A bargain way to cheaper meals (Tesco SC356 Slow Cooker)

Member Name: laramax

Product:	Tesco SC356 Slow Cooker
Date:	11/10/08 (749 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use and great for cheaper cuts of meat

Disadvantages: I am not too sure that the instructions are right

I have used a slow cooker for years and love it as a means of using cheaper cuts of meat which are absolutely delicious when cooked slowly. I have a small slow cooker which I use a lot but when I am doing 'batch' cooking to freeze down I can quite easily fill that one to the brim which is what made me wonder about getting a full sized one.

I was doing a quick 'top up' shop in Tesco this week when I saw this model on offer at half the usual price - it was for sale for under £10 so I was unable to resist buying it, well to be honest I actually bought two as I have a colleague who has been thinking of getting one so I thought it would make an excellent early Christmas present.


Design

This slow cooker has a capacity of 3.3 litres when full which makes it ideal for family meals, a full sized chicken or a decent joint. It is twice the size of my little mini slow cooker but of similar design being a brushed chrome finish on the outer base and with black ceramic cooking pot, black handles and a glass lid so that you can see what is cooking.

It is smart and stylish and would look good in any kitchen however you do need to take care using it as both the cooking pot and lid would break if you dropped them. The cooking pot does get hot in use so when you want to lift it out of the base you should use oven gloves to protect your hands.

It has three temperature settings, Low, High and Warm with High being the normal setting for slow cooking according to the enclosed instruction leaflet. Low and Warm are described as being suitable for 'can also be used for heating up cooked food' and 'keeps recently cooked food warm' respectively. I think I would query the instructions here to be honest. I found that at the High setting the contents were bubbling away quite vigorously and even when I turned the settng down to low they were still simmering away so my choice is to go for High to get the contents bubbling and then turn down to Low for the rest of the cooking. This is what I would normally do with my smaller model and it seemed to work fairly well for me with this model.

Using the slow cooker

As I said at the start I use my slow cooker a lot and one of my favourite uses is to make steak and kidney filling for pies. I found it simplicity itself with this slow cooker. I usually braise my meat first (brown the meat and onions in a fry pan) before adding it to the gravy stock and putting it into the slow cooker. The instructions suggest a cooking time of around 7 to 8 hours but I found the meat is tender quite a lot earlier than that, expecially if you are cooking chicken. Even my steak and kidney pie filling was tender after four hours.

My experience of slow cookers is that it is easy to set them up in a morning befre going out to work and the food will be delicious in the evening when you get home, it doesn't seem to matter if the food is left for longer than recommended as the slow cooking method doesn't burn the food.

When I make a chicken casserole I tend to use a cheaper cut like chicken thighs and find the meat really tender and delicious and actually much better than using chicken breasts. If I want to make the meal even more filling I put in a couple of tablespoons of Sainsbury's casserole mix at the start which really thickens up the casserole and makes it really tasty. The casserole mix (which you will find with the dried veg) is just things like split peas, lentils and a little pasta which is really inexpensive and makes the casserole go further as well as adding a creamy texture to it.


Would I recommend it?

Yes I would. At less than £10 with the offer at the moment it is just too good a bargain to pass by. Even at the full price of just under £20 it is pretty good value and it is an excellent way to make your budget go further by making use of cheaper cuts of meat. It should pay for itself in no time especially with food prices rising as they are.

There are no frills with this product, there is no recipe book included for example, but to be honest any kind of casserole would work well in here and it is also great for making really nourishing soups. If you want recipes try a quick search of the internet. If you want good value this is well worth a look and as it uses only around 200 watts of electricity it is kinder to the planet.

Summary: As Winter approaches lovely warming casseroles are easy to make with this