Join The Slow Cooker Revolution: Why You Should Get One Now

Whilst the air fryer hype has been hard to escape, a slow cooker revolution is burning. Here we discuss why you should get a slow cooker. Slow cookers offer a convenient and simple way to make the most out of cheaper ingredients. Great for hands off cooking with minimal prep you can easily cater for a crowd. Slow cookers are growing in popularity and you should consider one for your kitchen. 

Originating from a beanpot – a small portable device designed to heat beans, slow cookers have been around for decades. They became mainstream when the Crock-Pot was released – yes that now famous brand.

The concept is simple. Use electric heating elements to gently heat the contents of a ceramic pot, cooking food slowly over a long period of time. Food becomes tender and flavoursome.

Slow cookers have come back into fashion in recent years, with them becoming a regular addition to many kitchens.

Most slow cooker recipes require minimal prep by way of chopping ingredients, followed by 4-8 hours of cooking time. It’s a simple, set and forget approach.

For slow cooker beef stew, I simply chop up the veg, add the beef, a few herbs and some stock and leave for 8 hours. I might give it a stir half way through. If I want dumplings I’ll turn the slow cooker up to high, add them, and simmer for another 20 minutes before serving.

Pulled pork is much the same, following the set and forget mentality.

It’s a great way to make a hearty dish with minimal effort and maximum convenience. With the slow cooker revolution has come a huge number of recipes so you’ll be sure to find ones you like.

There are many reasons why you should get a slow cooker.

• Save money on cheaper cuts of meat. The slow cooking process breaks down fat and makes cheaper, often tougher cuts of meat deliciously tender
• You don’t have to be precise. Whilst some cooking methods require precise timing, with a slow cooker, it’s almost impossible to burn food
• Single pot cooking. Many slow cookers recipes only call for a single pot which minimises washing up
• Dinner ready when you get home. With a little forward planning, it’s simple to have dinner ready to eat when you get home from work
• Cheap power. With many homes now equipped with solar power, cooking during the day when solar panels are generating electricity means cheap or free cooking

Many people will worry about leaving a slow cooker on when not at home. This is something I really wrestled with the first time I wanted to leave the house during the cooking process. Over time, I’ve grown in confidence leaving the slow cooker unattended.

I’ve cooked countless dishes in the slow cooker and none have even stuck on the side, let alone looked like they were burning. My slow cooker will run for the set amount of time and then drop to the keep warm setting. If you are really worried, then I suggest getting a wifi enabled smart plug. That way if you are running late you can simply turn off the plug from your phone wherever you are. 

The more dangerous risk is if you don’t thoroughly defrost ingredients before cooking. The Food Standards Agency highlight the ‘danger zone’ of between 8-63 degrees centigrade. In this danger zone, bacteria can grow and make you ill. Whilst you can often get away with this with more conventional cooking, a slow cooker doesn’t cook at such high temperatures and therefore food is likely to spend more time in this danger zone when defrosting. To be safe, simply defrost thoroughly in the fridge before cooking.

I’ve found three negatives with the slow cooker. The name gives a clue to the first. More often than I care to admit I’ve forgotten to put the slow cooker on in the morning and ended up having to change meal plans or eat very late in the evening. Slow cookers are, by definition, slow.

If you cook some vegetables too long they can lose their texture. The best way to avoid this is to simply use similar types of vegetables – example carrots, parsnips and swede.

The final drawback of my slow cooker, and most others on the market is that you cannot set a time to start cooking. This isn’t a huge problem as when slow cooking the exact timing matters much less than cooking quickly at high temperatures. Leaving a stew simmering away on low for an extra 30 minutes is very unlikely to overcook it.

There are some situations where it would be convenient to automatically turn on. Perhaps you want it to turn on whilst you are at work, you may be comfortable leaving the cooker on for a few hours before you get home, but not all day. Perhaps you’re worried you will simply forget to turn it on.

The process to start cooking is turn on at the wall then press a couple of buttons to set the temperature and cooking time. As a result, even if you used a timed power socket you still can’t actually start cooking as you need a physical button press. Whilst this can very occasionally catch me out, it’s a very minor issue and certainly not a dealbreaker. 

Truth be told my peers pressured me into getting a slow cooker. I didn’t see the need, but I did want to try a slow cooked chilli to see if it was really better than the ones I knocked up on the hob.

I semi-regularly had a group of friends come over for dinner. Often numbering 6-8, and hungry after sport, quantity was a factor. I’m also always keen to give guests a tasty meal. Trying to cater for this many people after work was always a bit of a time pressure challenge.

Some friends suggested a slow cooker as a solution. As it seemed to solve a problem and wasn’t too expensive I figured it was worth the punt.

I went for the Crock-pot 4.7L Gloss Black Digital Countdown Slow Cooker. Coming in at under £50 at the time. It has a 4 settings, low, high and keep-warm and has a digital timer so you can set the cooking time. There are more recent versions of the Crock-pot, but the technology hasn’t moved on a great deal. You can now get a hinged lid version, which in fairness does mean you don’t need somewhere to put a hot lid dripping with condensation when you come to stir or add more ingredients!

Probably an unusual use case but when I refitted my kitchen I was without an oven and hob for a few weeks. The combination of a slow cooker and a microwave (and washing up in the bath) got me through, whilst still providing balanced meals. I expect most people would just eat out or get takeaway in this situation, but I can see slow cookers being popular when camping or in small kitchens or annexes.

I initially thought slow cookers were limited to stews and chilli, but I soon found a huge range of dishes which I enjoyed, many of which took just a few minutes to prep. Flavours were great, meat tender and it was so greatto walk in the door with dinner ready to eat.

Highlights include a chicken and shrimp gumbo, curried parsnip soup,  pulled pork, goulash and of course a classic beef stew and dumplings.

So should you get a one? I think so. They are a cost effective purchase that open the door for a variety of recipes. Cooking is hands off and you can’t beat the convenience factor.