Slow cooker and a job - HOW??

[Elbowgreaser]

For years everything I've cooked in a slow cooker has been dry and a bit grim. A bit of MN searching reveals that it's because I'm cooking it too long, but I leave the house for work at 7.30am so I can't really see how to cook for less time? You're supposed to use hot liquids and pre-saute/brown meat and vegetables, so I can't really leave it all in there (festering in its own bacteria) and set a timer for it to come on at lunchtime.

I feel like slow cookers are billed as the ultimate solution for working people who want to eat home-made food, but not if it only needs 3-4 hours to cook! There must be a solution - can anyone offer advice please?!

Mine has a low setting and I had to use it for stew meat so it's fine.
Also I often use it at the weekends and freeze portions for during the week. I am home by four and don't leave until half eight so I could leave something in the slow cooker for that length

You can buy a plug with a timer in it, so that it switches on at a certain time.

Slow cookers are grim, that’s the problem. Bin it and buy a pressure cooker, electric or otherwise. You may not be able to come home to something ready to go but you can dramatically cut down on the cooking time in the evenings.

I tend to make evening cooking easier by doing as little cooking as possible. When you cook more involved things, double up the recipe and freeze so you’ve got an evening of just making things hot. Jacket spuds I put in the oven with a timer so they are ready when we get home, and ditto with a rice cooker - everything just sits there keeping warm until we are ready to eat. Lots of salads etc this time of year which just require assembly. But you probably do this stuff already

If you been using it for years and are still not 'enjoying' food cooked in a slow cooker then perhaps you need to change what you are cooking for dinner.

What types of food do you enjoy eating.

We have one of those argos multi type cookers, used most days. The pressure cooker option is really good and food is tasty.

Put it on overnight and pop it in the fridge in the morning? Then you just need to reheat it when you're home. I find everything I make in the slow cooker just tastes of slow cooker 🤦‍♀️

Mine has a timer, or just use a time plug. I tend to do stuff that takes a long time to cook though if I'm at work - beef or pork not chicken.

I find if I use the low setting then everything seems a bit wet!.How much liquid do u use ?.Maybe take setting down, and increase fluid by say 1/4 pint see how that goes. TBH I find stews ,casseroles slow cooked roasts are all good in slow cooker, but you need to find recipes with 6/8 hours on the low setting for the best results .Lots of recipes online or "The Essential Slow Cooker Cookbook "by Lorna Brash has many recipes with longer cooking times .Try to avoid high setting .med or low should both be fine .I do Chicken Casserole on low for about 7 or 8 hour s.seems fine .(slow cooker chicken casserole ) on the BBC good food website is good

Timer plug. So it doesn't come on until midday. Also use things like chicken thighs with bones rather than chicken breast. Mince does well but doesn't need too much cooking. Curry works well too.

I never brown the meat first and only preheat if I am trying to shorten the cooking time. None of us have ever been ill from anything I have slow-cooked.

I find that sloppy or stew-type dishes work better, and the meat really does have to be a cheaper cut.

Current favourite recipe (with unashamed shortcuts):

Sprinkle a packet of dried onions over base of slow cooker.
Sprinkle a tablespoon of pearl barley over the onions .
Lay a couple of bay leaves on the pear barley.
Lay ox cheeks on top (one between two adults is about right).
Tuck smallish whole potatoes, washed but not peeled, around the edge.
Pour a tin of chopped tomatoes over the meat.
Dissolve a beef stock cube in a jug with a glass or two of red wine, by microwave for a minute or so.
Add a good squirt of garlic puree and stir.
Pour gently over the meat.
If necessary, add water or wine until the meat is sitting in liquid, but not covered by it. Add it carefully around the edge, so as not to disturb the sauce coating the meat.
Sprinkle thyme and freshly ground black pepper.
Cook on low for as long as you like - at least 6h.

A whole chicken cooks amazingly well in the slow cooker, though the skin doesn't quite brown. The meat is falling-apart soft and juicy.

Jacket potatoes also cook well, and you don't have to prick them, so they're even fluffier than oven-cooked.

I use a magic plug which turns it on at about lunchtime (on low ) so it is ready to eat at 7pm when we're all he from work.

Nothing I've ever done in mine is dry or grim. And I know you already know this but....not having to make a meal when you get home from work is the best thing ever.

You must be going wrong somewhere. Maybe you need more liquid in there.

Agree with PP about a pressure cooker. Very versatile, we use ours for everything and although does mean cooking when you get home you can whip up a curry or pasta sauce in 20 mins. I highly recommend this pressure cooker book which has an amazing recipie to cook a whole chicken in about half an hour with prep time. The rest of the recipies are pretty awesome too. We have a slow cooker but never use it now with the pressure cooker, although my DBro says he takes his camping so possible useful there?

I agree. Most slow cooker recipes seem to need about 8 hours on low and that's just not long enough for me.

I prefer doing stuff in the oven at some point over the weekend when I'd be in the house anyway and then having them in the freezer. Lots of mince dishes, curries etc freeze brilliantly. The only "slow cooker classic" I think isn't great frozen is a beef casserole - the meat tends to mush into the gravy a bit.

Great suggestions, thanks everyone. Ox cheeks - that recipe sounds fab, would never have looked twice at them without some guidance on what to do with them!

Have been looking at Instant Pot type things and am tempted. Going to be working full time from September (PT at the moment) so I have to do something to sort dinner without resorting to 5 nights of pasta!

I’ve never ever used hot liquids or pre-browned things before I’ve put them in (extra washing up, why?!) maybe you’re not using enough liquids?.....

