Multi-cooker vs slow cooker - who will win? Find out below.
Do you have a preference multi-cookers and slow cookers?
I agree with the reviewās pros and cons, but I really like my pressure cooker.
Iāve had a slow cooker for ages, but was also interested in being able to do pressure cooking. I was intrigued by the Thermomix (way more than I could afford) and Instapot (not available in Oz), and the multitudes of positive customer reviews for them.
I ended up buying a Sunbeam Aviva pressure cooker. Itās not half as fancy as the Thermomix, but I donāt mind doing a lot of its extras by hand (weighing, chopping) or with separate appliances if I ever need to (milling!?). I kept an eye out for specials, and got a really good deal on this one.
Iām really pleased with what it can do. I made a couple of things from the included cookbook, and wasnāt as happy with the results as Iād thought. But I adapted recipes from elsewhere, and theyāve invariably given me great meals.
I have to agree that a pressure cooker meal can sometimes need extra flavour, compared with a slow cooker meal. My multi-cooker lets me saute onions and sear meat, which helps a lot with the flavour. Also, I can make really good stock in it, which makes for a flavoursome base.
Being able to sear and saute in the same pot thatās used to slow-cook or pressure-cook is also a bonus for flavour, because all of the fond adds to the flavour.
I suspect the heavy pot that comes with a slow cooker provides more consistent temperature and better results. I still use my slow cooker a lot, for some dishes where itās fine to just through everything in, but for some recipes I make the most of being able to different types of cooking in the one pot. I donāt use it as a pressure cooker as much, because the dishes can be a bit watery and lacking in richness.
3 Likes
Slow cookers have their place, they only do one kind of meal but they do it well, cheaply, simply and with little effort. Pressure cookers are less useful as there are fewer occasions when they are a real advantage and if used outside their range of usefulness your meals will be uniform, bland and mushy. But they are also cheap and simple with little effort.
Multi-cookers are trendy, expensive, complex and if you include cleaning not so time saving. They are the apotheosis of fast food done at home. People imagine that by paying money they can forget gaining skills. You canāt. The question is why would you want to?
There is always a time element in cooking but if you donāt have time to cook then you donāt have time to live.
In 20 years time multi-cookers will be museum pieces and the next generation will shake their heads when they pass by the exhibit.
BTW the time scale given for cooking corned beef left out one important method, in a pot on the stove - 2 hours.
3 Likes
Per Choice.
That frees up a whole lot of cupboard space!
_ 3. Theyāll save you money._
With a multi-cooker, you transform cheap cuts of meat and cheap staples like dried beans into delicious dishes thatāll really hit the spot.
Because they cook so quickly, youāll also use less energy than cooking with your oven or stovetop.
Per rattling memory,
The āCrock Potā slow cooker was a marvel of the 1970ās. It was also very expensive to purchase relative to income.
Our family first was second hand! There was a healthy trade way back in second hand things like toasters and TVās and ā¦ Some might suggest recycling partners had become a boom industry by then too! There is much to thank/blame the 60ās for! The 70ās just perfected everything that was good or bad from the 60ās. The Crock Pot perfected the meat and three veg with chips to a futuristic space man like meal in one.
It would also be unkind back in the old old days to suggest to the chief cook the meal was less than perfect. And they (the crock pot) did allow you to get up an hour earlier before going to work to prepare the nights meal. That way you spent an hour less that night cooking, and could go to bed an hour earlier. 
We have a newer one, now. It comes out once a year, like a fondue set. We never had a fondue set, which has made finding space in the cupboards a little easier. It is just another way to reduce tougher cuts to tender juiciness with an overly generous surplus of sauce. Perhaps also a soup which can be very effective. Donāt forget to seal the meat in a pan first?
The pressure cooker comes out twice a year.
Which suggests a multi cooker which we do not have might be useful three times each year.
The one real issue for us is, cooking for just two you tend to fill the fridge with a weeks supply of meals.
P.S.
The pressure cooker has itās place too. Another meal to avoid. It usually meant a heavily veined boiler rendered to the last ounce of jelly. Donāt forget to let it all cool and skim of all the fat. Another way to make a tough cut tender, only quicker! Itās worth noting mushy everything way back then was important, otherwise the food was unable to be digested. And if like most over 50 you had easy clean teeth (dentures) chewy food was not on.
How do you use your SC or CP today?
Split pea and ham soup! 
3 Likes
Weāve put cooker against cooker to find out who will win. Which one would you choose, slow cooker, multi cooker or pressure cooker?
3 Likes
Since I bought a Tefal 8 litre stovetop pressure cooker a few years ago, our old slow cooker has not seen the light of day.
It is fantastic for pea & ham soup, stews, curries, lamb shanks, pork ribs and so on.
Best $129 I ever spent.
PS. I forgot the corn beef. Perfectly cooked in no time.
3 Likes
My slow cooker makes stew. But so does a big pan on the stove (faster). I dont use the slow cooker much and am considering giving it away on facebook market.
5 Likes
Ive had a few slow cookers. They have rarely been used, but as soon as I can get rid of one another one materialises (a few of my family members are obsessed and keep giving them to me). Iām not a huge fan of the ādump everything in, switch it on and leave itā style of cooking. TBH if I want a stew, or a pot roast etc, I prefer to do it on a day I can do it on the stovetop/oven in my cast iron french oven.
