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slow cooker


mac1

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23 minutes ago, mac1 said:

evening all, i'm considering buying one (argos £17), never having used one before. do many of you have one, are they easy to use? thanks mac

They are great. Fill it up and leave it on low for forever..............throw a whole chicken in and just leave it..............fantastic for curry..etc......etc.........One major point though if its for your boat although they dont use a lot of power they do use it for a long time so you need to be plugged in idealy. If its for one of those houise things then no matter.

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Completely agree with Mrsmelly.

We use ours to cook whilst we cruise on cold winter days. Moor up and a lovely hot meal awaits. We do however have a 3000VA inverter and a175A alternator to power it whilst the engine is running.

Here is a site specialising in slow cooker recipes. 

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipes/slow-cooker-recipes.aspx

Edited to add the bit about the size of inverter

Edited by cuthound
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Just as an alternative - a much more expensive alternative, unfortunately! - you might look into 'thermal cookers' like these:

http://mrdscookware.com/

We had one on our boat and found it did perform as advertised. They're basically oversized vacuum flasks. You get your stew, curry or whatever simmering on the hob for a few minutes, then stick the pot in the outer container with the lid down for several hours while your food cooks in its own retained heat. Probably not as convenient as an electric slow cooker, because you do need to start off as if you're just cooking in a pan - brown the meat etc., add the sauce/stock, stir and simmer for maybe ten minutes - but the next best thing if saving electricity is a concern.

If you're wondering about spending £17 on an electric slow cooker for home use though, I'd say go for it. Yes, they are very easy to use - you can literally put your ingredients in raw and leave them to cook unattended - and again, they do perform as advertised in terms of making meat very tender. Slow-cooked mutton hotpot... mmm!

  • Greenie 1
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I bought ours for the boat in Asda for 7.50. It's worth looking in charity shops though - I bought a huge one for home for about 4 quid at or local hospice shop. 

They really make the most of cheaper cuts of meat. Shin of beef stew is a favourite, but also use it for chilli, currys and pulled pork. 

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They only use something like 60 watts so if your cruising then it's pretty neglible and a slow cooker meal is great after a day of lock wheeling ....

probably not quite so good if running off batteries but even then a 60W one is only going to use about 40AH. 

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In winter we use our Jøtul 404 mini range, just chop up a load of veg, meat etc. or chuck (sic) a whole chicken in.

In Summer, we use the slow cooker to the same effect while we're cruising.

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We use our slow cooker a lot on the boat as we have limited cooking faciltities (two rings and a grill). As others have already pointed out chuck the ingredients in, go cruising and moor up to a lovely meal at the end of the day.

We have the Original Crock Pot. It is a little higher powered then some but cooks joints of meat to perfection. We found that our old Tesco own branded one didn't quite cook meat as well being lower powered. We paid £15 for our current one.

Last weekend we had slow cooked beef shin casserole in Bradfield Brewery Farmers Stout gravy with dumplings. It was delicious.

Plan to use it again this weekend to cook a whole chicken with a hot peri peri rub.

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Years ago I saw a 12 volt slow cooker for sale at the shop on Buckby locks.  Seems a better option for most boats if they are still available. Didn't think worth the space for us as in winter the boat man's stove serves the same purpose. 

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17 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

If you are not cruising however it is a fair old chunk of power to cook a meal.

As is any electrical device used for heating. It's the most inefficient heat generation available. 

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4 minutes ago, mross said:

I would say electric is the MOST efficient, although not the cheapest.  Unless the bugger glows, it's 100% efficient.

I was referring to cost efficiency. 

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