Best or Worst Slow Cookers

[prink13]

Hi, my slow cooker turned into a no-cooker last week  :o, and I want to buy another - just wondered if anyone has any good or bad experiences with them and could recommend a make or model

Thanks

Kathi

[prink13]

[Fork]

We have an Hinari Lifestyle Slow Cooker.It didnt cost the earth and we got it from Aldi.

It does the job perfectly and we have had some lovely tender joints of beef.

[Jeannine]

Hi there is a bad one , watch out if you are buying from Amazon, The description is not clear and I ordered it, when it came, it is a large oval one, but when it came the inner bowl thing has a built in divider in it, hopeless for me, Ok I suppose if you want to cook a dinner in one side and a pudding in the other, anyway Amaxon took it back with a full credit including both way post as they agreed the ad was unclear.

I don't remember the name but if you read the ad very very carefully the divided thing is in there, just vague.

Amazon by the way is usually the cheapest place to get them.


I have a very big oval one now.

XX Jeannine

[Deb P]

I'm interested in getiing one of these too, never had one before but with meat getting increasingly expensive it makes sense to do slow cooking with cheaper cuts. Is it worth paying more to get the bigger size, about 5ltr? The 3ltr ones look quite small to me....or maybe my family just eat huge portions! ;D

[Jeannine]

Dep my advice is to get the biggest one you can find, and get an oval shaped one rather than round, I can make a huge batch of spaghetti sauce or soup in mine. I do mushy peas in it too, then freeze them.

If you can get into Macro, they often have them on sale at half price as a lost leader.

XX Jeannine

[Deb P]

Have Makro card, will do! Cheers! ;D

[prink13]

Thanks all, our lat one was 4.5 ltr - great for 4 meals over 2 days, and exactly right for us, was also a frying pan, just took out the pottery inset and was brilliant for roast spuds etc.

I've looked on Amazon and E-bay, and at the moment am favouring this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000GFGD1O/ref=s9img_1-rfc_p_sims_c4_138894_138894_37194_46107_27516_28077?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0DSG4TA7F7XS4WNMR2FH&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=139045791&pf_rd_i=468294

Kathi

[Deb P]

Some mixed reviews there Kathi...although not having owned one before it does highlight several points I hadn't thought of such as the ability to use it in the oven for reheating, and some cookers burning the food!

[prink13]

Yeh - mixed reviews DebP, I liked the fact that you can put it in the freezer/fridge/oven etc.

I also like the design/style as it will sort of match my Le Crueset Granite pots and pans

Unless anyone here says "No don't buy it, it's rubbish" then I think that's possibly the one.

I need it by this weekend, as I've ordered an Oxtail from my butcher!

[Barnowl]

Which? did a survey last August and this Morphy Richards Model 48715 did very well on cooking,  drawback was the heavy weight and that only the ceramic pot was dishwasher safe.

The Rival was graded ok for cooking stews etc but poor at roasting ( I didn't know slow cookers could roast :) ) It got plus marks for versatillity - the ability to move the pot into a fridge or freezer etc


Lakeland are usually pretty careful about what they sell - they recommend this one:

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/product.aspx/!11940 which I think is also oven proof. It wasn't one of the ones reviewed by Which?

Which? also gave this one a best buy

prima

[prink13]

Thanks Barnowl, that's great info, will have a look at which website as well

Kathi

[Jeannine]

Mine is  Prima, I got it from Macro half price sale.

XX Jeannine

[froglets]

Mine's a bright orange 1960's Pifco that my mum had in the back of the cupboard for 30 odd years.  I rescued it an now use it at least once a week.  I am dreading it ever giving up the ghost, I'll never find anything that clashes so spectacularly with everything else in my house!