Slow cooker meals

Any stew or casserole recipe does well in a slow cooker, but unless it comes with a handbook or recipes you may like to check out Amazon for inspiration and more ideas.
Brilliant gadgets as long as you think/plan ahead a bit. Best of luck and I take my virtual hat off to you!

Slow cookers are great. You really do just bung in anything you fancy before you go to bed, switch it on and you have a meal ready next day.

Here are a few ideas, bu really I just busk it:

- chicken (diced breast or legs), tin of tomatoes, spoonful of pesto, bits of courgette, spoonful of marigold bouillon powder, hot water - and away you go.
- stewing beef, onions, carrots, bottle of beer, bouillon powder again, gravy browning.
- any combinations of veg + bouillon = delicious soup.

Here are some basic things to buy to have in your larder that make it possible to create any meal you fancy in your slow cooker:
- gravy browning
- stock cubes or bouillon powder
- tins of butter beans
- tins of tomatoes
- jar of pesto
- garlic paste
- salt
- pepper
- marissa paste

It is great to have some microwave mashed potato, which only takes a few minutes to cook; or bags of microwave rice - you can then add those to the plate with your stews from the slow cooker and you have a delicious and nourishing meal in the blink of an eye.

Lots of good luck with all this.

If I make a basic stew, I often cut the potatoes up into chunks and add those as well so it all cooks together.

Good Luck, slow cookers are the bees knees, and the warm up the kitchen too!!
All of the suggestions above are great, you could also do chilli, or bolognese sauces.

A joint of Gammon cooked in cider is very yummy, and will do anothe meal cold the next day, and probably sandwiches too. So many variations you can have I can see you becoming an expert in no time at all, and probably enjoying it too

sorry for the bad typing I really should be in bed !!

If all else fails supermarkets sell slow cooker "mixes" which you add to meat/veg/stock following the packet instructions. These might help until you get your confidence. Good luck!

For lots of inspiration and recipes try www.pinterest.com

A half shoulder of lamb is good too. Chop a couple of onions, put lamb on top and add some peeled potatoes cut into chunks. Put enough boiling water over lamb to make approx a cm of liquid in pot. You don't need to prebrown the lamb and it will cook all day. The liquid will make good gravy, but you may need to pour off ahead of time and put saucepan in fridge so the fat congeals on the top and can be removed.
If you are cold lamb lovers, you can do this with a whole shoulder, if your slow cooker is big enough. Good luck!

If you use Facebook, there is a very good page called Slow Cooker Wonders. Lots of recipes in the files. It is A very active page at this time of year, with lots of recipes and tips.

Makes amazing rice pudding. Yum.

Try putting some dried beans into your slow-cooker stews. You'll need to soak them overnight first. Just a handful or 2.

Butter beans are best (I think so anyway.)

My daughter in law is American and they have loads of recipes for use in a slow cooker - have a look on a US website www.thekitchn.com/search?type=all&q=slow+cooker&time=all

Don't worry about the measurements being in cups - my daughter in law tells me that a US Cup is 240ml (or 8.45 imperial fluid ounces) but says as long as you use the same cup/mug for every ingredient measured it shouldn't be a problem !

Hi! There welcome to the wonderful world of slow cooking, if your go to your supermarket, the aisle where they sell dry sauces, eg. Colmans, swartskof specially for slowcookers, all ingredients is on the back. There is also a book: Everyday slow cooker recipes, retails for £4.99. Brilliant
My son is 24 and I'm his carer, it frees up alot more time. Slow cooked food is delicious ?. Good luck to both of you

Some of the Slow Cooker recipe books tell you to cook off some of the dishes before putting into the slow cooker but I ignore that and put chops, turkey /chicken breast steaks straight in with whatever veg I am cooking with it.It tastes the same and I just add a stock pot for extra flavour near the end of cooking.

My best suggestion for the easiest way to cook chicken - just put a whole chicken in the slow cooker, salt and pepper on it if you like, but absolutely nothing else, and leave all day on low - it comes out beautifully moist and the liquid in the bottom can be popped in the fridge and then the jelly (throw away the fat on the top) can be used to make gravy, or frozen, or used for making soup the next day with left over veg liquidised into it. Eat the chicken with your normal veg, but so easy a child can do it.

In a hurry I have been known to throw frozen chicken breasts, large chunked onions, a punnet of mushrooms, a bouquet garni (teabag) and a mug of wine in the slow cooker. It was thickened with a dessertspoonful of cornflour mixed with some of the red wine which I stirred into the pot with the other ingredients. Then I left it on very slow for 12 hours. Ridiculously delicious for something that literally takes five minutes to prepare.

A tin of Campbells chicken soup - ONLY Campbells will do as it is concentrated - poured over chicken pieces and onion, carrots or whatever you have in the fridge makes a lovely casserole and easy!. I also add a little water at the beginning too.
Campbells mushroom soup can also be used or added to diced beef and vegetables. The soup makes a great stock / gravy and you can thin it down with water according to how you like it.!

Porridge, rice pudding, soup.

Pork shoulder steaks cut into cubes, cooking chorizo, onions, garlic, chick peas and a tin pf tomatoes and a pork or chicken stock cube makes a really tasty stew - you can add celery & squash if you want.
I always brown the meat and fry the onions for extra flavour but it's not necessary. Don't forget you won't lose any liquid so be cautious how much you start with - you can always add some as it cooks if you think it looks dry.
Wishing you and your wife lots of enjoyable meals

I made a really tasty beef and tomato stew in mine on Sunday. This is how I did it!
Coat cubed beef in flour. Put in the slow cooker with one small onion chopped, 2 medium carrots cut into chunks, one small can of chopped tomatoes. Cover all with 1 vegetable stock cube and one oxo cube. No need for any salt as the stock cube is salty enough. Set slow cooker on low and away you go.
I left mine cooking for seven hours. It was delicious.

Put joint brisket on bed of onions 2 oxo dissolved in pint hot water.put on high for about 5 hours turn occasionally.lovely and tender.

I haven't got a slow cooker want but want to buy one any suggestions as to what is a good one please. Some of the recipes sound lovely

Please do not forget that every time the lid is opened during cooking one loses around 20 minutes cooking time.

Sheilasue do not make the mistake that I made. I bought a slow cooker that cooks 1-2 meals and I thought great, that will sort out today and tomorrow, as I live on my own. A couple of months later I decided as I am doing all this I may as well make enough to freeze so I bought a larger one from Lakeland so now have at least 3 portions for the freezer as well as feeding me for a couple of days.

Maybe look on Amazon and you will get the reviews from people. That is where I bought a couple of cheap recipe books- one I think was for students going to university because I cannot be bothered faffing around with loads of ingredients, most of which I do not possess.

Thats seems a nice simple way to do something