Choosing a Slow cooker

[zuludog]

Winter is approaching and I'm thinking of getting a slow cooker, but I have a few questions -

For years I've done my stews & casseroles in either a heavy pan on the hob or a casserole dish in the oven. Does a slow cooker really have any advantages over this?

I live on my own; what size would be suitable?

If I want to use dried lentils, kidney beans etc. would they need soaking & simmering first?

Besides stews, what other kinds of meals can they do?

Any other advice, comments, or pros & cons?

Recommended makes, or those to avoid?

 

[Morning Glory]

Winter is approaching and I'm thinking of getting a slow cooker, but I have a few questions -

For years I've done my stews & casseroles in either a heavy pan on the hob or a casserole dish in the oven. Does a slow cooker really have any advantages over this?

I live on my own; what size would be suitable?

If I want to use dried lentils, kidney beans etc. would they need soaking & simmering first?

Besides stews, what other kinds of meals can they do?

Any other advice, comments, or pros & cons?

Recommended makes, or those to avoid?

A good post! I think we all have questions where slow cockers are concerned (crockpots in the U.S.). I will answer in more detail tomorrow...

 

[GadgetGuy]

Winter is approaching and I'm thinking of getting a slow cooker, but I have a few questions -

For years I've done my stews & casseroles in either a heavy pan on the hob or a casserole dish in the oven. Does a slow cooker really have any advantages over this?

I live on my own; what size would be suitable?

If I want to use dried lentils, kidney beans etc. would they need soaking & simmering first?

Besides stews, what other kinds of meals can they do?

Any other advice, comments, or pros & cons?

Recommended makes, or those to avoid?

You can try THIS one! It's a multi-cooker & it holds a whopping 8 qts. capacity.

Made by Presto & is called the Big Kettle Multi Cooker. Got it from Walmart.

At it's lowest cooking setting, It becomes a slow cooker. I've cooked just about everything in is unit, from soups & stews to pot roast, even rice!

 

[Elawin]

I have a Swan slow cooker, which I find works brilliantly. I can leave it on nearly all day, or overnight, and IMO the food tastes much better than being cooked relatively quickly on the hob. I usually use tinned pulses etc and put them in the cooker about half an hour before the food is ready. You can always leave it a bit longer if they are not quite hot enough.

Don't forget you can use it make puddings, jam, bread and scones, as well as all sorts of other things in it too. There are plenty of sites which will give you the recipes.

The best tips I can think of is to get one that has a low and a high setting (mine has a keep warm setting as well), and get a big one. You can always batch cook and put the extra food in the fridge or freezer, and having extra food is better than finding you want to cook something but your slow cooker isn't big enough (you can't fill them right up like it shows in some of the photos of them!). Mine does not brown meat, but I don't usually bother except for chicken. A few minutes in a frying pan is good enough for me. I did have one that browned the meat as well, but it wasn't very good - it tended to cremate food rather than brown it, and was pretty disastrous on the slow setting too. Unfortunately I can't remember the make of it, but do remember it was a rice cooker as well (also not brilliant).

 

[zuludog]

Thanks for the comments

I end up doing batches of stew etc. anyway as it's difficult to make it just for one, it tends to grow & grow
In fact I got a bit carried away with my shopping a few days ago and I've just put loads of single servings into the freezer, ready for winter
that's what prompted this enquiry, as a couple of friends have suggested I get one

I've just had a brief glance at Argos's website. there are loads to choose from, and they're not as expensive as I expected. Over the next few days I'll have a more careful shop around, and get one.
So far I think that I don't want a browning feature, but I do want 2 heat settings and a removable pan/bowl/inner, and about 5 to 6 litres

 

[MrsDangermouse]

If you want just a small slow cooker then Lakeland do small ones - there are just two of us and I used to use a small slow cooker from Lakeland which made enough for 3 portions.....one each for dinner and 1 leftover for the freezer (think it was 1.5 litres). But personally I wouldn't worry too much about size though: its often easier and cheaper to cook in volume and most slow-cooked meals are great for freezing so 5 or 6 litres would be fine.

But the one thing that jumped out at me from your post is that you want to use dried beans and lentils. So I think maybe a combined slow cooker and pressure cooker would be more suitable for what you want rather just a than slow cooker. If you're using dried pulses then you'd normally need to soak and pre-cook them before using them in your slow cooker.....which kind of eliminates some of the convenience. A combined pressure cooker and slow cooker may make more sense for you because you can pre-cook your pulses in the pressure cooker very quickly (and often without needing to soak them first) before then using the slow cook function. Electric pressure cookers are incredibly simple to use, I have a 5 litre Instant Pot which I find its a good size for both slow cooking and pressure cooking,. It also has a delay timer, keep warm function and browning/saute so everything can be done in the same pot to save on washing up (the stainless steel inner pot goes in the dishwasher too). I've not used my slow cooker once since I got my Instant Pot multi cooker.

