re the above...
asked mum and she recons I need to use better quality meat.
ie stewing steak from a good butcher, not from the meat aisle in Tesco!

Used my slow cooker twice so far
very pleased with the lentil and veg soup, but the beef casserole was dissapointing. In fact it was delicious (beef cubes in 1 bottle beer plus 1 pint beef stock with mushrooms and other veg) but the beef was dry and stringy. What did I do wrong? Usually my beef casserole is either beautifully melt in the mouth, or if I don't cook it long enough its tough and chewy, but never dry.
I browned beef first then put in slow cooker with all other ingredients for 10 hours on low.
Is it because I then had to leave it go cold and heat up in the microwave at tea time?
Is it cos the beef cubes were too small? - bought in tesco ready cut.

Hi Livewire,
that is exactly what I wanted, thank you.
I have ordered some recipes books on Amazon but while waiting for them I would like to get started with the slow cooker, I never stick exactly to any recipe - but with a new piece of equipment its nice to have some idea what to do!

hi,
most of the slow cooker recipes I have seen say cook for x number of hours on medium. My ten pound tesco slow cooker comes with no instructions at all - and only two settings - low and high. Could anyone tell me how long to extend cooking times for the low setting?
Thanks