What is the point of slow cookers?

[EachandEveryone]

My neighbour came around to admire it yesterday. It was her that persuaded me to get one, I am a nurse but have stopped nights for now. I batch cook sometimes but I’ve only myself to feed. I really don’t need a slow cooker do I? What does actually taste better in it? And doesn’t it make you living space smell of cooking all day? I’m in a flat and can’t stand it if I smell cooking in my bedroom😃

I use mine quite a bit and I love it for Sunday dinner. I put beef in it as I go to bed on Saturday night and it's perfect for Sunday lunch. Plus all the juice is there for gravy. My mouth is watering, yum.
I think its so handy for when I was out working full time for casseroles, stews etc.
I really need to get new recipes, I'm sure there is so much I could do but just haven't tried yet

That sounds lovely actually @deliaowens do you put it straight from the freezer into the slow cooker or do you have to defrost it first?

Mine went almost unused apart from the odd boring stew.

But I tried The Batch Lady's lemon chicken just to use up some legs that I couldn't be arsed to cook but were at risk of going past the bin it date ... it was v. easy, low effort and lovely. Been using it more with her and other youtubers recipes. Turns out the boringness of my slow cooker was due to me rather than it. Which was no shock to my family. 😁

I love my slow cooker, I couldn't be without it. There are loads of recipes that you can do in it without browning the meat first. I also do baked potatoes in mine. I just love that dinner is ready for us at the end of the day, no cooking to be done.

One thing that I don't think has been mentioned is that as it cooks so slowly, you can buy cheap cuts of meat and they will come out really tender.

I do a recipe using Lamb Shoulder and it fall off the bones in the slow cooker. The oven would have to be on for hours to achieve the same level of tenderness.

Thank you @SJ789 I am going to try that!

I absolutely love mine, makes life so much easy rushing about with work/kids then coming home to a lovely hot dinner that’s all ready!

I had mine before I even had a family, so even when it was just me at home I probably used it around 3 times a week.

I love a beef stew in it! As for browning meet, in all the years I’ve owned a slow cooker I’ve never done that. You just chuck everything in and it’s good to go! Also it’s less work actually with washing up as everything’s in the same pot!

I think a slow cooker is useful when you can put a meal on to cook in the morning and when you get back from work it's waiting for you .

I use one even when at home for a casserole as I don't think it cooks as well in the oven or on the hob .

@OLittleTownofBethlehem

I really like mine but I’m not convinced it actually saves much time. All of the preparation time is the same because the meat has to be browned etc.

I love coming home to the smell of dinner lol though but if you don’t I would probably send to a charity shop.

I don't brown meat . Just Chuck it all in together .

This might be a silly question, but is there actually any (culinary or safety) benefit of a slow cooker over using a normal oven which you can programme with a timer while you're out?

If you can prep ahead then it's worth it.

So on a Sunday day morning I'll brown a load of mince. Some will then go in the slow cooker for a chilli, the rest will be split between some freezer bags. As I add the other ingredients to the slow cooker I add the same to the freezer bags. I seal the freezer bags and lay them in the freezer.

The chilli I've prepped will do a single person 4 portions, and each of the freezer bags will do 4 portions so that's 12 in the time it takes to do one.

The slow cooker will cook the bags from frozen as well, so a week later, empty one in and on your return, here's 4 portions.

Brown the meat? Nope! Chop everything up, bung it in the pot, set the timer - we have a timer in the plug socket cos we didn't get an all singing and dancing sloco. Leave the house.

If you don't like the smell wrap the lid in a towel and foil!

Non browned mince? Vom.

It probably uses less power because you're only heating a very small space. It's like a 60 W lightbulb.

Slow cookers are designed to be left running unattended but many people wouldn't leave the oven on when they go out.

Slow cookers are small and cheap and could be used by people who don't have an oven, even in a bedsit type arrangement. Mine cost £7 from Asda.

@lazylinguist

This might be a silly question, but is there actually any (culinary or safety) benefit of a slow cooker over using a normal oven which you can programme with a timer while you're out?

The only benefits are you can use cheaper cuts of meat and ignore it whilst it does it stuff - on and it is cheaper to run than the oven!

For all you lot that love your slow cookers, I’d highly recommend the Ninja Foodi. I swear it’s changed my life. It’s a slow cooker, pressure cooker, air fryer, grill, oven. steamer and hob all in one gadget. Pricey but worth it! I haven’t used my oven in almost 6 months!

I used to sometimes have friends over for a curry night, or Moroccan night etc, and then it was great to take the pressure off the oven. I'm more likely to use it at the weekend — put it on mid-morning then go out.

I've also done mulled wine in it, which works well because people can serve themselves from it and it doesn't have to be on the hob.

I put beef stew in mine over night this week. DS could dish it up hot straight into his food flask and take it to school.

Can’t believe all the people saying they don’t bother browning anything. Browning off the meat and veg adds flavour. I can’t imagine anything less appetising than a load of raw meat and veg chucked in a slow cooker and stewed all day. Anyway, mine’s in a cupboard taking up room with it’s watery tasteless ways. Get an air fryer, that’s a useful bit of kit.

I mostly use mine for joints of meat. Gammon in brown sugar is a favourite and its great for pork loin too. Last weekend I did a brisket of beef just with veg and stock and it was amazingly tender. Chucked it in about 10am on Sunday then ate around six, used the stock to make gravy. The leftovers became crispy chilli beef the next day. I'd do it if I lived alone and just freeze portions.

Joint of beef. Brisket is cheap and needs long slow cooking to tenderise it. I put it in raw then add 2 cans of french onion soup then top up with water to cover it. Cook on high for minimum of 5 hours but more is fine. Serve with yorkies and roast potatoes

I adore our slow cooker! I often make a chicken all-in which costs a couple of quid and feeds DH and I for at least 2 meals each.
Diced chicken, leeks, carrots, swede, pearl barley, chick peas, broken up dry noodles and a couple of chicken stockpots.

Bung in a few herb dumplings an hour before you want to eat and yum!

(I grow my own veg on allotment so extra cheap for us)

I learned two things with my slow cooker. One is it was a bit hot so it didn't need as long as recipes said. Two its only watery if you put too much water in. It took a lot of learning to realise that.

Non browned meat is revolting.

So essentially you’re putting a load of meat and veg e.g. onions etc to boil. Gross.

I also did a chicken in mine and it was grim,and virtuallly impossible to cut because the bones were so brittle they just splintered.

I quite fancy doing a roast beef in mine but at the moment it’s sitting on top of a cupboard.

You don't need to brown meat. Try it, it makes zero difference.

I like mine although we probably only use it once or twice a month. I don't mind the house smelling of the food during the day, in fact sometimes it's lovely when you come in from a long walk and you can smell the food! But I've only ever put it on overnight once and it made me feel really ill smelling chilli all night so I won't do that again..😂