Overnight soaked pulses, and some vegetables. Whichever you use, get the following ingredients into your food cupboard for flavouring.

Nutritional Yeast Flakes Yeast Extract (The store brand will do, doesn't have to be Marmite) Kikkoman Reduced Salt soy sauce (or a good strong Tamari) Dark Miso paste

Experiment with different amounts and combinations of these to impart meaty, savoury notes to the flavour of your stews, soups and casseroles. Add a little nut or seed butter to make them even richer. Tahini is good, peanut butter or you can puree any nuts in your blender and add to the mix for some healthy fats, making your meal all the more satisfying and nutritious.

I get stuff like green lentils, green split peas, chick peas, black eyes beans and all sorts cheaper in bulk from https://www.buywholefoodsonline.co.uk/ Dried stuff lasts for ages so if you can shell out a bit to stock up your pantry it's well worth it.

Not all pulses strictly need soaking but do so anyway. It makes the nutrients in them more bio-available and counteracts any 'windy' effects lol.

Especially as you're using a slow cooker, make sure it's around boiling point before you go off and leave it to cook for the day. To my cost I once found Butter Beans in particular to be quite toxic if not soaked for long enough and then cooked for long enough. The Lectins in dried pulses are rendered harmless if you do it right. Always soak for at least 24 hours. Always cook until tender.