I use my slow cooker all the time and I leave it on when I'm out, that's the idea of them. It makes cheap cuts of meat very tender, but potatoes need to be cooked a bit before they go in otherwise they're hard. Also liquid doesn't evaporate at all, in fact it appears to increase when the other ingredients shrink during the long cooking process, so don't put too much in.
I went for the tsv and used my £5 off Elemis so I thought this wasnn't a bad deal. However, after 15 hours of slow cooking (Turned off after 11 and then started again this morning) the potatoes were still quite hard. We managed to eat them, just. I was going to look to see if anyone else had had this problem when I saw the quote from Bensmum so thank you :clapping: I now know to cook them a bit before hand, it does slighty detract though from a one pot meal. I will persevere though.
I cooked a stew the first day mine came, the potatoes were only chopped in half and cooked for 6 hours, they were fine. I think you just have to make sure they are covered with liquid, so push them down a bit and stir during the day if you're there, if not, then just cut up a bit smaller. Would be a pain to partly cook them beforehand.
I've got a lamb tagine on the go for tea tonight, should be fab!
