An excellent and economical way to cook (Lakeland Two-portion Mini Slow Cooker)

Member Name: laramax

Product:	Lakeland Two-portion Mini Slow Cooker
Date:	01/04/08 (318 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Slow cooking is great for the cheaper cuts of meat

Disadvantages: This is small as slow cookers go

I am a great believer in 'proper' food. Good normal British food, cooked at home so that I know exactly what has gone into it. I hope that I can avoid many of the chemicals getting into the food chain these days. However, as I work full time and have a fairly active social life, it doesn't leave an enormous amount of time for cooking so I tend to be quite inventive to ensure I can have good food, home cooked, without having to spend hours and hours in the kitchen. As a result I have quite a few 'gadgets' to help me achieve that.

I have had a slow cooker for over 20 years, the first one I had was a small one I got free for signing up for a mail order catalogue which has given great service during those 20 years. It was about half the size of the usual ones and ideal for my needs as I am generally cooking for one. I had never replaced it because I hadn't seen similarly sized one in the shops but recently I became aware that Lakeland were selling a two-portion slow cooker so I went to their website to have a look and ended up buying one as my old one was on its last legs.


Specification

The Lakeland Two-portion mini slow cooker has a capacity of 1.5 litres (around 3 pints in old money!) which is ample for the small household. It has a stainless steel outer casing, black oval crockpot and handles and a glass lid. It is quite smart and modern looking and has three settings, Low, High and Auto, the latter starting food off at the high setting and then lowering it for the rest of the cooking period. The slow cooker is available for £19.99 and is rated at 150W so is fairly frugal on electricity usage.

The slow cooker is manufactured by Team International and has their logo on the front of it. Very helpfully included in the box is an order form in case you wish to order any spares such a a new crockpot, lid or even a recipe book. The instruction leaflet is just seven pages long but then again there aren't really many instructions needed!


Using the slow cooker

It is recommended that you wash the crockpot before use and then warm it by turning the control to High and filling it with water. Personally I generally like to braise meat before putting it into the slow cooker so it can heat up whilst I do that . If you aren't sure what I mean by braise it is simply coating the meat with seasoned flour and then frying it to seal it before adding it to the pot. I generally add onions as well as I like to 'sweat' them before putting them into the pot so I just pop them into the hot oil before I add the meat. When you have prepared the meat add in some stock and it is ready for putting in the slow cooker.
Once you have prepared the dish you just empty the hot water out of the crockpot and fill it with your desired meal, pop the lid on, choose the heat setting and then do what ever you want for the next few hours while it cooks - and incidentally fills your kitchen with delicious aromas.

This is the first time I have had an adjustable temperatire control on a slow cooker and I must say it is a welcome addition. I love the glass lid as well as I can see what is happening in there without having to lift the lid which is great as removing the lid does tend to slow down the cooking process. The only slight problem I have experienced with this product is that there are a couple of areas of the crockpot where the food tends to stick to the side which I suspect is where the most heat is present. I avoid this by qiving the contents a quick stir once or twice during the cooking period.

Uses

The slow cooker is an invaluable item for my kitchen. Because I work I tend to do quite a bit of 'batch cooking' at weekends and it is ideal for that. I tend to shop early on a Saturday morning and, as soon as I get back from the shops I will quite often put in a batch of steak and kidney to slow cook for a few hours to put into pies. Believe me home made steak and kidney cooked in a slow cooker makes the most delicious pies. Once the meat is cooked I ladle it out into ramekins, leave it cool and then roll out pastry tops which I just pop on the top, brush with milk and then freeze some and keep some for that day. They make a perfect 'ready meal' for during the week as all I need to do is lift them out of the freezer in the morning and bake them when I get home, partnered with a baked potato and some veggies and they are a perfect, nutritious and warming meal.

Sometimes I will do a casserole of either chicken and mushrooms or lamb, I will add a little Sainsbury's country vegetable mix during cooking and possibly drop in a few dumplings about half an hour before the end of the cooking time.

The oval shape of this slow cooker makes it ideal to accommodate a small chicken or a reasonable sized joint of meat which also widens the coice of dishes you can cook. Slow cooked lamb shank will fall off the bone after a few hours in here and the gravy will be some of the best you have tasted.

Home made soup can also taste wonderful made in the slow cooker especially if you want to use something like lentils to make a thick and warming Winter Soup. The instruction book provided also gives four recipe suggestions, Chilli, Rice Pudding, Pork Chops with fruit and Spare ribs so they do get you started if you are stuck for ideas yourself.

Would I recommend it?

Yes I would if you are cooking for one or two on a regular basis. It is too small for a family but it doesn't pretend to be anything other than a two portion cooker. A great way to have a tasty meals on a budget because it is frugal on electricity and slow cooking is a perfect way to cook some of the cheaper cuts of meat. Also it is ideal for batch cooking so, if you are too busy to prepare a meal from scratch each night, why not batch cook and freeze individual portions, tastier than many of the shop bought ready meals and much, much easier on the pocket!



This review has also been posted on Ciao by laramax

Summary: Cook your own ready meals economically and easily