Zip Elegance 5 litre Round Slow Cooker product reviews

I won my Zip elegance slow cooker in a competition, I used it a few times before purchasing a larger slow cooker and gifting this one to a family member. This is a nice stylish stainless steel slow cooker, so will fit in with most decor.

It is simple to use, and like most slow cookers is effective and functional. The ceramic bowl that you cook your food in, can also be used to serve your food in which is fantastic. It is also a very durable slow cooker, so it would seem, as when I accidentally dropped it on the ground, it still worked just fine.

I love the convenience of slow cookers, and when I won this one, I spent a lot of time searching the internet for easy, filling, healthy meals and desserts I could feed my family. I was surprised at just how much you could make in a slow cooker...I always thought they were for soups and stews, but you can make choc-self serving puddings, silverside, ragout, and even chicken (whatever your heart desires) in them. Set it all up in the morning, and come dinner time...its all ready!

Even though I won mine, which was fantastic, I would highly recommend purchasing one of these. For around $40 it is an absolute bargain, and during winter you will be so glad you did...

I received this slow cooker as a gift a couple of years ago. I had never had a slow cooker before and had never used one so I wasn't really sure of what to do with it. It came with some recipes of which I tried one or two but there are some really nice recipes in the book that I would like to try.

I have made a corned silverside in it which was really good. I just put it on mid morning and it was ready to eat at dinner time which was good and the meat was really well cooked and soft. I have also made a lamb curry in it and again the meat was so soft and tender by the time it came to eating it. I like how you can just put everything in it and not worry about it again until dinner time which makes it great when you have a busy day planned. Also great for cooking home made soup as all the vegetables come out really soft and because it has cooked all day it is full of flavour by the time it comes to serving.

It has three functions high, low, and keep warm. I have used all three low for when I have wanted to keep it cooking all day which works really well and high for when I haven't put it on until later in the day but have still wanted the meat to be really tender. I like how it has the keep warm function so that when it is finished cooking if you are not ready to eat you can just keep it warm. I also like the size of the cooker as it is big enough to cook a meal for the whole family. It is really easy to wash too and if you don't finish the contents you can put the whole cooker insert in the fridge although it is quite big so you would have to have a bit of room in the fridge.

When i think of a slow cooker, i imagine putting it on in the morning and leaving it, and coming home to a cooked meal. Sadly this version of a slow cooker doesn't live up to its name.

I prefer to call it my 'fast' cooker. If left all day, a stew overcooks and goes crusty and dry on the top, meaning the meat that is on the top is dry and not very nice. I have ended up with chops and chicken pieces that just fall apart from over cooking and are really dry.

I have found that if i put the same meal, i want to cook all day on at around 2pm it is cooked perfectly. But in my opinion this defeats the purpose! I do use this option a bit as its handy to organise dinner in the afternoon so come 5 when the kids need bathed etc life runs much smoother!

Overall i would really prefer something that i could leave on all day and it didn't ruin the dish, i think next winter i will look at buying another brand.