Talk to me about slow cookers

[MildLifeCrisis]

MIL has one and uses it very often. I always like the things she cooks in it and I can see the appeal of throwing all the ingredients in and then forget about it for a few hours.

We don't eat much meat, most of our meals are vegetarian. Is it worth investing in one? I feel like it's mostly suitable to cook meat in, am I wrong?

I also feel a bit uncomfortable with the idea of leaving it on and then leave the house, especially as I have a cat but maybe it's just me overthinking.

I'd like to know, if you have one, what do you use it for and whether you think it's a worthwhile "investment".

Thanks!

I found it a life saver when I had a whole family to cook for. However, I would mostly use it for stews and curries and the like - meat and sauce basically. I’m not sure how well it works with vegetarian dishes.

I wouldn’t worry about leaving it, especially if it’s on the low setting. Your cat won’t be able to open it, and it’s to heavy for her to push it off the worktop 😻

I only use mine for meat dishes, so I doubt you would get much use out of it.

To be honest I wouldn’t bother unless you are going to cook meat.

Perhaps not surprisingly, slow cookers work best for cooking food that benefits from long slow cooking, like meat. Vegetables have a tendency to disintegrate in to mush if cooked long and slow.

I use a slow cooker frequently but slow cook the meat and then add the majority of the vegetables for the last hour or so. The bung everything in at the start and cook it all for several hours approach rarely works well in my experience.

I love mine! I usually fry off meat and appropriate veggies, along them in, add wine, stock, seasoning and go to work/go out, lovely cooked meal when you get home!
I would say that they don’t particularly reduce down, so be weary of putting too much water in.
i also have a soup kettle - these items get used most in my house

Don’t bother, I gave mine away.

Also, in my experience, don’t underestimate the strength and determination of a cat!

Cat Is Not Happy With Child Lock (On microwave)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QndyD3Dq4nE

Don't bother - as a vegetarian you'll not have the same use for it.

An Instant Pot would be much more helpful - as a pressure cooker it makes pulses based meals really quickly and hands-free.

I love mine, but use it mainly for meat dishes. I would use it for some veggie dishes - mainly involving pulses - if I was out of the house when I wanted to cook and my slow cooker had a timer so I could set it for shorter cooking times.

Thanks all! I probably won't bother :)

Instant Pot is a good shout. I don't have one but use my slow cooker plenty for veggie stuff, sure, it's great for meat but I do veggie stews, soups, puddings, porridge in my slow cooker.

I love mine and use it to make veggie things, sauces for pasta, veggie chilli etc. If you wfh, put food in at lunchtime then ignore until supper.

Use very limited fluid, plenty of herbs and spices, and cook veggies on the lowest setting for a shorter time. Flash fry onions & garlic before adding them to the pot for a deeper flavour.

Don't worry about a cat knocking it over. Slo-cookers are usually very heavy. Also not that hot so no risk of burning.

Instapot wouldn’t be without it. You have pressure cook and slow cook among lots of other options

I’m veggie and have made an effort to use the slow cooker all of this week. I have done:
lasagne soup, basically a rich tomato veg sauce with broken lasagne sheets in. Bean chilli. Jacket potatoes. A biriyani.