I am super lazy and buy pre chopped frozen stuff, so if I was making beef bourginon for example, I would chuck in frozen and chopped onion, mushrooms, and beef (all not defrosted), a tin of tomatoes, stock cube, herbs, glass of water and a glass of red wine. Mix and turn onto low when I leave at 8am. Get home at 6pm and it’s done....if it’s too watery I stir in a few gravy granules to thicken.

How long will you be out for when you start your new job?

@MediaMum1224 This is genius - it's never occurred to me to use frozen stuff to slow down the cooking! Do you have any other "recipes" like this please?? Am a fairly terrible cook in general so any ideas welcome.
I'm out of the house 7.30 - 5.30 so this would work. Might try this tomorrow! Thanks.

Slow cookers are grim, that’s the problem. Bin it and buy a pressure cooker
Love my slow cooker and wouldnt touch a pressure cooker, way too dangerous. MIL once coated her kitchen in pigs liver when she forgot it. It cam out the steam vent. Never liked them before but that sealed it for me.

My slow cooker has various settings including sear and can also go on hob. I cant use a timer on it, but can do 8hrs 6 hes 1.5 hrs or 15 min sear

Haha, ‘genius’ is far better than ‘lazy’ so we’ll go with that!

You could sub the beef for chicken and do a casserole - onion, sliced carrot, diced butternut squash, whatever you fancy, all frozen. I’d also put in some diced potato (raw) and some sage/thyme and white wine.

Lamb or chicken tagine from this recipe - just use all the ingredients and put in at the same time, then leave on low for 8-10 hours. www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/slow-cooker_lamb_and_79282

Soups are also good.....leek and potato (frozen leeks!!) and then just whizz with a stick blender when you’re home.

Chunky beef chilli is also fantastic in the slow cooker: diced beef, onion, tinned tomato, kidney beans, peppers, mushrooms, chilli powder, etc. I’d probably add a cup of water to stop it drying and then just mix and leave as usual.

I honestly love my slow cooker and use it most weeks....I feel like once you’ve got a few recipes you can tweak them and make them your own, and there’ll be no stopping you! Good luck for tomorrow, let us know how it goes!

I have the exact same issue. I leave the house at 7am, and DH and I are never ready to eat dinner until 8pm. With very few exceptions, 13 hours cooking is just too long. I've just invested in a model with a timer switch, though I must admit I haven't used it yet!

That said - I never, ever bother browning or precooking anything, so just being able to leave things on a timer doesn't bother me. It just makes no sense to me - the slow cooker is meant to make things easy, if I have to do all the actual cooking bits anyway, it isn't saving any effort. So if the recipe isn't just 'chuck it all in any turn it on', or I don't think I can adapt it to be just that, it doesn't get made.

Oh, and if you do want a couple of recipes that are just fine for 13 hours, here are my two staples:

1. Pulled Pork. Put pork shoulder in slow cooker. Pour over 600ml BBQ sauce. Pick quite a runny one - I use 2 bottles of Stubbs.. Cook on low for 12 hours, 13 will be fine. Attempt to eat without making a mess
2. Pot roast beef. Put beef brisket (or topside or silverside) in slow cooker. Pour over 1 litre beef stock and 1 large glass red wine. Add 1 onion, peeled and cut in half, some bay leaves, and 3 tsp Bovril. Cook on low for 12 hours, but again 13 will be fine. Either service with veg (the cooking liquid will reduce to a lovely gravy), or slice and serve in rolls (which is what we do because we are lazy)

You aren't meant to put frozen meat in the slow cooker - it takes too long for the food to heat up, so it's at the correct temperature for bacteria to multiply for too long.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.today.com/today/amp/tdna123084

I'm sure lots of people risk it but given the OP's concern about food safety I thought I'd mention it!

As others have said - use a timer plug, use frozen stuff, don't brown anything and don't bother with hot liquids.

My new Aldi slow cooker has a timer and after the cooking time it goes to keep warm for 12 hours.

I do spag bol, lamb tagine, pulled pork, lentil dhal the most.

I have one of those electric pressure cookers that seem to do everything. I bought it to replace the slow cooker when it finally stopped working. I don't know about other brands, but with mine, once the pressure cooking is complete, OT goes into 'keep warm' mode, which is essentially tge same as slow cook, for up to 24 hours. So if I want to make a stew, I pressure cook it for ten minutes before work and then leave it keeping warm until dinner time. There is also a timer function which allows the pressure cooker to begin cooking so the meal is ready at a time of your choosing. I haven't used that function yet but will try it at some point.
Before the pressure cooker, I slow cooked several times a week - anything from casserole, to 'roast' chicken, to jacket potatoes.

@bananasandwicheseveryday I've been looking at those - what brand is yours? The brief pressure cook sounds like a great idea.
@MediaMum1224 and @QuantumWeatherButterfly thanks for the recipes! I'll give them a go. Mine is about 15 years old and cost £12.99 from Argos so it's not up to fancy timer things but I do have a smart plug so Alexa could probably put it on for me! (Oh for an actual person called Alexa to lend a genuine hand round the house...)

@Elbowgreaser I have this one. I know that there are others available Now, but when I bought it there was really only the pkp or the instant pot available. I'm actually very happy with it - a decent enough risotto in around 20 minutes, bolognese that's as good as my usual all day one in under an hour. Tender beef casserole pressure cooked then on keep warm until I'm ready. I've also used it just as a slow cooker for things like honey chicken. I haven't used the time function yet, but will definitely give it a try but I want to practise on a day when I'm at home to monitor it just in case anything goes wrong.
If you are on facebook, there are a couple of decent groups for both slow cooking and pressure cooking - you might find some ideas on those?