Lakeland Brushed Chrome Family Slow Cooker Review
Reviewed by Lisa Lambert
I have always wanted a slow cooker big enough for all the family and this one is perfect for my family of 6. It was well packaged and the images were good on the box with details of the capacity of the cooker.
I hunted down some slow cooker recipes but coming for a family who already use them I had some ideas already.
Our first meal was a turkey soup, it was so simple we bought a turkey leg from the local meat market (cost £2.50), then some fresh vegetables (cost approx. £2.20). It was really simple to then make we lay the turkey in the bottom of the dish and chopped the vegetable into large chunks all roughly the same size and put then over the top, we then added chicken stock to cover the vegetables and seasoning, we cooked this on auto for about 6 hours but we just left it and gave it the odd stir (you don’t need to do that though). Once cooked we took the turkey out and stripped it from the bone, I then blended the vegetables (my kids won’t eat lumps) to create a smooth soup and then stirred the turkey back through. We served this with crusty bread and it was so nice there was not a drop left in the bowls when finished.
This was such an easy dish to make and the auto function means you can pop this on before work and it would cook at the right temp then just keep it warm till you got home – great way to make real homemade food cheaply the soup cost us about £7 all together to make and fed 6 people and a portion to freeze as well.
Our second recipe was a little more adventurous we decided to try cooking a ham Joint but WOW it turned out brilliantly and was so yummy.
To do this recipe you need ham joint (gammon type joint) we had one about 1.9kg in weight with the fat still on. You also need the below:
Cloudy apple juice (900ml for the joint we did)
200ml Maple syrup
200g dark brown soft sugar
25-30 whole cloves
2tsps Ground Ginger
1tbsp Ground Nutmeg
1tbsp ground cloves
2tbsp Ground cinnamon
1, You score the fat then pop the whole cloves in making sure they are spread evenly.
2, Put the joint in the dich and poor in apple juice leaving about 2 inches of the ham above the top of the juice.
3, Press the brown sugar in really firmly to the top of the joint and pour over the maple syrup.
4, Take the remaining juice and mix all the dry ingredients into this and then fill up the cooker as far as you can to the fill point.
5, Cook on a low setting for 8-10 Hours (we did 10 hours) leave to stand 10-15 minutes before cutting.
We cooked ours overnight and it was ready when I got up.
Well the ham was so tasty, we had a sneaky taste whilst warm and it was so yummy but we had decided to have it as a meal later that day with potatoes wedges and salad and it was mouth-watering and so tasty. We had enough ham left over after feeding 2 adults and the 2 older children for sandwiches and a pasta dish for lunches. The meat kept well and was still fresh for a few days after wards it sliced really well.
This is something I will definitely be trying again as this saved us a fortune on cooked meats for lunches as the joint was only £6 and we just needed the cloudy apple juice and that was roughly £2 and the rest of the stuff I already had in. I have already started to look at different recipes and flavours we can do. Very excited to try this again.
Overall the slow cooker is must have for a large busy family we have loads of recipes lined up for the coming weeks. Keeping food costs down has been a big battle with having 6 mouths to feed but you can create good home cooked healthy food really cheaply and this is perfect for us and the variety is endless and it’s all about experimenting and trying new things if it doesn’t work try something different.
I would say to anyone with a family or on your own you need a slow cooker in your life, my dad has nagged me for ages to get one as he cooks loads of soups and stews and they are always so yummy I can now make my own and not rely on him to do it for us. He lives on his own and makes loads and freezes them and they taste just as good and they allow him to do other things with his time.
This to me is a massive 5 stars and I can’t wait to keep creating some great food.
- 2.5 litre working capacity – big enough to feed the whole family
- Simple to operate with three heat setting – Low, High & Auto
- Heating element encircles pot for even cooking
- Glass-lidded, ceramic pot can be taken straight to the table
- Pot and lid dishwasher safe
- Pot oven safe up to 150°C
- 4 recipes included
- 200W
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £29.99
Available to buy from Lakeland here.