Hi Boddie
Never had a slow cooker so cannot see the need for two compartments. Sure a stew or soup would be fine cooked in it. One thing though if you use any pulses:- beans, peas lentils etc. you must make sure to fast boil them for 10 minutes before adding to the slow cooker, unless of course you use tinned. I don't want to hear that you have poisoned yourself because you omitted to do the boiling first. Apart from that you can peel and dice any vegetables, and meat if you are a carnivore, and to make life easier use a stock cube or some yeast extract for flavouring. Pearl barley will help thicken it and doesn't need to boil first. If you have some herbs they will add interest to the flavour. Experiment is possibly the best advice. Good luck
Wildone