Slow cookers. A must have?

[Lisa]

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE mine. It was a blessing when I was working. I would just get up in the morning, throw all the ingredients in and come home from work, cook some rice and dinner was served.
We definitely use it more in winter, but it gets used still on a regular basis. During winter we kinda need 2 in this house

[~Kim~]

Yep, what all the other girls said. Love mine. I have a huge one and it's used at least once a week.

I can also highly recommend the women's weekly slow cooker recipe book too.

[~breeze~]

I agree, they're great!!! Its so convenient, just throw all the ingrediants in, turn it on, set the timer & temp & forget about it until dinner time!! Awesome!! & the food tastes sooooooooo good too!

I recomend them

[danniellabella]

I got one a few months ago but due to the summer it's only been used 3 times so far. DH isn't a fan of the meals from the SC so far...I have it on while I'm at work so it's about 10 hours and I've been finding that things have always been dry. I know everyone says to not use as much liquid but I'm finding that I need to play around and increase the liquid. I haven't found the balance yet.

I do think they're a wonderful invention though - especially as a mother who works full-time.

[AnyDream]

I recently bought a much bigger (5L) oval shaped slowcooker and I'm totally in love with it. I love to throw everything into a single pot and this replaces all the oven-cooking that I was doing (and I'm sure I'm saving a mint in electricity too) and I save the oven for when I want more of a baked effect.

I have found it great during summer because it doesn't heat the kitchen up like cooking on the stove does. Also, looking forward to lots of hale and hearty meals as the weather gets cooler. In fact I'm trying a chicken soup in it tomorrow. Mmmm yummy

[~Hestia~]

Alright, I'm convinced They do sound rather convenient & easy to use.
Any brand recommendations?

[AnyDream]

Not so much brands but these are the features you want:

High low and "auto" settings. Auto heats up quicker if you've forgotten to put something on but then switches to the low setting which cooks nicer.
Think about the size you want. I used to have a 3.5L old-style "crockpot" - it did 1 meal but I could never cook an extra large batch & freeze. I have a 5 L and it's just the right size (but I cook with loads of veggies) - think oval if you want to be able to do bigger joints of meat in it.
Glass lid. Plastic lids are crap.