that we could delay the start time on. Or one where we could plug it into a timer so we can delay it starting that way. Does anyone have any recommendations?

I've gathered from reading slow cooker threads that we are best to get an oval shaped one with a glass lid. We'd ideally like it to be dishwasher proof.

Thanks

rozeepozee

Can anyone say what a Remoska slow cooker is like? One of the reasons I think a slow cooker would be useul for us is that we've just bought a campervan and it only has a 2 ring gas hob so potentially, the slow cooker could give us more cooking facilities. The campervan community all seem to rave about the Remoska but it's £100 :eek: Why would I want to buy one of these rather than a £20 from Argos, I wonder?