Most useful slow cooker or multi cooker

[Rubyred24]

Hi I've never owned either. I use the hob to do most of my cooking.

Usually beef / pork / chicken and rice /noodles / pasta and a jar of sauce.

I like Stew and Roasts bit kids not so much.

Would I find either of the above useful or a waste of money?

DH bought us a slow cooker years ago and I think he used it twice. It's unusable now.

What kind of meals could I make for myself and 2 dd's?

All advice welcome thank you x

---

We can see this thread is a little old now and some of the suggestions may be out of date, but if you’ve landed here looking for recommendations, we’ve recently updated both of our best slow cooker and best Instant Pot pages with lots of great options Mumsnet users love, plus info on whether they're right for you – we hope you find it useful.
MNHQ

The Instant Pot is very versatile but slow cooking is not its best feature.

I have a slow cooker and barely ever use it.

I use this one, I couldn't do without it. It roasts, slow cooks, simmers, bakes cakes, bread etc. and it's a doddle to clean. I don't use my cooker at all.
www.amazon.co.uk/CleverChef-01007-Intelligent-Aluminium-Charcoal/dp/B07F2N1QTM/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&crid=3DS9BHOXEAQ9K&keywords=multi+cookers+electric&sprefix=multi+cooker%2Caps%2C150&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1589961729&sr=8-3

I don't know - I had one once, never used it so after a couple of years sold it. It was just a supermarket brand about £10 at the time (ten years ago). I prefer just to get started on the hob. I know someone who's got one and loves it, and uses it often. They just like to throw everything in and leave it, and forget about it. I find the cleaning of 'gadgets' more faff than they are worth, but that's just me!

In winter I use my slow cooker twice a week, in summer less. It was a cheapo Sainsbury’s home brand and has lasted I think 10 years.
The best thing about the slow cooker is how tender the meat comes out, even if it isn’t the best quality.

Sorry was talking about slow cooker. Not sure about the multi cooker though. Trouble with these things is you don't know until you've got one whether or not you've made a bad choice! Do you know anyone that's got a multi cooker?

@TopShelf that looks amazing! I have no counter space left unfortunately or I might be inclined to buy it

I have a multi cooker, it has a slow cook function. I find it saves a lot of time, I can sear things in the pot before switching it to slow cook which saves on dishes, and it "slow cooks" in less than half the time. It also does risottos wonderfully, no stirring needed, and I can pressure cook curries, soups etc in no time.

Agree with violet I had a slow cooker and used it a lot especially when the children were little and I could have dinner prepared by 11am for a 5pm sit down.

I upgraded to an Instant Pot over a year ago, I love that you can saute onions or meat before making a slow cooker meal. The risotto ability is ridiculous, saute, add rice and stock, close lid. Cook perfect risotto.

However, I love it because it can cook chicken breasts that are still frozen, that I can just shred for sandwiches, I can cook a whole chicken either fresh or frozen without defrosting. Today I will be doing a 2.5kg of pulled pork in under 90 minutes (cooking time)

But there are downsides to it, ie the cooking time is only one element, you have to wait for it to come to pressure and that depends on the temperature of the contents, and then you might have to do a slow release of the pressure which can be a long time.

But I have always cooked from scratch, the only jars of sauce I have are pesto and thai green curry paste. I make my own pasta sauce, in bulk, in the slow cooker.

There are a lot of videos on YouTube for "dump" dinners for a slow cooker and for Instant Pot recipes (Flo Lum) so have a look at those to decide if it is worth splashing out on.

I do rice in a Sistema microwave cooker. One of the best things I ever bought.

I’ve got an Instant Pot multi cooker that DH cooks the dog’s dinner in 2-3 times a week.
I cook occasional meals in there but don’t use it as often as I could because DH and DS are very fussy eaters, so I only cook meals for myself in it.
I’d happily cook and share my meals with the dog to be honest.

Grand, amazing, my old man 😂 doesn't cook me anything let alone a dog's dinner! I'm now wondering what lovely meals the dog has..

I love my slow cooker....got spinach and ricotta cannelloni in it today, had chili in it yesterday and will be putting baked potatoes in it tomorrow. I rarely do stews in it though....not so keen on it for that!

Hi sorry I forgot a our this thread.

To be honest I'm gone a lot so I'm
leaning more to the multi cooker.

Can you fry chips and bacon etc?

Instant pot. I love it for making yogurt, macaroni & cheese, risotto, stock & so much more that I haven't yet tried. It's fab

I'm worried I won't use it. I've always fancied making macaroni and cheese though.

I don't think you could deep fry chips in a multi cooker. Frying bacon, sausage etc is no problem.

The easiest & most delicious macaroni cheese ever - ready in 20 mins start to finish.