Should I get a slow cooker?

I only cook certain dishes in mine. I found it made watery /bland curry or bolognaise and I can't be bothered trying to fix my recipe (with minimal liquid added).

I have one that you can put the pot on the hob so I can brown off on the hob then put in slow cooker and then if it needs thickened I'll finish off on the hob.

Omg! Immediately looking into this, thank you!

Are you a fan a stews? If not then id say don't bother.

Things definitely can be watery and sloppy (and tastless). You really need to pick out decent slow cooker specific recipes.

There's is/there was a trend of people making reels of coming home to the disappointed of finding dinner was made in the slow cooker. Definitely the case in our house when DH has made his "throw everything in" style slow cooker when he's making dinner 🤣 Less so when I use it - but I tend to use it to cook things on the bone (like lamb shanks) and thicken/add things to the sauce separately at the end. So there's a small bit of extra effort in it - so might no be what you want.

You do have to hunt out decent recipes

hmm I still have one but haven’t really felt the love. i really wanted to like it but all beef stews tasted ‘brown’ and the meat was always quite dry - nothing like as tasty and tender as cooked in the oven in a Le Creuset. Rice pudding was 🤯 idk why that went so wrong. It’s great for cooking a whole chicken though and getting every scrap of meat off the bone, plus good stock. DH uses it to make large quantities of pulled pork, it’s good for that.

I’ve made a casserole today and added absolutely no liquid at all and it’s got loads of gravy just from what comes out of the meat and veg.

Thanks, I'll try that, my stews and casseroles were too watery and not very tasty as a result.

I love my slow cooker especially at this time of year.
Admittedly it's a bit of a faff getting it all ready in the morning, but it's nice coming home to your dinner cooking away.
I've got lots of great recipes off Instagram.

I love a slow cook. Great omfor We have a 11 in 1 Ninja Foodi, which has a slow cook function, and is used almost every day for one of it's functions. I do love a slow cook but don't do it that often, the Foodi means I don't have something taking up space that I don't use very often.

Maybe consider one of those. They're incredibly flexible.

I love it for chilli

No oven needed. I prick them, rub some oil on, wrap in foil and put 4 in on medium for about 4 hours. They come out like the ones from jacket potato market stalls - the ones with the glass potato ovens that look like popcorn machines.

I love my slow cookers with a passion.

There is nothing like walking in and just cooking rice to serve with a curry or a chilli or pasta for bolognaise, or pudding dumplings in for the last hour or so.

I don’t like the air fryer as I feel it cremates food, I do like my food slowly cooked.

I have a tower slow cooker which 1.5litre which 35watts and meat dishes take 9 to 10 hours minimum.

The 2.5 litre is a bigger wattage of 65watts and cooks slightly quicker but still cooks lovely.

My daughter never got on with hers, as it didn’t cook as slow as mine, her modern 1.5litre one was 120watts.

I think it’s down to the wattage, the lower the wattage, the longer it takes to cook, the tastier it is.

I read the title as Show Cocker 🤣

I mean, both are great OP. I'd get both cooker and cocker

I have a ninja foodi and I absolutely couldn't be without it.

It's a 9 in 1, pressure cooker, sears, sauté's, aircrisps, bakes, roasts and dehydrates but I've never found a need for that function lol.

I'm a bit of a Ninja whore though and also have a soup maker, kettle, blender, knives and coffee machine.

I find all their products are quality.

They're great, you just need to adapt to the different cooking style. I slow cook in my Aga, and that also needs a lot less liquid than in a conventional oven. The long slow cooking gives amazing flavour

Mine is just Tesco own brand. Got it for a tenner with my club card a few years ago.

I have found the pressure cooker produces much nicer meals in my ninja 15 in 1, I never like the texture of the meat when slow cooked even if I seared it but that may be just the recipes I’m using.

Couldn't get on with mine, it never came out right and I didn't like how it made the whole house smell of whatever was in it.

Getting a model that can sear the meat is the game changer, combined with being very careful with liquid amounts.
I have nailed it and it is fantastic to come into after a days work.

I like mine, but I only use it for slow cooking things that benefit from being cooked long and slowly. I add anything that is likely to turn to mush an hour or so before we want to eat.

It’s a slow cooker, not a bung everything in at the start and hope for the best cooker.

I had one and thought it was overrated.

I love my cast iron pot though.

If you need to go out in the day, maybe try one again, if not, maybe just try a big pot.

Most pot meals taste better second time around, so maybe cook it in the morning and let it cool and sauces thicken and then heat up gently for dinner.

I wouldn't buy a new one - borrow one from a friend and see how you go. There must be so many stuck at the back of cupboards including mine.

I love mine. I’ve used it for venison, ham, chicken ,turkey, beef and lamb. Curries, chilli dishes, casseroles, all sorts. I follow the Batch Lady on FB as she has some great slow cooker recipes. But there are lots of other great ideas out there.

Or, draw off the liquid, reduce it and then put back into the slow cooker. Just did that when I overdid it with the red wine in the 16 portions of bolognese I cooked on Friday.

The only thing I can't do in mine is a joint of meat. My daughter and friend do all their roasts in theirs but I tried a piece of lamb in mine once and it was disgusting