Please help me choose a slow cooker!

[SoonMeansNever]

I'm a bit blinded by the choice, do you have any advice please?
They all seem to be so similar, and mostly have 5* reviews so it's really hard for me to know which will suit us!

Are the 'sear and stew' ones a good buy? I imagine we'll mostly be making stews etc, and gather that meat/onions need browning first.

We have a tiny galley kitchen, so I assumed we'd get a small one, but have read that the bigger ones are a better buy long term? It'll have to sit out on the worktop (probably usurping the breadbin, which mostly stores biscuits anyway).

We're a family of four, 2 adults, toddler, baby, but it'd be good to have some leftovers to use/freeze sometimes.

Timers/settings, what's important?
DH has shown me a £17 and a £90 one, both at John Lewis, and I can't tell if price means much - people often seem to say they bought theirs for thruppence twenty years ago and it's still going strong!

[SoonMeansNever]

Morphy Richards contender

[dreamingofsun]

we have a 3.5 litre one that is now about 25 years old and was pretty cheap at the time. its not big enough for large joints but is perfect size for family of 4/5 for everything else. i would go for cheap one and then if you don't like it, it doesn't matter. i don't brown anything except sausages and these are easily done on the hob.

low/high/auto settings and a removable pot are important.

the key thing is that you will have to change the way you cook - but you will get lots of tips on here. once you have mastered how to tweak the ingredients its really just a case of slinging things in, in the morning - espec good with frozen chopped onions

[dreamingofsun]

actually it does fit joints, as long as they don't have massive long bones in.

[Outtaideas]

Blow the budget and get and InstantPot...slow cooker, rice cooker, pressure cooker all in one. Truly fab.

[sashh]

I'd say spend about £10.

Not everyone gets on with them, I love mine (have 2 at the moment) and use one at least once a week.

Tesco usually have one for £10-15.

If you get on with it then you can invest later, if you don't then you have not spent a lot and you can give it freecycle

[dreamingofsun]

www.johnlewis.com/russell-hobbs-19790-slow-cooker-stainless-steel/p1107289

if i was getting one from john lewis this is the one i would choose. has everything u need

[SoonMeansNever]

Brilliant advice, thank you!

I think we're going to get the £17 JL one and see how we get on, as you say, we can always upgrade in future if necessary!

Really looking forward to trying it :)