Slow cooker virgin

[WhatWouldCaitlinDo]

I have been given a present of a slow cooker, which I'm thrilled with. But I'm not quite sure how to make best use of it. I leave for work at 7 AM, get home at 6:30, put Dd to bed and then eat my own dinner after 7 PM.

So that means 12 hrs between putting the dinner on and eating it, but all the recipes in the booklet are for much less time than that. What do I do? Also, most of the recipes involve sautéeing first, but I don't have time to do that in the morning. Can I do it the night before?

Any other tips would be gratefully received.

I use a slow cooker at least four times a week and never bother sautéing first even though it's recommended, like you I just don't have the time. I don't generally leave my cooker as long as twelve hours but on a couple of occasions, due to unforeseen circumstances this has happened and the food was still fine.

I think you'll need to experiment a bit - be over generous with the liquid and then boil off the excess, then reduce as required. Try the dish with sautéing, see how it goes. One woman I know microwaves her veg first, she says it makes all the difference....I have never tried it.

stick everything in the pot the night before leave in fridge and then put in machine in morning. obviously cook on low. if this is still too long, then you could cook some things during the evening and warm up the next day? Or batch cook at weekend and freeze.

the only thing i cook before is sausages. i currently have bolognese mix in mine for a lasagne and i just bashed the mince up a bit.

root veg can take a while to cook, so you need to chop fairly small

I sautee nothing, chuck it all in and cook. If the day is going to be too long for you can you use a timer? If you are afraid of leaving meat sitting out can you put it from freezer to fridge the night before so it it will be semi-frozen when you leave in the morning and defrosted when timer comes on?

You could cook it all during the night, swith off in the morning put it in fridge before you leave for work and reheat on plates in microwave when you are ready to eat :)

If it helps, we cook a big chilli in ours, or a whole chicken, on a Sunday, which lasts us 2 days, so you're sorted for the Monday when you get home from work. You could also cook in the slow cooker overnight, and warm up next evening. Have a look at some slow cooker recipe books on Amazon. I love ours and wish I'd bought one years ago. I only brown meat if the recipe specifies it, btw

Get a plug timer to come on at 9 or whatever.

Go through the cook book and cross out any sauteeing - don't need to do it at all, and 12 hours is fine. Does it have an 'auto' switch?

How big is it? I have 2, one when I'm just cooking for me, the other would burn if I didn't cook enough so I use that for batch cooking or entertaining.