I have a slow cooker but I just can't work it out...

[Gleek]

Most recipes I have seen say 5-7 hours etc. We leave the house at 8am and return at 6pm, is the slow cooker going to work for us?

If yes, could someone post a REALLY basic recipe to get me started, is it really as simple as chucking everything in?

TIA

[defineme]

You just put it on the low setting if you're out that long.
It should have a basic recipe book with it.
I like skinned chicken on the bone eg pack of thighs cos its horrid if off the bone -you just fish out bones at the end.
cover that with glass of cheap white wine/stock cube/one of those teabags full of herbs and some veg chopped eg onion, mushrooms, carrot

or stewing steak, tinned tomatoes, onion,red wine, stock cube, squirt of tomato sauce, mushrooms/whatever

or casserole lamb/barley/veg/wine/stock

if you're really worried use one of those packets you find in the herbs section-they do slow cooker ones now and it tastes fine.

[defineme]

I don't brown meat first or anything cos I leave it for hours and so the meat is very trender and full of flavour.

[defineme]

Also, if it's a bit watery when you come home just mix up some cornflour and add that to thicken the gravy. Or cream is nice stirred into the chicken one.

[fergoose]

You will find you need less liquid as nothing evaporates or reduces in a slow cooker (or very little compared to conventional cooking) - but a bit too much gravy is not really a problem, and like Defineme says drop of cornflour mixed at the end is easy to do.

[Feenie]

I use ours at least once a week and this is the scrummiest so far!

[Feenie]

Left it from 7.30 until 5.30, and it was lovely

[Gleek]

That looks amazing Feenie!

Slow cooker pack things sound perfect for my first try, I want to limit what can go wrong. I might give it a try this weekend when I am in just to keep an eye on it, had heard the watery thing too, guess it's just trial and error?

Thank you for all the advice ladies, feel a lot more confident.

[fergoose]

just don't open the lid too often as that adds to cooking time. You will be fine - a nice beef stew or something simple like a bolognese or chili are good to start with.

They just do a gently simmer/bubble so all perfectly safe :)