Slow cooker disaster, can it be salvaged?!

[Wheatie]

First attempt at slow cooking!

At 8am this morning, I put cutted up onion, carrot, mushroom, and beef in to the slow cooker with stock, seasoning, water and flour. Put it on low.

By 5pm, the carrots and onions are still crisp and it is far too watery! I was expecting it to thicken

Can it be salvaged? It needs to be thicker, and the veg need to cook!

I've now whacked it up to full and can leave it on until 7pm at the latest. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

take it out and whack it in the microwave for 5 min on high... has saved many a stew.....

I always find slow cooker gravy watery. Just before you are ready to serve put the gravy into a pan and thicken in whatever way you usually would. If the meat is OK but the veg are still crisp, just serve the meat and cook some other veg perhaps?

Oh, I forgot the potatoes - they are still in the fridge! Thanks for the advice.. Will leave it on high for a couple of hrs and see how it goes!

I leave the lid off the slow cooker for a bit if still thin.

Next time shake the meat [sounds ruder than it should] in a bag of cornflour before you start, it gives it a coating and thickens up the gravy as it cooks

maybe should have been on high? if watery mix some cornflour with little bit of cold water and add; or add gravy granules. carrots can be a bit pesty - need to be fairly small. add mustard if gravy bit bland.

make a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beurre_mani%C3%A9 buerre manie, Mash some flour into butter then let it melt into the gravy. Also you can get some thickening granules which are good to add at the end of the cooking

Slow cooking always ends up more runny than if you do stuff in the oven/on hob. I tend to use cornflour to thicken it. I'm usually in so add it about 3pm to eat at 6pm but a couple of hours should be enough. I also find onions never really cook well enough in mine so I either fry them before sticking them in or use something else instead (usually leek cos we usually have some in the fridge) and I cut my carrots smaller than usual too.