Slow cookers

Do you have and use a slow cooker in your van, or is it like a sandwich toaster, bought and kept at the back of the cupboard?

Dave 418 mentioned buying a slow cooker for their van, they already use one at home. The only time we used one was years ago. We'd hired a cottage in the Lake District, wife, me, son and my wife's parents came. We did set up the slow cooker making a stew for us whilst we were all out for the day, the results were disappointing. We ended up with a watery stew rather lacking in flavour and a conclusion that we would never buy a slow cooker, however cheap they were.

Please convince me of the wonderful qualities that a slow cooker imparts to the flavours of a meal cooked in a slow cooker, or otherwise.

I bought a small slow cooker (240v) from Morrisons supermarket.  They were on offer for £7 at the time.  I took it home and found it to be of good quality.  It is easily stored in the van in the original box.

I use it every time I take our two border terriers for a break comprising of dog walking all day every day irrespective of weather.  My wife sensibly stays home while the dogs and I sneak away.

I find it great to make my dinner in the morning before we go out for the day and have never been disappointed with the results. I usually cook steak or chicken using a jar of sauce for the fluid.  I love all the curry varieties, sechwan (sure the spelling wrong) and the like.  There is a great choice to pick from.  I add a selection from carrots, onions, peppers, mushrooms, potatoes or what ever else I have got to hand.

It is great to return to the van knackered and desperate for either a beer or a G&T before preparing our evening meal.  The dogs always get fed first with either steak or chicken (as they are on holiday) then I have very little to do to organise mine.

If you are making a simple stew, if nothing else, make sure you use one of the "stock pot" packs to thicken up the liquid.  I would also use something like tinned garden peas or perhaps beans or possibly even a tin of tomatos.  Best answer is to be inventive, I have even used a tin of soup to provide the liquid and never use water.

As we have had one as long as we have been married, the first being a wedding present. I wasn’t sure at first but ours gets a lot of use. When the kids were both at home it meant we could have a meal ready keeping warm no matter what chaos the kids caused during the day. Being able to put it on automatic meant it cooked on high then dropped to low to keep things warm until we were ready to eat. My one pan meals from the slow cooker were the kids favourite. Beef and bean with pasta always went down well.
Once you get the hang of it you won’t regret it. Not being a master chef I think you’re watery stew was down to putting too much liquid in to start with. The meat will release a lot of its own juices. 
The first one we had came with a very good cook book we still use. Management made a fruit loaf recently. It didn’t last long. Have a look on line what you can use a slow cooker for.
When we were kids it was normal to put some thing in a large earthen ware pot in the Arga bottom in the mornings for tea time. You could use cheaper meats because they cooked for longer.
Ours won’t be a back of the cupboard gadget believe me but it will be the more basic meals when we are away. Just having a meal waiting when you come back from a day out is worth it especially if away in winter as we are.
The ones we would recommend would be the ones with hight, low and automatic settings. 
I hope this helps you decide.

As a try before we travel we have left the new slow cooker on with meat and potatoes for our tea. It is just the right size for us two. 
We have come home from our day out to the smell of tea ready for putting a crust on it. It will be packed back in its locker ready for next trip. 
Whilst we were out today we said we must move things about in the lockers. The tins and jars above the cooker and sink are just waiting to fall out and break the glass tops.  We have a locker that’s never been used that has no shelf at the back with nothing in it at the moment so that’s looking promising.

You can cook pretty well everything in a slow cooker, including roasting chickens. We have 3: a 1970 s shallow ceramic crockpot that was done to death when we had a young family but is too big for us now except for making jam, marmalade and chutney, a small 2 person Argos Cookworks cheapy which we bough for the van but is too small, though excellent for rice pudding,and, best of all, a Morphy Richards Evoke Sear and Stew. The great advantage of this is that it has a non-stick metal inner so that you can brown meat etc and don’t have to use any other pan. It also means it’s very much lighter than ceramic pots so better in the van.

As others have said, there is nothing to beat coming back from a day out to a ready cooked meal smelling lovely. We mainly use ours in the van in winter however. If I had to choose between the aRemoska and the slow cooker I would always go for the Remoska but luckily the Evoke fits nicely in the van oven for travelling so I can take both.

The problem we have about using a slow cooker or a Remoska in our MH, is my wife is a vegetarian and I'm not. I can only imagine what it would be like to come back to the MH and a lovely smelling meal all ready to eat. 

Yes,  I could eat a veggie meal and sometimes do, but nothing beats a slow cooked meat dish.

Any ideas to get around this? Please don't tell me to use two slow cookers.
Lateral thinking is required, I think.

Quite a lot of dishes can be cooked with a vegetable base layer and the meat or fish in a well-oiled foil or greaseproof paper parcel on top .

I have bought a small Instant Pot which can be used as a slow cooker or as a pressure cooker or as a rice cooker and various other things. I have not been able to use it in Doris so far but have been using it in the house and find it very useful. It either slows up or speeds up cooking g and then keeps the food hot u till you are ready to eat.
If you do not have a hook up or are travelling a distance and want a meal ready when you arrive think about modernised haybox. You can buy them Wonderbag is one make or you can make your own with a bit of thought and using fabric cool bags and insulating fabric.

Bad Penny wrote:
Any ideas to get around this? Please don't tell me to use two slow cookers.
Lateral thinking is required, I think.

You can buy a divider for the Remoska in whiich you could put a separate meat  and a vegetarian dish so the two meals cook side by side but separately. I see no reason why you shouldn’t adapt this for a slow cooker, say using 2 foil dishes next to each other. It would need a bit longer to cook I think, or a higher setting but worth trying.

Sorry, duplicated post. The internet is very very slow tonight. Everyone Zooming or Skyping I suppose.

Good thinking Quilter. My wife says we have a divider for our Remoska, so that would work, plus some of your other ideas. So many thanks. When you sit and think about it, there are as you say lots of options.

Nice one Ian, good thinking. although I think I would need the hard hat..