Senior Member
Slow cookers.
I'm thinking of getting a slow cooker now its getting cold and I'm playing taxi to the kids most evenings. I have no experience of these so I'm looking for a recommendation. Are they good, what size would you recommend for a family of 4, are they economical to run any features worth looking out for?
Can you cook other things than stews/ mince type meals in them?
Thanks Debbie
Senior Member
I use mine loads - although I live on my own most of the time, I have a big family sized one, and just freeze what I don't eat at one meal.
It's a fab time and money saving device; I can put everything into it in the morning, and come home to it all cooked and ready to eat.
I do lots of stews, currys, chillis, pot roasts and even sweet dishes such as rice pudding. I'm not a fan of mince, so haven't ever done that.
No idea about the economies of it - but it's certainly cheaper to use a slow cooker for 7 hours than the oven for 2.
Mine has an automatic feature, which is very handy, as I'm often out for long periods.
It's very similar to this one:
http://www.noelleeming.co.nz/kitchen...prod99106.html
Senior Member
Thats what I thought but apparently not: found this on the web:Originally Posted by KerryS
???? I am sure many will disagree - its just what I found!have seen the question raised many times in many different ways, am I saving energy/electricity by using a slow-cooker instead of a stove? Nope. In fact, depending on the size of your slow-cooker compared to the size of your stove; you may be using almost twice as much energy to cook in your slow-cooker. There are a lot of variables involved that determine how much; oven element size, oven insulation, slow cooker size, cooking temperature, baking and cooking times, to name a few. The simplest explanation is that your oven cycles on and off, while your slow-cooker cooks, "with no more energy than a light bulb", but it does so continuously, and that adds up.
When you bake in a oven, you're heating up an insulated box with a temperature controlled heating element, generally rated as 240 volts AC at 10 amps of current, some more, some less. This calculates out to be a 2,400 watt heating element capable of delivering 2400 watts of heat in one hour, hence 2400 watt hours as the utility likes to bill you in. Because a temperature sensor controls the oven it only turns on the 2400-watt element to keep the temperature in the oven constant. It doesn't run continuously for a full hour, instead it turns on and off to keep the temperature constant with-in a few degrees of the dial set point. You may have noticed the oven light on your stove turn off once the oven has reached temperature, the element turned off too. This cycling on and off is what saves you money in cooking in your oven. If your oven temperature control turns the oven on for a total of 15 minutes out of every hour, your only using 1/4 of the 2400 watts the element is rated at, 600 watt hours of energy to cook for one hour. Our oven ran for 12 minutes out of every hour, this will vary greatly from oven to oven.
Now for the slow-cooker. slow-cookers are rated similar to your oven, since they plug into your kitchen electric outlet they are 120 volts AC at between .6 amps and 2 amps, this works out to be between 70 watts (low temperature small CP) and 250 watts (high temperature big CP). Since we have a large slow-cooker I will use it as my example, but using the information that follows you can also calculate your own energy usage. Our slow-cooker is a large 5-quart brand with a low cooking power of 180 watts and a high cooking power of 250 watts. Its information you find on the label. The difference between the oven and the slow-cooker is that the slow-cooker cooks continuously. What that means is if you cook on high with a 250 watt hour element for 4 hours, you use (4 X 250) 1000 watt hours of electricity. If you cook on low with a 180 watt hour element for 8 hours, you use (8 X 180) 1440 watt hours of electricity. No energy savings at my house. If you have a small slow-cooker with a low range that uses a 70-watt element, cooking for 8 hours only uses 560-watt hours of electricity. If you have a 100-watt light bulb in your kitchen and you leave it on while your slow-cooker is cooking you will be using (8 hours X 100) 800-watt hours of electricity.
Tanya
Member
You can get cookbooks for slow cookers. So there's plenty you can make. My favs are mexican casserole and french onion soup. But I've also done chicken in it.
I would suggest getting one where the stoneware insert is removable. You can take the bowl straight to the table and it makes it alot easier for cleaning (my old one was all in one and a pain to try and clean). I would think that a 5 quart cooker would be a good size for your family.
Senior Member
Ohhh, will have to follow up on that as I was considering getting one... mind you, have a horrid feeling it will find itself at the back of the larder along with the breville toastie-maker and food-whizzer...Thats what I thought but apparently not: found this on the web:
???? I am sure many will disagree - its just what I found!
Tanya
Senior Member
lol - yeah - I couldnt be that organised before the kids go to school to have got dinner on the go too!!!
Tanya
Senior Member
True - we'd be eating at midnight by the time I get up!
Senior Member
True - we'd be eating at midnight by the time I get up!
well - didnt like to say...... hehe
Tanya
Senior Member
You weren't meant to AGREE!!
Senior Member
We have one that is a seperate pan with a hot plate that you sit it on.
It's great as it means you can use the pan as a normal pan on the stove top or in the oven, or as part of the slow cooker and no additional pots to wash.
I find it great to start off a curry, chilli or stew around lunchtime, on the stove top, then let it simmer away in the slow cooker during the afternoon adding some veg in later on.
Works a treat.
Mind you if I get a job that means I don't work from home that ain't gonna happen nop more. No chance I'll be doing that around breakfast time!
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