I have had a Philips All in One Premium for a bit more than a year I think (scored in Amazon Prime Day sale for the cost of the regular version)ā¦ and it gets used so often it hardly ever gets put away. Its made pretty phenomenal corned silverside with cabbage, a good 10 minute pad thai and my son loves to make macaroni cheese. The recipe in the book for āsausage pasta bakeā (we cheat and use pre-made meatballs instead of squeezing sausages) has been a quick and easy family favourite. We cook our rice in it, steam our potatoes to mash, cook frozen chicken breast (to perfectly poached in about 23 min) to shred for sandwiches. I find it REALLY easy to clean - especially when using the non-stick pot. The best thing in the current sociopolitical climate has been the ability to chuck some dried beans in and have perfectly cooked beans an hour later, no soak.
The real pro of the multi-cooker over the slow cooker for me is that with a multi-cooker you donāt have to think ahead. Get home from work, grab a few things out of the cupboard or freezer and make what you feel like in less than half an hour.
5 Likes
Canāt say Iāve ever felt the need for a slow or multi cooker, no meals I cook require either. I regularly use a 6 litre pressure cooker for cooking batches of rice, millet, lentils and also for beetroot, and my very large pressure cooker for sterilising jars for fruit preserving.
3 Likes
Funny enough, due to different kitchen through our recent move to Tassie, we used our Kmart slow cooker last night for the first time in maybe 18 months. We prefer to use the cast iron crock type pot, but with an electric cooktop the electricity use for slow cooking would be significant. ā¦ which was the reason for using it last night.
Did a beef, vege, bean meal with Moroccan spices. Quite tasty and warming on a cool Tassie night.
2 Likes
Got a sweet tooth? SBS food had a great tip on turning a tin of condensed milk into dulce de leche in your slow cooker - something most of us would have considered beyond our remitā¦ https://www.sbs.com.au/food/article/2020/03/27/how-make-dulce-de-leche-while-you-sleep
3 Likes
Iāve been thinking about this one. We recently upgraded from electric ceramic glass to induction (BEST DECISION EVER). I know induction uses more power in theory than regular electric, but it cooks so much more efficiently, and you can use a much lower setting for low and slow cookingā¦ I wonder if the slow cooker (or for me the slow cook function on the all-in-one) would be more efficient than the cast iron on the induction top 
1 Like
Eh? Induction only heats the cooking container, electric elements heat the cook top as well, making them use more energy due to needing to heat up more material.
For the same reason cookers with internal electric elements will be more efficient than cast iron on an induction cook top, which in turn is better than cast iron on a ceramic cook top.
6 Likes
Ok. I know our induction top required a higher voltage connection or something, maybe thats why i was confused about the difference between standard electric and induction.
But the reason I was wondering is because of the amazing precision of the heat adjustment on the induction top. Its mind blowing - you can set it EXACTLY where you want. You can bring something to the boil, and then immediately drop it to a gorgeous gentle simmer. If the simmer dies a bit more than you want you bump it up one level and its back.
The slow cooker is stuck on one level for the entire cooking time. Would it be more efficient to slow cook something in cast iron on the stove top if you kept an eye on it and adjusted the heat more precisely than a slow cooker stuck on one setting?
1 Like
Impossible to say for sure on that question- too many unknown variables, but I suspect the heat losses would be a bit less with a slow cooker with internal element, so it should be the most efficient.
1 Like
Compared to a slow cooker?
Iām with @gordon, there are so many variables. Itās also a good guess about the outcome. Basic science suggests the same.
Intuitively and with some observations:
Electric self contained slow cookers are typically built into an insulated housing. You can touch or depending on your heat tolerance hold the outside. IE low emissivity. Iād not try that on a Cast Iron pot on any cooktop. The all metal pot will be continuously loosing (radiating) heat to the air around it. With greater losses, for similar contents and cooking times the old fashioned crockpot might be the lowest energy user.
Whether the difference is worth worrying about. How often would most of us use a slow cooker. Is it often enough to be worth any worry?
Notes:
Academically it is within the powers of science to test all the cooktop options vs slow and all in one cookers, for similar cook times and optimal. For those of us cooking using electric from a low carbon source, EG Rooftop Solar, the savings if measurable are likely in the order of a few cents for each cook.
1 Like
It will either be a 20A or 30A connection, still at 230-240V. Cooktops and ovens draw more current due to their heating functions and higher capacity wiring is required to prevent problems.
1 Like
Or even 40 or 50A. Iāve seen some of the multi -zone induction cook tops rated at 12kW.
1 Like
I like the idea of the slow cooker. Iām disposing of mine because its not very efficient. Wish I had read productreview.com.au before buying. The one advantage I find is once the prep is done, and its all cooking, you can wander off and just let it do its thing and then, come back later to a cooked meal. It does work well. And unlike with the large pan as I spoke of in my last post, you dont have to stand over it and make sure its all cooking the way it should.
[edit] So I have been looking for a small cooker. It seems that you canāt get one less than 3L, and for a single person, its really too big. I have 3.5L and its going to have to do.
Our experts help decide whether a Thermomix is the right machine for you:
1 Like
