Should I get a slow cooker?

I love mine. I have a combined slow cooker / pressure cooker. Both are fabulous. I do all sorts in it.

I have an instant pot and it’s replaced my slow cooker, as it can do both. A multi cooker of some sort is better.

I love mine - I had an old crockpot one but just bought a new Ninja one and it's a game changer as can sear/brown the meat in it first.

Curries are fine - the thing you need to remember is add less liquid in a slow cooker than you would do normally.

I love mine, we use it once or twice a week. The Bored of Lunch slow cooker recipe books are great, the 'even easier' book has a lot of recipes that need no pre cooking. We also do pork shoulder with spices or chicken thighs/diced beef with a jar of curry sauce, dried lentils and spinach. I don't have an air fryer but I wouldn't give my slow cooker up.

Love my slow cooker. Check out TamingTwins. Loads of slow cooker (and air fryer) recipes on there which are really tasty

I have a Russell Hobbs good to go multi cooker..I love it and use it several times a week. I like how I can sear stuff before adding any liquid and also that I can boil to reduce if there's too much liquid before serving. I only paid about £40 for it, was tempted by the Ninja but wasn't sure I'd use it enough to justify the cost so glad I tried this one first.

I use mine all the time
A tip i learned on here was that you really dont need to add much water at all as it makes its own juices through cooking i add about half a cup of water halfway through cooking for stews etc.

I'm on the fence. We have an excellent slow cooker curry book but I'm not keen on things like chilli and spag bol in them. I'd rather brown the mince, chuck it all into a hob-to-oven dish and then oven cook for an hour.

It's really, really.good for throwing in some foil-wrapped jackets at this time of year.

I've got a Ninja air fryer that also sears and slow cooks*. So much better than my old crock pot

• And dehydrates, grills, bakes, something else and cooks a whole large chicken in 35 minutes

I have the ninja multi cooker - I have just upgraded to the new one out which has an optional split pot. I love the old one.

Love my slow cooker. Not everything is great in them but it has so many uses I couldn't be without it. About to chuck a beef stew in mine as we speak!

I’ve got a ninja multi cooker which can be an air fryer, pressure cooker or slow cooker. We use the pressure cooker most.

If you have too much liquid,, grave granules will sort it. Or you can get thickening granules without flavour. Works a treat.

We only use ours a few times a year but we did lamb shanks in it today...turned out beautiful.

Also roasts are good.

Never managed to make a nice curry in it.

With the jackets, do you put them in the oven at all or do the whole thing in the slow cooker? Any other jacket advice/instructions?

Use mine regularly to make pie fillings or big batches of chill.Definitely better if you sear meat first but still get good results if you can't be bothered. Also makes fab rice pudding.

I recycled mine . We're a vegetarian house except DS
It was fine for chilli (used vegan mince so doesn't need seared )
Not a fan of curry .
Good for spaghetti sauce .

I roast and freeze batches of onion so no raw onion going in.

It took up quite a bit of room.

If you're looking , then one of the multi cookers would be a better choice .

I have a cheap one from Asda, picked it because it has the metal bowl that can go on the hob. My routine if I can be bothered is to sear the meat and onion in the slow cooker bowl on the hob then chuck everything else in, put the bowl in the slow cooker on low and leave it for the day. On the morning I can’t be bothered then everything just goes in, high for an hour (or till I remember to turn it down) then switch to low and leave it. Searing does make a difference but it still tastes good without it.

I rarely use mine, everything comes out far too watery when I make a veg based meal in it. It's just gathering dust on the side.

We use our Ninja air fryer a lot more as you can bake/roast/grill/air fry with it. I find you can throw in a heap of chopped veg, roast it for 20 minutes with oil/herbs/spices and it's far nicer than out of the slow cooker.

We use it once a week. We never brown off meat before hand. I just throw everything in, no extra water or anything too wet, and leave it all day.

I’ve just enjoyed a most delicious chicken & bacon stew from my slow cooker. Carrots & latterly, peas chucked in too.

Last week I did a beef stew.

I don’t pre brown my meats but I’ll try that next time. It’s been a real bonus whilst I’ve been poorly the last ten days.

In the past I’ve given two away for lack of use so now I’ve got a small one & can get about 3 servings from it. I’m converted! I love my slow cooker. Best of all, the tasty aroma fills the house when I come in & I know supper is just a short time away.

We use ours at least once a week in the winter - usually making enough for 2 meals at least.

Our slow cooker has a metal dish so you can sear the meat in it, as long as you don't have an induction hob.

You just need to remember to reduce the amount of liquid while cooking.

I love mine, but you need decent recipes, or experienced slow cooker cooks yo help you.
The main trick is NOT adding liquid.

Get a ninja multi cooker you can sear stuff before slow cooking

I'm going to take mine out of the cupboard and have another go at cooking with it. So far, I've never really enjoyed any of the food I've cooked in it. It seems I've been adding too much liquid so I'll have to cut back on that. I'll take a look at some of the recipe books that posters have mentioned, thanks for posting them.