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

We only make a handful of dinners in ours (maybe five), but it was a cheap £10 one from Tesco and it works well enough. I like it but have run out of ideas with it...

The facebooks groups are good lots of inspiration

Porridge, in fact I bought a small slow cooker specially. baked potatoes, lasagna, chili, soup, curries, stews, slo cooked lamb/pork, gammon in coke, You need to have a heavy hand with herbs and spices

I just make porridge in the microwave. It takes 2 minutes.

I'm not getting why people think food would taste funny or same-y if you slow cook it. My experience is that the flavours are richer if anything, because everything's been cooked so slowly and gently.

Mine was free btw. So many people seem to struggle to make using them a habit, and they take up too much room for it to be worth having one if you're not going to use it, that they seem to be on offer constantly on freecycle/freegle. I posted a wanted ad and was offered three within the hour.

Justtrying sounds like you cook similar meals to us and I adore my slow cooker. If you bump up the amount of herbs/spices you use and reduce liquid then meals won't all taste the same- I cook chilli, lamb keema, butter chicken, thai chicken curry, beef curry, chicken and chorizo and all have their own distinct tastes.
If I were you I'd buy one and give it a go, might take a few attempts to get it right but once you do I bet you don't look back.

I used to have a fairly successful blog and slow cooking was my most traffic making subject.
You can make, soup/stew/currys/whole joints/jam/chutney/cake/puddings/sweets/bread.. I also use mine for making crayons, candles and soaps.

I don't use my slow cooker all the time, I normally cook stew/casserole in it while I'm at work - great coming home to a delicious home cooked meal after a long day!

It's good for cooking gammon, pulled pork, beef for Sunday dinners etc.

Best £10 I ever spent on a cooking utensil 😀

I have an instant pot pressure cooker which we use a ton but before that I had a slow cooker. It doesn't heat your house up like crazy in summer like an oven does, you can play mum taxi to after school activities and come home late with dinner waiting for you (I would never trust my oven to do that). I have a small slow cooker for making overnight porridge in, I put it in before bed, turn it on low and the next morning it is hot and ready for anyone who likes it and stays that way until everyone is gone.

I used to throw a bunch of soaked beans in mine with a few strips of bacon, some dehydrated onion and a shake of some herbs and spices (usually cumin and oregano), my kids would help themselves to it when they came home in winter and it would be a healthy and really cheap after school meal/snack for the bottomless pits. If I had veg that needed eating up I'd add that too.

For things that need browning you can stick them under the grill at the last minute... e.g. pork shoulder for tacos.

It made the most wonderful apple butter out of apple sauce, two days bubbling on the counter to make this dark brown goo that tasted like the gods and made the house smell amazing. No stirring or babysitting, just plop in and turn on.

MrsSparkles would you mind posting your porridge recipe?

NicknameUsed I used to when I had a microwave, but it is so nice to come down and it's ready already. each to their own, there are 5 of us all having porridge in the morning, so it makes sense to have a pot there ready for everyone.

I love mine, but I work FT and have 3 DC (teen and pre-teen) who have lots of sports and music etc activities in the evenings. I can put something in the slow cooker in the morning and it will be ready whenever everyone is ready for dinner.

Favourites are casseroles, curries, ham joints, beef brisket. Also makes a cracking rice pudding, and I steam my Christmas pud in it every year.

When making casseroles etc you have to remember that you need less liuquid than if you were cooking it in the oven or on the hob.

I love mine because I'm unwell and can set it going at some point in the day when I feel up to it and know it'll sit and quietly cook while I rest or do whatever I feel up to and there'll be food ready in the evening. I often do a 'pasta bake' in mine, with frozen veg, but it's one with a metal pan so it's also possible to brown meat/soften onions etc before putting the pan in the cooker base if I'm feeling up to it or my boyfriend wants to use it.

Today it's sitting with a pan of Mediterranean veg, chorizo and brown rice as I offered to cook for my boyfriend and me tonight. Fried an onion, garlic and chorizo, chucked in some fresh and frozen veg, stock, rice, half tin of toms and put the pan in the cooker base to do its thing about an hour ago. Now curled up on the sofa knitting happy that there will be food tonight and I've made his life a bit easier after a long week at work, since he usually cooks.

I have a whole chicken in mine as I type

Ime you need a free range or Waitrose chook or the taste isn't there. It's delicious and the gravy is gorgeous!

The secret is added NO LIQUID as it makes its own. If it tastes watery then it's your cooking not the slow cooker

I don't brown anything and use frozen veg - the below recipes take less than 5 mins in the morning - the chilli is actually amazing and the DS have just polished off the last of the beef casserole from Wednesday...

Chilli - beef mince, frozen chopped onions and peppers, 1 jar of red (hot and sweet) sliced jalapeños including the liquid and 2 oxo cubes. Chuck it all in, stir and cook on low for 8 hours or so

Pulled pork - carton of passata, glug of balsamic, splash of Worcester sauce, pinch of sugar, pinch chilli powder, pinch mustard powder in slow cooker, mix, taste and add more of anything it needs. Add pork tenderloin and some frozen chopped onions and cook on low for 8 hours.

Chicken and bean chilli - chicken breast, can of chopped toms, can of kidney beans (drained), can of black beans (drained), frozen corn, tbsp garlic powder, paprika, chilli powder, cumin, tsp oregano and chilli flakes - chuck in - cook on low for 4 hours

Beef casserole - diced beef, frozen casserole veg, can of chopped toms (and half a can of water) 2 oxo cubes, pinch thyme - cook for 8 hours on low - 10 mins before eating stir in some gravy granules to thicken if necessary

Chicken Balmoral!

(onions, carrot, chicken, HAGGIS!, white sauce)

This is the chilli recipe I use

Yes I don't get the slow cooker love either.

I don't get the love for GoT, Strictly, The Kardashians, Bake Off, Soaps or cats - but my slow cooker is an OK thing.

Like I said upthread, it's not a threat to world peace - and I should have said to the op (to paraphrase Billy Connolly) "if you don't like the slow cooker, just stay the flip away from it".

I love my slow cooker. I'm a SAHM but it's still useful for days when the children have after-school activities: we get home late and dinner is ready when we are, and it's perfectly safe to leave it unattended. I use the BBC Good Food slow cooker recipe book - virtually every meal from that has been a success. But my absolute favourite thing about it is the luxury of the delicious smells emerging from it throughout the day, when all the morning's vegetable chopping is forgotten. It makes me feel like a princess with my personal chef busy cooking for me in the kitchen while I get on with something else.

I feel like a princess when I'm on the couch and listening to the dishwasher do its work!

Forgive me if I'm being thick here, but isn't it potentially dangerous to leave an electrical appliance running while you're out of the house?

It's one of the reasons why I don't own a slow cooker (so please tell me if I'm being stupid )

Chicken with haggis - O.M.G. Why did I never think of trying this?

I am so doing it soon!

I think they use around the same amount of power as a light bulb, so it is highly unlikely that they would overheat and start a fire. A bit like leaving your fridge on.

I bought a slow cooker with high hopes but it's no longer used. Everything comes out with the same smell, texture and taste, none of which are pleasant. So I'm debating going back to cooking stews etc in the casserole in the oven or thinking about buying a pressure cooker but not altogether convinced I would use it any more than the slow cooker.

Okay, I'm inspired. I'll pick up a cheap one in ASDA next time I'm there.