How does a slow cooker save money?

Debt_Free_Chick

I'm not convinced it does use less electricity - you need to think about the consumption per hour multiplied by the number of hours you use it and then compare that with using the oven for a shorter period of time.

I think the amount of electricity to produce the same total output is the same either a long time at a low temp or a short time at a higher temp ..... surely ....?

geomot

A big slow cooker in Argos is rated at 225 watts - this means it takes 9 hours to use up 2kw-hours at full power.

One of the small counter-top ovens at Argos is rated at 1100 watts - this means it takes less than 2 hours to use the same amount of electricty (2kw-hrs) - assuming that the heater element for the oven stays on all the time.

so you can use the slow cooker for 5 hours for the same cost as using the small cooker.

Lots of assumptions made here - I know I never use my slow cooker on full power & I know the oven heater element is never on all of the time.


Hotpoint estimate average energy consumption of one of their built in electric ovens (the smaller top one) at 0.99kwhr - I suspect most slow cookers are operating at an average of about 0.1kwhr so slow cookers can run for ten hours for every hour that a small built in oven runs for.

I do questions like this with year 10 physics but the questions about hair straighteners tend to get a better response (Former electrical engineer now a physics teacher).

wannabe_sybil

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

I'm not convinced it does use less electricity - you need to think about the consumption per hour multiplied by the number of hours you use it and then compare that with using the oven for a shorter period of time.

I think the amount of electricity to produce the same total output is the same either a long time at a low temp or a short time at a higher temp ..... surely ....?

Umm I think it goes like this...

If I make a casserole in the oven, I have the oven on for an hour and a half to two hours. So because I am rubbish at maths it is 2 x 2000kw or 4000kw, assuming that the oven uses 2000kw per hour as above. (figure of 2000kw comes from wildbri). Now today I made a casserole from lean casserole meat which would need a long time in the oven. The slow cooker was on 7 hours (on timer) and the result was melt in the mouth and enough for tea tomorrow. So that is 7 x 330 kw or 2310kw (330 kw comes from Swan, but I do think some are less). So if I had made it in the oven it would have used at least 3000kw but in the slow cooker I would use 2310 kw so it uses less power.

Those of a scientific bent will question if the temperature of the oven affects the electricity consumption, and I have absolutely no idea. I am afraid my google expertise is inadequate to find anything, though I did find a slow cooker listed at 130 kw which is significantly less, I am confident, than an oven. My oven is gas.

Additionally it can make a cheap cut of meat taste absolutely fantastic, you get a really good result with much better flavour. Then the convenience works even for a SAHM like me because I could prepare it during little bear's nap this morning but he was too busy being hurricane little bear this afternoon when I would have prepared the casserole.

Quasar - I also have a Tefal rice/steamer/slow cooker/porridge thingy. The rice tastes amazing and is really easy but you get such a vast quantity that I usually dish up enough for me, dear heart and little bear and have enough for lunch the next day.

Hope this is of use

Edited to add that I think I have got my watts and kilowatts muddled. How mortifying!

Swan_2

geomot wrote: »

A big slow cooker in Argos is rated at 225 watts - this means it takes 9 hours to use up 2kw-hours at full power.

One of the small counter-top ovens at Argos is rated at 1100 watts - this means it takes less than 2 hours to use the same amount of electricty (2kw-hrs) - assuming that the heater element for the oven stays on all the time.

so you can use the slow cooker for 5 hours for the same cost as using the small cooker.

Lots of assumptions made here - I know I never use my slow cooker on full power & I know the oven heater element is never on all of the time.


Hotpoint estimate average energy consumption of one of their built in electric ovens (the smaller top one) at 0.99kwhr - I suspect most slow cookers are operating at an average of about 0.1kwhr so slow cookers can run for ten hours for every hour that a small built in oven runs for.

I do questions like this with year 10 physics but the questions about hair straighteners tend to get a better response (Former electrical engineer now a physics teacher).

I understand the basic principle about working out the relationship between the power consumption of slow cookers & ovens, but most of the things I do in my SC I'd not use an oven for, stews, soups etc
& I'd never dream of putting the oven on to do a casserole, it'd simply get stewed instead

what I've never been able to work out is how the SC consumption compares to having something simmering on the stovetop on the lowest flame
specs for cookers tend to only give you the maximum output for a hotplate/gas ring

wannabe_sybil

Swan - I know what you mean. It is like comparing dragons and ducks, it isn't comparing like for like.

I suppose that if I was feeling that I needed a particularly robust challenge then I would have to try and work out power usage for each appliance. Then I would know if making a casserole that is in the slow cooker then reheated in a microwave would be cheaper than putting it in the gas oven and then reheating in a microwave, although I think the result would not be as toothsome. I would get a lot less steam from a slow cooker than a stew on the hob, which I also would prefer to the oven. My oven is particularly inefficient.

But when all is said and done, I do have a weakness for gadgets and today I have used my oven, my slow cooker, my microwave, my toaster, my breadmaker, my remoska, my washing machine and (in desperation for half an hour) my tumble dryer.

I need help.

Debt_Free_Chick

wannabe_sybil wrote: »

Those of a scientific bent will question if the temperature of the oven affects the electricity consumption

I think that was what I was clumsily trying to suggest - that if you want to heat something to a certain temperature, then you either use a lot of heat quickly or less heat over a longer period.

Think about boiling a pint of water. In fact, boil two Put them in saucepans of the same size. Put one on a fast hob/ring and another on a slower hob/ring. Which one boils first?

basmic

I think we need some slow cooker recipes.

I have a slow cooker sitting unused in the cupboard, which was a christmas present to me. :eek::o

wannabe_sybil

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

I think that was what I was clumsily trying to suggest - that if you want to heat something to a certain temperature, then you either use a lot of heat quickly or less heat over a longer period.

Think about boiling a pint of water. In fact, boil two Put them in saucepans of the same size. Put one on a fast hob/ring and another on a slower hob/ring. Which one boils first?

I think I am the wrong person to answer this, but I am at somewhat of a loose and and thinking aloud...

In my slow cooker I just heat the stew. If I cook a casserole in the oven then I heat the oven and the casserole. The seal is likely to be less efficient for an oven than a slow cooker, in my experience.

Another point is, if you were cooking a casserole on a really slow heat, like Gas 2 or 3, then you would have to allow a long time, at least three or four hours.

And something else I have thought of, but those of a more scientific disposition can put me right. In the slow cooker the food is kept, I think, at a temperature of gentle simmer. If I am right (and I am not saying that I am) then that means that the temperature is likely to be around 100 centigrade. So you are using enough energy to keep the temperature at that level, whereas in the oven the heat is likely to be more. But I have never heard a casserole bubble in the oven.

I think I need a cup of tea. It is a very interesting question.

wannabe_sybil

basmic wrote: »

I think we need some slow cooker recipes.

I have a slow cooker sitting unused in the cupboard, which was a christmas present to me. :eek::o

I am extraordinarily bad at giving linkys, but in the headings of the Old Style Board there are the indexed collections which include slow cooking, but any casserole or stew or soup would be suitable, but don't use it for expensive meat. It is wonderful at transforming tough meat, I can't praise it enough.

Quasar

I think the main advantage of a slow cooker is not to be found in whatever energy saving there may be, but in the fact that there is a world of difference in taste in a stew that has cooked for a two or three hour in a pan on a gas/electric cooker, and one that has simmered on low for 8 hours in a slow cooker. The various flavours blend better in long slow cooking.