Should I get a slow cooker?

Can I ask whether it has a particular name, please?

I live alone and I use my slow cooker at least weekly. No gas here and it’s expensive to use the electric oven. I cook most meat in it, just with onions and whatever combination of garlic, ginger etc takes my fancy. I dint add water, maybe a tin of coconut cream and/or a squirt of tomato puree, or a spoonful of eg marmalade with pork, or peanut butter and curry powder. And I never put carrots in because I hate the weird taste they impart to everything else (I love carrots, just not slow-cooked, nor celery).

I make rice pudding if I’ve an excess of milk, in a smaller bowl stood in the slow cooker pot.

I love the slow cooker but the Instant Pot totally outshines it. It does so much more and is so easy to use

Think they are called multi cookers

Everything I’ve ever eaten out of an electric slow cooker has been watery and gross despite everyone telling me how amazing they are.

Buy a cast iron Dutch oven and slow cook in the oven on the weekend.

I really dislike slow cooker meals. Everything seems to have a distinctive flavour that I just don’t like. I jumped on the bandwagon years ago and tried to like it but i eventually got rid of it and I don’t miss it at all

It sounds like the Ninja Foodi multicooker with smartlid (11 in 1)

I’ve never been a fan of the stews or roasts but

Rice pudding (using rice milk)
Porridge using steel cut oats - 1.5l pot.
Fresh beetroot
Citrus for marmalade first cook
Oranges for orange and almond cake
Quince
Caramelised onion
Christmas/fruit cake. I 1/4 my recipe and use a 1.5l pot.
Christmas pudding - it’s brilliant. No worrying about boiling dry.
Even ordinary cakes. It doesn’t brown properly but that’s not always necessary so doesn’t matter.

I love my slow cooker in the winter. I never sear anything first

I got rid of mine and got an Instant Pot. I bought the 6 quarts/5.7L so I can batch cook and freeze meals. It is a slow cooker, rice cooker and pressure cooker all in one. You can also make yoghurt in mine.

I occasionally use it as a slow cooker, but mainly use the pressure cooker function as I prefer the taste of food cooked this way. Mine has the steel inner pot so I can sear meat and onions before adding the rest of the ingredients. It makes delicious curries, stews, savoury rice dishes, egg custard and creamy rice pudding.

However, like you Op, when I have the time, I still love a casserole cooked slowly in the oven in my cast iron pot or a roast cooked in the oven.

I'm with you OP. The only thing I use my slow cooker for is to cook the dog's liver which she has occasionally. I only use my air fryer for salmon or to make chips which never turn out that well.

I saw an amusing post on TikTok the other day along lines of "real teenager texts when the slow cooker comes out" and it was the usual complaints from teenagers about the "slop".

I say this on threads about slow cookers all the time - I don't think they do as good a job as an oven or job but they are great for conveinence and the food is edible.

I also think there are things you can use the slow cooker for that makes life a bit easier. Eg I cook pork shoulder steaks in mind then just do a quick shred and fry when we're ready to eat to make tacos. or I used to do whole chicken in there for most of the day and then I had lovely most chicken meat I'd use in other dishes ove the next few days eg risotto or a salad or chicken Ala king, or even just for wraps/sandwiches etc, plus stock (must do that again actually, now I think about it! )

Similarly, our nanny often used to do whole chicken thighs with lots of flavouring like garlic/honey/soy then all she needed to do when she got back with the DC was make rice/potatoes and some steamed veg and I think she used to throw the chicken under the grill to crips up at the end (if I remember ccorrectly).

In other words, it can be a really useful step to do something that will then make the rest of dinner prep much easier and quicker.

We got an instantpot and it was a game changer. My husband and I both work FT and we can take 20 minutes in the morning to get something going and it's done when we get back. You can brown the meat right in there (agree that makes a massive difference)

It really works for us as we are in and out a lot every evening with clubs and such and we can have something we can all have hot whenever we want it.

I got an instant pot 5 years ago thinking I hope this isn’t a gimmick,
I use it at least 4 times a week, and the sear and the slow cooker function is exactly what you are looking for.

But the pressure cooker part is a complete game changer!

Mine has a metal pan that works on my induction hob, so meat can be seared beforehand.

I think it works best on cuts of meat designed for "long and slow" cooking, so short ribs, stewing steak, lamb shanks etc.

I am not crazy about slow-cooked chicken, as it tends to disintegrate and I think it's nicer cooked conventionally. Likewise, some veggies turn to mush as well.

We have an instant pot which has a slow cooker setting. You can also use it to cook rice, make yogurt and as a pressure cooker. Maybe have a look at multi use products and see if there is anything you could get a little more use out of.

https://amzn.eu/d/08qga3rO

Not gone wrong with any of these recipes so far, so tasty and not watery

Instant Pot!!!!