Don't worry Eve, it'l be fine. I have no kitchen at the moment so my slow cooker is sitting in the upstairs bathroom, that's where it stays while it's being used. I never brown stuff before chucking it in, it sort of defeats the purpose of having the thing for me. You can do a mean rice pudding in it, it's lush, and I do believe jackets do very well. Look on my FB profile and there's a slow cooker group that I'm a member of, join it, you'll find a wealth of info from slow cooker fanatics.