What Features To Look For When Buying A Slow Cooker
Slow Cookers have made quite the come back in the last few years, originally invented in the 1970s as the Crock-Pot they took off in a huge way back in the early 70s to mid 80s with this new, healthy style of cooking being immensely popular among people. However once the 90s came around their popularity declined significantly and sales were well down.
When the mid 00s arrived however, people were looking for new, healthy ways to make food and the slow cooker made a huge come back. Now they are extremely popular and are selling like hotcakes. This is because they are a healthy, energy efficient and hassle free way of cooking meals.
If you are considering purchasing one then there are a number of important features that you need consider.
Capacity
This is, in my opinion the most important feature. I'm going to narrow it down to the two most popular sizes to save time, 3.5L and 6.5L. There are sizes outside of these but these are the most popular two. Use your judgement for any outside this.
3.5 Litres is the right capacity for you if you are an individual (who wants to make several meals at once, otherwise go for a smaller option), a couple or a family of up to 4.
6.5 Litres is for you if you have a family of larger than 4, or a family of 4 with a larger appetite. If you like to make a lot of meals at once, for example all you lunches for a week, then I would go with 6.5 Litres too.
1.5 Litres is the other main size although there are a lot less of these, I would recommend this if you are an individual or a couple with a smaller appetite as this is quite small.
Remember that it is better to have more capacity than you need to find that you have not enough.
Digital Timer or Not?
Most basic slow cookers only come with an on and off switch (and multiple heat settings), there is no way to turn it off automatically, you have to be there to manually turn it off. This is fine for most people as they will be around to do that, however sometimes you can't guarantee what time you will be back home from work or wherever you are, in these cases it is worth considering getting a model with a digital timer. These generally have a countdown timer that you can set (usually for between 30 minutes and 20 hours), and after the time has run out it will switch either off, or to a keep-warm mode, meaning that there is no chance that you will accidentally burn your food or overcook it.
They do tend to be quite a bit more expensive than basic slow cookers so you should only get one if you really need it, or you think it will be a feature that you will use.
Keep Warm Setting?
This is a really useful feature that the majority have but not all, so check that the one you are interested in does have it.
It's fairly simple, switch it to keep-warm (or it will switch automatically if you have a digital timer), then the slow cooker will keep your food warm, but not cook it any more but it will remain hot until you are ready to serve it.
Style
Obviously this isn't an overly important point to some, but a really important point to others. You can find a huge range of styles with everything from purple models to ones with the Union Jack. With such a huge range you should have no issue finding one to fit your needs.
When the mid 00s arrived however, people were looking for new, healthy ways to make food and the slow cooker made a huge come back. Now they are extremely popular and are selling like hotcakes. This is because they are a healthy, energy efficient and hassle free way of cooking meals.
If you are considering purchasing one then there are a number of important features that you need consider.
Capacity
This is, in my opinion the most important feature. I'm going to narrow it down to the two most popular sizes to save time, 3.5L and 6.5L. There are sizes outside of these but these are the most popular two. Use your judgement for any outside this.
3.5 Litres is the right capacity for you if you are an individual (who wants to make several meals at once, otherwise go for a smaller option), a couple or a family of up to 4.
6.5 Litres is for you if you have a family of larger than 4, or a family of 4 with a larger appetite. If you like to make a lot of meals at once, for example all you lunches for a week, then I would go with 6.5 Litres too.
1.5 Litres is the other main size although there are a lot less of these, I would recommend this if you are an individual or a couple with a smaller appetite as this is quite small.
Remember that it is better to have more capacity than you need to find that you have not enough.
Digital Timer or Not?
Most basic slow cookers only come with an on and off switch (and multiple heat settings), there is no way to turn it off automatically, you have to be there to manually turn it off. This is fine for most people as they will be around to do that, however sometimes you can't guarantee what time you will be back home from work or wherever you are, in these cases it is worth considering getting a model with a digital timer. These generally have a countdown timer that you can set (usually for between 30 minutes and 20 hours), and after the time has run out it will switch either off, or to a keep-warm mode, meaning that there is no chance that you will accidentally burn your food or overcook it.
They do tend to be quite a bit more expensive than basic slow cookers so you should only get one if you really need it, or you think it will be a feature that you will use.
Keep Warm Setting?
This is a really useful feature that the majority have but not all, so check that the one you are interested in does have it.
It's fairly simple, switch it to keep-warm (or it will switch automatically if you have a digital timer), then the slow cooker will keep your food warm, but not cook it any more but it will remain hot until you are ready to serve it.
Style
Obviously this isn't an overly important point to some, but a really important point to others. You can find a huge range of styles with everything from purple models to ones with the Union Jack. With such a huge range you should have no issue finding one to fit your needs.
