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😃

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

You can make cakes in them as well.

Ours is now the bread bin. Everything I cooked in it tasted the same, sort of metallic (and it's not a metal bowl!), tangy and burnt (even though it wasn't).

@AlternativePerspective

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

I watched a celeb chef do a test once and there was no discernible difference.

I dont like it. The food all has a same flavour

We use ours a lot. It's great.

When I was at home after the babies were born my husband would stick a meal in it before he went to work so that I didn't have to bother with dinner, it would just be ready for us when he got in.

If you're on a shift you can put the meal on before you go out and it'll be ready when you get in. It cooks so slow it doesn't doesn't matter if your late.

Oh, I've remembered the other thing that I do in it. Pulled pork.

I'd roast pork in the oven, but the slow cooker works very well for pulling it. I put it in with some apple juice to cook, then remove it, cut the fat off and shred it. Pour most of the hot apple juice/stock out and put the pork back in, with enough left to keep it moist. Then I use the rest as a base for a barbecue sauce made on the hob. You can then stir that back in, or serve it alongside.

Things like beef and lamb joints come out really tender. Gammon in cider is also great.

Well if you're at work all day then it saves you a heck of a lot of time - you can just come home to a casserole or curry/soup/anything rather than waiting a couple of hours to cook it! Also slow cooked tastes better!

You have to really learn how to cook well in it, otherwise there is a tendency for everything to be watery and casseroley.
However, once you've mastered it, it is truly magnificent, and yes it absolutely saves time and effort.

Nb does it matter if you get food smells? You could throw open all the windows for 20 mins when you get home and put the extractor fan on.

Would a cartouche keep the smells in?.

There’s only two of us and I use mine all the time - whatever I cook will normally do us for 2 nights, once with pasta, second time around with potatoes or rice - so I get 2 dinners out of it for about 10mins of effort (I never brown meat either). Every few weeks I make a big batch of tomato sauce in it that I freeze in meal sized portions, meaning there is always an emergency dinner in the freezer on days when I totally CBA.

Love my slow cooker. I am cooking meatballs in mine at the moment. I make stews, soups, curries, steamed puddings....I wouldn't be without it.

The thing is I am a nurse so I get home at 9pm I wouldn’t dream of eating at that time and also, how safe is it to have it on for 13 hours? I fear I have wasted my money

I love my slow cooker- slow cook lamb for a Sunday roast-chuck a few potatoes on, boil the veg and a few ready made Yorkshires- easy peasy.

Have meal balls bubbling away in there tonight. 10 mins prep and people can put on a bit of spag and take theirs when they are ready and the rest stays nice and hot.

I love coming home in the evening to the smell of something nice to eat.

Mine was a wedding pressie- 31 years old and still going strong!

There was just me home after i put a joint of beef in the slow cooker yesterday morning, with celery, potatoes, whole shallots, red peppers , plum tomatoes, an oxo, garlic, herbs and hot water.
The beef was melt in the mouth and everything else was really tasty

I use mine, but generally when I'm home. There's a Tom Kerridge chipotle pulled pork recipe that is divine. I use cheap pork shoulder steaks. I don't marinade the meat, just throw everything in, then we have it in wraps later on. Makes life easier.

I make soup in mine most weeks just bang the veg, lentils and stock and off you go.

this bbq gammon is our favourite slow cooker recipe. I assume you could change the meat for anything you fancy

Get an air fryer, that’s a useful bit of kit

I just got one today! Am looking forward to using it.

Whh woupdnt you eat at 9pm after a shift? Do you not get hungry?

I love mine! Got it recently and now I’m working from home I regularly chuck something in it late morning and by 8pm when we’ve wrestled the kids into bed and are knackered, there’s a lovely home cooked meal waiting. We were eating way too much convenience food or boring stuff like pasta in the week so we’re eating way better now. I personally love smelling my dinner all afternoon and looking forward to it. Would feel more conscious of cooking smells if we had people coming in the house but that’s not an issue these days...

I put a leg of lamb in mine with some rosemary and garlic on Christmas eve and its lovely and tender for Christmas lunch.