Convince me to buy a slow cooker please..

[mummalish]

After having tremendous success with my lovely breadmaker, I am now contemplating getting a slow cooker.

I can justify my breadmaker, as I use it every day. Even this was a gamble, as didn't quite know how much I'd use it.

After some of you lovely ladies convinced me of the merits of the breadmaker, I bought it, and have been extremely pleased.

Now I would like to hear about what you do with your slow cookers, and are they worth it?

Thank you.

Below are my reasons for loving my slowcooker!

1. you bung a load of stuff in it firs thing in the morning and by tea time you have a meal as if by magic.

2)you can do sausage casserole in it and just stick the sausages in when they are still frozen

3)if you have leftover meat from a roast you can put the,veg and water in and you get two days worth of dinner (I know you can do that normally too but I still think it deserves to be on the list.

4)you only have to wash up one thing.

5)I'm sure I read somewhere that it uses only 5p of electric per use.

6)you can do loads of different types of meals in it.

6)Its lovely to come home from work to the smell of a lovely dinner cooking (that you havent had to do much about) and know its ready!

Adding to ammumyinwaiting's list

1. You can buy cheap cuts of meat like brisket and they still turn out lovely and tender (especially if you cook them in quite a lot of wine)

1. When you get to the end of the day and you are tired, you don't have to cook.

They make the house smell homely with warm cooking smells as you arrive home...snice.

yes sweet you're right I forgot that one. (and realised I put two 6's )

I didn't even notice that you put 6 twice

It's so nice being out/at work/etc and know that dinner's already done.
And good for families where people might be eating at different times. Me and DD can eat at teatime and it's still in the pot for DH if he gets in late.
Meat is lovely and tender.
I leave bread to rise on it - but I guess that won't be a concern to you with your breadmaker.

All the reasons already stated.

I use mine for various stews and casseroles. But you can also do whole joints or a whole chicken in it. Plus you can do recipes with mince such as bolognese and chilli.

During the winter I use mine more than my oven/hob. Especially if you work.

They are great for batch cooking, so you can pull a home made meal from the freezer.

The house doesn't get too hot in summer if you want a meal that would normally go in the oven.

They are fab for making stock.

Just watch out forfalafel face

The best thing about my slow cooker is that it is also a rice cooker. A rive cooker is a fabulous thing. Fluffy rice that stays warm while you do the rest of the dinner. It's also a steamer and a porridge maker (wtf?) but I have never used those so can't tell you if it also revolutionises the making of porridge.

Oh, and I've made marmalade with mine too - you can do the tedious orange boiling bit in it overnight.

I've toyed with the idea of buying a slow cooker too

Thing is - do they come with recipe book. I really have no idea of how they actually work, excuse my ignorance.

If someone could post a few simple traditional family meal recipes, I could be tempted. And coming home to a meal already cooked and house smelling of it is just so appealing.

Mine did come with a couple of recipe suggestions but there are loads of websites with ideas. I usually just chuck stuff in though. You can cook almost anything in a slow cooker, it just takes longer (but I'm sure you figured that out!).

This is how I do my beef brisket-

Add a couple of layers of chopped onions, lay the brisket on top. Smear liberally with wholegrain mustard and then pour in some wine (I make it about 2 inches deep), a couple of beef stock cubes and a bit of cornflour. This makes the best gravy ever. I usually put it on about 10am and it's ready for dinner.

I also did a nice Moroccan style lamb thing with lots of chick peas and a couple of tins of tomatoes.

So is mainly just stews then?

Dont you have to brown things in pans first before putting it in?

Do you think there are a good variety of meals you can do?

Now would like some recommendations for types of slowcookers please

Hmmmm I heart my slow cooker, i'm not the best cook but it's like a magic machine that makes all my cooking taste fab!
Our family fave is German bean casserole, tin of beans, tin chopped tomatoes, carrots, sweetcorn, german sausages and bbq style seasoning... yummm.
I also do, veg curry, veg chilli and beef and ale casserole.
I second the lovely smells that greet you when you walk through the door to dinner.

why does everything come out tasting oily from my slow cooker. Chicken seems to work the best and lamb the worst (oily)

Not had a problem with oily food with mine. Put I don't add any to the recipes.

I make;
sausage casserole
beef stew in gravy with dumplings
pork stew with tinned tomatoes and mustard
bolognese sauce
chilli
whole chicken - put in with small wmount of water, onion and a stock cube.
other joints done in similar way

Fiddledee
Lamb is a fatty meat, and as slow cooking is wet cooking which keeps everthing in, it will probably smell like fat.
If you dislike that, you should just use meat which has been trimmed of fat.

You can use it for veggie food, so no problem with fat at all.