Slow Cookers

Am thinking about getting one for when I go back to work to make dinners a bit easier. There are loads of brands and I'm not really sure what I'm looking for.

So, what brand of slow cooker do you have? What do you like or dislike about it? What sorts of features do you think are desirable eg timers?

Thanks!

I don't even know what brand we have but it's an oval shaped one and takes up way too much room for my liking. I'd probably get a round one next time as they seem a bit more compact. 

We have an oval one, I can't remember what brand it is but I think it's Breville? It's one of the 'bigger' brands, anyway, not a cheapy.

I personally love the oval shape - I think you'd struggle to get a bigger cut of meat in a round one. On the down side, I find that as it's quite big, a smaller stew gets a little... crispy... if I leave it all day while I'm at work. I've been meaning to experiment with putting it in a smaller casserole dish inside the crockpot in a waterbath, I've heard that can work very well.

Oval shaped Breville here too. When I was working I just used a separate plug in timer (which we also use to set the lights to come on when we're away) so it came on during the day and wasn't too shrivelled by dinner time. Didn't realise you could buy them with timers, although it makes sense!

We have the large square breville banquet one LOVE IT!! It doesn't have a timer, but we plug it into a timer and it works fine.

Mum has the banquet one. It's excellent - but even with lots of people to feed from time to time, too big for me. Big is good, but has its downsides, things can dehydrate too much if you're leaving them all day (I do like the timer idea, mine doesn't have one)

DUH it seems so silly now about the timer........mine often gets dried out if left all day too. we were going to add more liquid but a timer is a perfect yet simple idea.

Whats your favourite thing to cook in it? Mine would probably be mccormmicks indian beef which we then use as pie filling. left over casserole is great used as pies the next day. Ive got a pie maker so makes quick easy pies. I often just use bread though instead of pastry quicker and cheaper

Found it - it's a sticky in the Food & Recipes forum, called What's in the crockpot today?