I've just joined this forum because I've had a slow cooker for nearly two years and I've never used it!

A friend suggested I get one because he couldn't live without his and it meant that his tea was ready as soon as he walked through the door. I looked at the benefits of having a slow cooker and it seemed like a good idea so I put one on the wedding list!

When I looked through at the recipes that came with it they all suggested cooking everything first in a pan. Apart from creating extra washing up this also seems to defeat the object of a slow cooker to me! Like MichaelT35626 says a couple of posts back,

'I thought the point of a slow cooker is you put everything in 1 pot at the same time turn it on and bobs your uncle X amount of hours its done.'

I would like to have a go at using it before deciding whether or not to keep it. We only have a small kitchen and the slow cooker takes up valuable space that could be used for other stuff, especially as we are expecting our first baby in a few months time.

I would be grateful for any help in getting started with a slow cooker so I can give it a 'fair trial' before making a decision about keeping it. I don't want to have to cook everything first so workarounds for that would be good.