 

[zuludog]

I've never had much success with cooking the larger beans/legumes like kidney beans & chick peas from dried so now I buy them canned; they're not very expensive. I sometimes put baked beans in a stew; they are simply haricot beans in a tomato sauce
But I have had more success with soup mix - small red lentils, split peas, barley etc., but even so I don't use it very often. So I would be happy enough to soak & simmer that mix before using it in a slow cooker

 

[Elawin]

So far I think that I don't want a browning feature, but I do want 2 heat settings and a removable pan/bowl/inner, and about 5 to 6 litres

That's what my one is. It has a capacity of 5.5 litres. From memory it cost me £24, which was cheaper than a lot of the smaller ones of other makes. They do have bigger ones in the range now, and there are plenty of offers on the internet and elsewhere of around £25.

 

[Morning Glory]

@zuludog, there is no need to soak dried beans if you cook them in a slow cooker - but you can do. It will shorten the cooking time. Dried beans take about 7 -8 hrs un-soaked. But beware of adding tomatoes to the beans when cooking - ditto vinegar or lemon juice. The acid will slow down the cooking.

I use my slow cooker for tough cuts of meat - brisket for example. You can make a great beef stew with onions, carrots, brisket and some beef stock (Knorr stock pots are brilliant). The Boeuf Bourguignon I made recently was made in the slow cooker.

One thing to note - onions and carrots are fine with a long slow cook but potatoes and other root veg tend to overcook. I generally just add them later.

 

[epicuric]

Thanks for the comments

I end up doing batches of stew etc. anyway as it's difficult to make it just for one, it tends to grow & grow
In fact I got a bit carried away with my shopping a few days ago and I've just put loads of single servings into the freezer, ready for winter
that's what prompted this enquiry, as a couple of friends have suggested I get one

I've just had a brief glance at Argos's website. there are loads to choose from, and they're not as expensive as I expected. Over the next few days I'll have a more careful shop around, and get one.
So far I think that I don't want a browning feature, but I do want 2 heat settings and a removable pan/bowl/inner, and about 5 to 6 litres

Recently, Tesco were selling a 6.5l model for around £26. It was similar to one we had until recently (the temp control knob broke). Basic but very good.

 

[Elawin]

@zuludog, there is no need to soak dried beans if you cook them in a slow cooker - but you can do. It will shorten the cooking time. Dried beans take about 7 -8 hrs un-soaked. But beware of adding tomatoes to the beans when cooking - ditto vinegar or lemon juice. The acid will slow down the cooking.

I've always been wary of using dried kidney beans in a slow cooker, after an article I read about having to make sure they are cooked properly. I just chuck in some tinned ones.

One thing to note - onions and carrots are fine with a long slow cook but potatoes and other root veg tend to overcook. I generally just add them later.

I've always added potatoes etc with everything else, but then I like my root veg soft so you can mash them I have found though that different types of potatoes which can cook quite differently from each other can accentuate this. I've never had any actually break up though like when they are overcooked on the hob.

 

[zuludog]

The problem with this sort of thing is that you can go on & on and round & round for ages, but eventually you have to settle on something. So I've just bought a Goodmans 3,5l at £17 - 99 from B&M

This is a bit smaller than I'd first thought of, but it seems to be a common size, and I thought that with anything bigger I would be putting too much in the freezer
So I thought I'd get a small - to - medium, cheap, simple one and see how I go with that. I'll try a beef stew in a day or two

Thanks again for your advice & comments

 

[Morning Glory]

The problem with this sort of thing is that you can go on & on and round & round for ages, but eventually you have to settle on something. So I've just bought a Goodmans 3,5l at £17 - 99 from B&M

This is a bit smaller than I'd first thought of, but it seems to be a common size, and I thought that with anything bigger I would be putting too much in the freezer
So I thought I'd get a small - to - medium, cheap, simple one and see how I go with that. I'll try a beef stew in a day or two

Thanks again for your advice & comments

I look forward to hearing (and seeing?) how it goes!

 

[Yorky]

I appreciated that it's a bit late now but this is the one that I bought. Actually, I hardly use it as I'm at home all day mostly. I think it would be more suitable for someone who still works for a living.

https://www.cookingbites.com/threads/philips-hd-4746-multicooker.8514/