Comparing Running Costs of Remoska/Pressure Cooker/Slow Cooker

beetrootjuicer

Hi Moneysavers. I use a Remoska (jacket potatoes, baked fish dishes, chicken, etc), pressure cooker (soups, casseroles, pulses) and have just acquired a bargain boot sale slow cooker. Just a bit of idle curiosity -wondering about the comparative costs of running each of them. Does anyone have any idea what each costs to run, say, per hour? Is it, for instance, cheaper to make the soup in the slow cooker rather than the pressure cooker? I've used a succession of pressure cookers over the years and must have saved pounds in electricity and I think the Remoska must be pretty economical too as you're only heating a tiny space, not a large oven, but I was just wondering if anyone knew the rough costs without getting into complicated sums with kilowatts, etc. Also, I'm keen learn to use the slow cooker (no instruction book unfortunately, working through the other thread, for recipes and hints) but was a bit worried about going out and leaving it on. Are you supposed to be able to do this, do any of you do it and what's the safety record? Would appreciate your thoughts. Many thanks.

moggins

I found a running costs calculator here

http://www.ukpower.co.uk/running-costs-elec.asp

You do have to feed all the figures in about ampage and stuff but it looks pretty good.

kittiwoz

That just calculates it on the basis that power (Watts) is energy (Joules) per second. Power (Watts) = Current (Amps) * Voltage (Volts). It assumes the items draw the rated amperage continuously while switched on which for items with thermostats is not correct.

Having said that while slo- cookers and remoskas operate more efficiently than other cooking methods where a lot of heat is lost to the atmosphere they remain limited by the high specific heat capacity of water. Since this reduces at increased pressure I would guess that the pressure cooker uses the least energy. However the inefficiency of the hob might outweigh the benefit of the pressure cooker compared to the remoska or slow-cooker so it may not be the case.

Mr_Proctalgia

Whilst I fully understand the priciples of Ohms law I couldn't really answer your question. I think the only reasonable way would be to use a "cost plug" and cook the same item from the same starting temeprature in each appliance and measure their energy consumption.

A pressure cooker ought to be efficient if it is a good fit on the ring/hob and the seal is in good condition, but theoretically because it runs at a higher temeperature it will lose proprtionally more heat the the surrounding air, to compensate for that it will not be on as long. but will take longer to heat up.

Small slow cookers typically consume about 80 watts and the large ones about 200 watts, they are on a lot for the first hour or two then they are thermostatically controlled, with a cold "fill" and a cool room they could potentially cost a lot to run.

A Remoska is rated at 500 watts, which doesn't sound to bad but you need to work out how long the element is heating and how long it is off, as I have never owned one I do not know how hot they run or how much heat they lose to the air but I do know they have a steam vent.

As you can see there are too many unknowns to know the answer but certain principles come to mind, if you are cooking from the fridge let the food get up to room temeprature before you cook it, if you need hot water make it in the most efficient vessel (usualy an exposed element kettle) try not to actually boil water (Google Latent heat) If you can zap your ingredients in the microwave first to warm it up then do so.

I am have a lonnnnng rethink about the efficiency of some modern appliances, for years I have cooked on gas and it is cost wise about 1/3 the price of electricity but it isn't as efficient. Modern ovens are supposed to be efficient but seem to have fans everywhere, one to circulate heat and another to cool the casing, ditto my micro combi oven and ditto the steam oven - Yet they are all "A" rated and supposed to be insulated to a high standard etc, so why the cooling fans. Another point to consider is the heat recovery time, as I said I am used to cooking on gas and get the oven up to say mark 6 - stick a huge turkey in it and 15 minutes later it has recovered from this huge carcass cooling it down and is starting to cook it, my new electric fan assisted job only pulls 2.5KW at most and a large joint can take it 40 minutes before the thermostat cuts in. I have also discover that my freezer has a heater in it - It comes on once a day to defrost the evaporator coils or it would stop working. All this is added cost. Perhaps a clever person could investigate some of the more imponderables in this interesting subject?

The lightbulb moment for me was when I realised that my small slow cooker uses more electricity than if I left every light I own on throughout the house! (3 bed semi - But I am a totally low energy kinda guy)

I hope this helps

skintchick

Not quite on topic, but is the Remoska any good? I see in in the LAkeland catalogue and i have often wondered about getting one.

fudgem

I bought my Remoska initially to take away camping, because of its low energy needs it didn't trip out the small electric supply on French campsites.

I have been so impressed with it I use it a lot at home as well

Lola23

fudgem wrote:

I bought my Remoska initially to take away camping, because of its low energy needs it didn't trip out the small electric supply on French campsites.

I have been so impressed with it I use it a lot at home as well

I was just going to ask about this too. Seen it in the catalogue the other day and did think about the running cost of it.

If it would save me electricity I'm all for it.

:T

frugalfairy_3

Ooh I was going to ask that too! Great minds! So, could you tell me/us what sort of meals you cook in a Remoska? Can you do a whole meal in one? I was thinking of getting the new small version for DD who's at uni and who has hardly a moment to stop and think, let alone cook.

Thanks!
FF

fudgem

Well they advertise the remoska as being able to cook anything you would normally put in an oven, so that gives you a huge choice.

I bought the small version because there's generally only two of us, and do use it to cook a full meal most of the time. If you cut up your potatoes and veg to the normal size for roasting and pop a chicken portion or two on top, this would take about half an hour. I also cook a full chicken by cutting it in half to make it fit in the pan, casseroles, puddings, it makes a lovely bread and butter pudding. Anything you can think of that will fit in basically

bj-sailaway

My Remoska has really earnt it's keep. I love it, it's quick, efficient, less washing up, nothing sticks, as it cooks from above. One of my best kitchen investments! Makes lovely cakes too.

beetrootjuicer

Thanks to Moggins, Kittiwoz and Mr Proctalgia - it is all a bit imponderable, isn't it? I've always thought the pressure cooker economical because of the reduced cooking time, if nothing else. No real experience of the slow cooker as yet, but the Remoska has an uninsulated aluminum pan and the top which houses the heating element gets pretty hot too, which was what started me thinking about the comparative running costs to start with.

I was going to say I've found it too small to cook a complete meal, it makes jacket potatoes for 2 or 3 of us but there's no room for the chicken, fish, or whatever so you have to put the oven or grill on as well but I've just read Fudgem's post (thanks, Fudgem). Why didn't I think of putting the chicken on top of the potatoes???!!!! I suppose, though, it might depend on what, the meal is: would fish topped with HM tomato sauce and breadcrumbs on top of jacket potatoes work, I wonder?

My Remoska was a present, cost about £99.99, I think. I think it would be great for someone at uni without good cooking facilities but without knowing the running costs I'm not sure I'd buy one for myself. I think that's the key issue, if it turns out to be very economical then I'd use it more. Would be very interested to know what other OS'ers think.