To not really see the point in a slow cooker?

[Hippodisk]

I keep seeing slow cookers recommended on quick or cheap meal threads. I've also noticed that good food mag has started including slow cooker recipes.

How is it any quicker than cooking a casserole in the oven? You still have to chop veg, brown meat etc. Is the appeal that you can leave it on while you're out?

I will say I'm probably biased as I used one years ago to cook a casserole and it was bland and watery, I also cooked a whole chicken and ended up throwing it in the bin it was vile.

So did I try the wrong recipes, are they really that much of a time saver?

Convince me to give it another go

I love mine. Often don't get home until after 6, we have a 4 y.o. DD who needs dinner then bed soon after but we don't eat that early, so we don't want to do 2 lots of cooking each evening & don't want freezer food or ready meals daily. Plus I can take my dinner out at 6.30, DH gets home at 8.30 & his food is still hot, ready, not burnt & not dried out on a plate in the oven. Only takes 15 minutes to prep a nice stew or soup & put in the fridge overnight, then put it to start cooking before we set off in the morning.

I agree with the PP - there is no point in a slow cooker when you have the time, equipment & skill to make the same dish on the hob or in the oven. I will admit my oven or hob dishes are better but it's hardly practical everyday. To me it's a modern timesaving convenience akin to a dishwasher or tumble drier (which I'd love & don't have space for).

Great ideas here! Any tips on how to do bolognese in it?? I don't add water on the hob so how to reduce it, or do I just up the seasoning?
Overnight made a great chicken and chorizo stew with onion, carrots, roasted peppers and tinned tomatoes!

We use ours a lot. It is about the herbs and spices we add that makes it tasty.

I only use distilled or rested water or ie: passata in my dishes and not too much or it does get too liquidy.

Can thicken things up at the end with cornflour.

beef brisket is brilliant, brown well in a pan with onion salt, garlic salt and pepper then put it in slow cooker. then fry a chopped in pan til soft, add red wine and mustard bring to boil then pour over beef and leave to cook

I'm not a massive lover of a slow cooker food, but I use it sometimes for convenience.
Sometimes I get a grocery delivery early morning with prepared veg, meat etc.
Literally bung it all in the slow cooker with water, stock, spices etc and can go off to work and come home and it's literally ready to plate up.
One big pot to clean, job done!

Cooked a delicious lamb in red wine stew with mine yesterday, and I have gammon in apple juice in it today.

Nom.

The thing for me is the lack of thickening of the sauce. I end up spending ages faffing around at the end with cornflour to try and make the watery sauce thicken up. Tastes good and is convenient as you can leave it on all day but I'd rather just bung something in the oven.

I would just make the casserole the night/weekend before and heat it up: that makes a far better flavour than the slow cooker and doesn't waste any more time on the day.

I made my first slow cooker meal sausages (which I'm not a huge fan of) and onion gravy. The sausages were so much nicer cooked in the slow cooker. It's my new found love.