It seems slow cookers are very popular. So as not to hijack the other posts where they have been mentioned can anyone recommend a particular one. I don’t need anything too big as generally there are only the two of us now the kids have more of less left home. I have looked at on line reviews but would far rather have personal recommendations. It needs to be pretty idiot proof and preferably have a lid which the dog can’t remove!
Mine is a Cookworks one and is family sized even though there are just the two of us. I prefer this as I can cook whole joints of meat or whole chickens in it. If I make a stew I freeze the leftovers and have homemade ready meals savingme even more time and energy. I used to have a two portion Cordon Bleu one before this and it worked fine until I dropped the ceramic lid and broke it.
You can buy some really good slow cooker cookbooks too but I’m happy with old fashioned stew and dumplings and heart warming steamed puds, rice puddings etc. Stick to your rib foods are perfect for winter and it’s lovely to come home from work to find dinner is already cooked with very little energy (neither mine nor the electricity) used.
Happy cooking
Tracey
I have a Timeless slow cooker from Lakeland - 1.5 litre and very easy to use… I am only cooking for myself and usually get 3 meals from it. Love the smell when the slow cooker is doing it’s job Carrie
I have the cook works one too…really rate it. Xx
Dinks,
You must have been reading my mind. l use a slow-cooker - have some stewing steak and veg in it right now. You do have to-[well l do] start frying off the onion/garlic/celery etc in a pan first - then brown the meat and add it all into the slow-cooker - l use a tin of toms for liquid. Of course you did not want a cooking lesson - but yes you do have to put it somewhere where the dogs can’t get to it. My rotties can reach the worktop - and have been known to eat sausages that were frying away - very hot. And a pot of chilli sauce they managed to get the lid off and consume whilst it was still cooking. Bless them!
My cooker is from Tesco - and its oval shaped. Do get a good sized one - as you can cook enough to use another time. lf its mince- you can cook enough for a cottage pie - bolognese - chilli - just by adding different spices etc.
l did start my ‘cooker’ last night - was thinking of leaving it on low over night - then decided that the dogs would not resist plundering it. So l took the crock pot out of the cooker and left it in the oven for safety. l shall now set it up again. Shall put the ‘dumplings’ in laters.
You can also do steam puddings in the slow-cooker. l have a little recipe book that has 200 slow-cooker recipes. l also like my pressure cooker - for speed. l can cook steak - n - kidney in about 25mins - and it tastes as if it has been cooked slowly for hours. Dogs can’t get into the pressure-cooker!!!
lts thumbs up here for slow cooker.
Ah Spacejacket you must know me well. I need all the help I can get in the kitchen. gourmet chef I am not. The naughty mutts can get into the oven, microwave in fact anything that takes their fancy. I have lost several half cooked chickens. Stair gates are nothing to them. Serves my right really shouldn’t have trained them for gundog and agility work because gates and fences mean nothing to them. One of them has even been seen to be wearing the kitchen waste box around his neck with a stupid grin on his face saying “it wasn’t me honest mum” but at least they can empty the washing machine for me.
Thanks for the replies -very helpful I have changed my mind on a small one and perhaps on this occasion bigger is better - might have to get a bigger freezer too. I can just imagine coming home from work to a lovely cooked dinner.
My slow cooker is approx. 20 years old (I still remember my Mum bought it for me when I bought a flat) so I can’t really help but mine is a proper heavy pot with a solid lid and your dog could never budge it… I have to hold with a tea-towel and lift carefully as it’s heavy lol. I think a lot of the modern ones seem to be more lightweight tho but I’m sure you could still get them like that. 
Sonia x
Gah, just had a peek at Argos and they do seem to all be the thin clear-lidded variety now - if you have any old fashioned deopt stores near you I would recommend checking them out (we have Jacksons in Reading, we always get our tea-towels there lol, some things you know you can rely on, it’s a weird old shop but bet they’d have the old fashioned type!)
Sonia x
Dinks, You can plug in the slow cooker anywhere -where the dogs aren’t. We have had sliding bolts fitted to some doors as one of the rotts has had ‘therapy dog’ training and can open all doors. Even doors that open towards him. One paw to pull the handle down and the other to hook the door towards him.
I have a really old slow cooker and its lid is really heavy but…‘they don’t make them like that any more’
I use mine to slow cook chicken but to be honest i was given it by my mum who never used it.
I could really do with a slow cooker recipe book because i would like to use it more.
Can anyone recommend one?
Teresa.x
Teresa,
My book is from amazon - Hamlyn 200 slow cooker recipes by Sara Lewis. lts just a small book well illustrated - lovely delicious recipes - so much you can do with one of these cookers. The lamb tagine with figs and almonds is one of my favourites and kashmiri butter chicken.
For someone out at work all day - they must be a god-send. You can prepare the night before and just switch it on when you leave in the morning. On the low setting it will not ‘ruin’.
Just started going through the slow cooker recipe book - and its got me all enthused - to try some more dishes. You can make jam in it. lndividual chocolate brownie puddings - now that sounds good. Sticky toffee/apple puddding. At this rate Dinks, you will be needing two cookers.
l have, before, cooked steak/kidney/mushroom in dark ale and then lifted out the inner crock pot and covered it with a suet crust and put in the oven.
Hi, I too would be lost without my slow cooker when the weather gets cooler! Mine was just a tesco own brand for £10 a couple of years ago. It has basic ‘low, high and keep warm’ settings and is great. Orchid x
i have one-dunno the make but so handy. carer prepares in a.m and twice a week we have a great meal-3 kids and me.
ellie
I love the smell as it’s cooking during the day. Am starving when it’s ready 
The only thing I wouldn’t recommend it for is… rice pudding! And that’s cos we’re old fashioned and genuinely like the skin on rice pudding 
As well, as stews etc. I love pot roasting meat, if we’re having people over and we’re doing a sort of buffet, we’ll stick a bit of ham in it with mustard on it and it’s delicious and always gets eaten
Sonia x
thanks you lovely people for the advice. My mouth is already watering. I am off tomorrow to purchase one. can’t wait.
Teresa - I have the exact same book. I can recommend the beef stew with red wine and horseradish dumplings. I make that quite often every winter and it’s tasty enough for entertaining too.
I also love making rice pudding in my slow cooker because I hate the skin on top when it is made in the oven. I always add a small tin of evaporated milk to the pint of ordinary milk so it makes it extra creamy, yum!
Tracey xx
Steamed pudding and rice pudding, didnt realise u could do puddings in one. Might just have to try today, will google recipes unless anyone has a particularly good one xx
My Cordon Bleu cooker came with a really good recipe book. You can also make soften fruit for jam in it, then tip into a saucepan with sugar to boil up ready for potting up and cook cakes (even a rich fruit cake) although they don’t brown on top so will need some kind of icing to cover up the unattractive appearance.
For steamed sponge puddings you prepare the recipe as normal, pop it in the slow cooker, pour in boiling water to come halfway up the pudding basin, pop the lid on the slow cooker and cook for 2 hours (for a 2 pint pudding basin). You need to have some room all the way round the basin which is why I prefer the larger cookers. Best of all you don’t have to check in case it boils dry as the slow cooker doesn’t lose any moisture, all the steam is condensed back into the cooker. It can be cooking away quietly while you prepare the main course. Now all you have to do is decide on the flavour - chocolate, jam, ginger, golden syrup … mmmmmmm
If you want me to write out the whole recipe, I would be quite happy to do so
Tracey xx