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 ours, I get the pre chopped veg and meat (usually lamb or beef) and chuck it all together while the kids are having breakfast and then just let it do its thing. I think slow cooking makes a huge difference to tougher meat, it makes it really tender.

I use mine for casseroles and braising that I then freeze and use for quick meals during the week. I dont bother browning meat and like that I can just set it going on Saturday morning and leave it.
I dont use it a lot but wouldnt get rid of my slow cooker.

What other kind of things can you make in there?

You can make cakes and yogurt but I never have.

The best results are for things that benefit from long slow cooking.

A half shoulder of lamb will cook perfectly well in the oven but in a SC the fat melts and bastes the meat which is still pink.

How did you ruin a chicken? You just put the chicken in the slow cooker and leave it.

The chicken was just a soggy, slimy mess .

So if I wanted to do say a joint of beef in there what would I chuck in with it?

Have to say the cinnamon buns are swaying me!

I love mine. It gets used on days when I need a meal ready for when we get home as we have early clubs or what ever. I cooked my first whole chicken it it this week, and all I did when we got in was pop it in the oven to crisp up the skin while I was doing the rice to go with it. It was lovely. I do chilli, bolognaise, curry, bacon joints, curries etc in it. I find they make the food tastier and more tender. Each to their own though.

I get a slow cooker casserole ready at breakfasts time when I know we're all going to be back late due to after school clubs/work.

I LOVE mine.

Ok, so prep is still the same, though I've never browned meat, oven casserole or otherwise, BUT, I can stick it on and bugger of out knowing it's safe but mainly..... with a large family and so having a stew a lot on a Sunday so I could claim my life back, it's a damn site cheaper than a casserole in the oven for hours!

I bought a load of pork today to do pulled pork in it tomorrow and will put it on before we go out cycling and put on the bread machine to make dough for walnut rolls to put the pulled pork in.

I have just put a boned shoulder of lamb in ours. It is sat in the sloco pot, in the fridge, marinading in a cup of red wine, shallots, red currant sauce, black pepper.

Tomorrow morning it will get put into the sloco, switched on and abandoned whilst we take ourselves up into the forest for a long walk.

When we get back I will peel a couple of spuds, chop the up into small chunks and throw into the oven, get showered, warmed up and then sit down to a lovely, soft, fall apart chunk of lamb, crispy potatoes and green beans.

All in all about 10 minutes prep and no hassle.

Leftovers will be a shepherds pie or 2!

I do wonder if one persons tender is another persons soggy slimey mess...

I love my sc though and is used two or three times a week.

We do beef goulash, chicken chassuer, stews, chillies, curries, casseroles...

You do need less liquid and to slightly over season, I find.

Beef I'd rest on a bed of red onions with a glug of red wine. Don't go sticking loads of stock in or it will go mushy.

I do wonder if one persons tender is another persons soggy slimey mess... You could be right, I know DSis dislikes sloco meals, but will happily throw cheese and tuna at a jacket potato, heat it all up and call it haute cuisine blech

Because some people don't like leaving their oven on all day and trust a slow cooker more, and need to prep food more than 2 hours ahead.

Hated it. Made my house smell like 1975.

If you end up with a soggy, slimey mess, it's your cooking not the slow cooker. That's like blaming an oven for your crap dinner

I do find nearly burning the onions greatly improves a slow cooked meal.

Hated it. Made my house smell like 1975.

See we have the opposite here, when I used to slow cook beans and bacon DS would come in from school, take a good deep breath and say "I love it when I come home and can smell something good cooking! It feels homey"

I was running REALLY late the other morning - threw in a pack of stewing beef and a jar of curry sauce - didn't even have time to stir. It was lovely.

I threw in a sliced onion and pepper whilst I boiled the rice.

Yeah I used to come home to darkness and an empty fridge. I know what I'd prefer

Use it to slow cook, bulk cook, leave stuff on for kids to get hot food b4 I get home. Cook stews, casseroles, joints, rice pudds, slow cooker chilli or curry is ace, so is any italian tomatoey sauce base. Would never be without mine. Great for mulled wine or keeping party food warm too. Love Autumn just for slow cooking alone..great smells in house when you get home too!

I have a slow cooker & an Instant Pot (combo pressure cooker). Regularly use both, though the Instant Pot is now used almost daily.

This week I will use the slow cooker to cook a beef joint as an example. Given the basic recipe is simply to chuck it in the slow cooker in the morning and turn the thing on - what's not to love! Joint produces its own juice which can be used to make a wonderful gravy. Steam some potatoes and carrots in the steamer and stick some yorkies in the oven and you have an almost no effort meal (and usually leftovers to make either sandwiches and/or soup)

Perhaps being a man, gadgets appeal more. Instant Pot; slow cooker; nutribullet; steamer etc. I have and use them all. Just wish I could get more out of the food processor.

Slow cookers and steamers are easy to pick up in charity shops for a few quid if you would like to try one out. If you have one and don't like it, may I suggest you stick it into one - let someone else try it, give yourself some more cupboard space and raise a few £££ for charity.

I like mine but ive only made stew , stock and rice pudding in it so it only gets used in winter really i could live without it but like the one i have if it died i probably wouldnt replace it

I've made slow cooker apple porridge overnight a few times, prob not as good as making fresh in the morning but nice to have a hot breakfast waiting when you get up and made the house smell lovely too!

I got mine last year when we had loads of hospital appointments with my dad, and I was pregnant. Best thing ever. It is used at least a couple of times a week, more now the weather is getting colder.
I cook everything already mentioned in it, curries are particularly good, as are things like goulash and Mongolian beef. Also the filling for shepherds pie, throw it in in the morning and forget about it.
I did Swabian Lentils last week which were amazing, I'm going to try a dal next.

When I got it I promised myself I'd really learn how to use it properly, having read too many threads on here are about tasteless watery casseroles!

So if I wanted to do say a joint of beef in there what would I chuck in with it?

Nothing.

You can put things in, or perhaps 'butter' it with mustard, but you don't need to add anything.