Comparing Running Costs of Remoska/Pressure Cooker/Slow Cooker

geordie_joe

SpursDave wrote: »

I have been reading the Remoska site and Lakeland's site as well as looking at much cheaper slow cookers. It seems that Remoska are adamant that the Remoska is not a slow cooker!

A Remoska is not a slow cooker, but it is the slowest cooker in the world. By that I mean it has only one temperature setting and that is low, so you have to be very patient when you cook food in it.

Things that are normally cooked in a low oven are ok, but things that normally need a higher temperature take forever to cook in a remoska.

SpursDave wrote: »

So which device is better? Why one over the other?

Both are completely different, it's like asking which is better, a fridge or a freezer.

What you should be comparing is a remoska and a halogen oven.

A remoska is a pot with a heater in the lid that only has one heat setting, low. It only heats around the edges, so you have to faff about cutting tin foil rings to stop the edges burning before the middle is cooked.

A halogen oven is a pot with a heater in the lid that has a huge temprature range. It also has a fan so everything cooks evenly. It is usualy half the price of a remoska, or better. You also get all the "bits" included in the price, but Lakeland charge extra for the remoska "bits".

PS, Slow cookers are great, well worth the money even if you only use them for cheap cuts of eat like brisket. But you have to be able to prepare the meal hours in advance and leave the slow cooker to do the work while you do something else.

geordie_joe

SpursDave wrote: »

Do all of these really save enough on electricity to pay for themselves?

Yes, if you compare them tom using a normal electric oven, not sure if you have a gas oven.

The remoska and the halogen oven have racks so you can cook some thing in the bottom and the chips on the rack.

morganlefay

SpursDave, I have a slow cooker and if you read other threads you'll see that lots of people on here LOVE theirs and cook in them daily. Mine makes everything taste the same (tho I'm usually a good cook) and I hardly use it except in deepest winter. Also tho it is my utility room it still makes the whole house smell. So really I think that you can't guarantee that you'll love a gadget which other people seem to like a lot. Could you borrow a slow cooker and see how you get on with it ? Then the Remoska versus a halogen cooker: geordie joe seems really to hate Remoskas and love halogen cookers, but lots of us really LOVE our Remoskas and wouldn't be without them. If you could borrow one or other of these and see how you get on with it it might help. Cooking on a Remoska is a very acquired taste, but I (and lots of others on here) love it - perhaps we have the temperament of boy/girl scouts: I love the simplicity of the Remoska and about to buy a second one (bigger).
What I'm saying is that there is no right answer as we're all individuals, but if you could borrow and try and of these gadgets you'd save yourself an expensive purchase if you hated it !
Good luck.

hesmy

Sorry if it seems dense,but I bought an "Ainsley Harriott" slow cooker brand new at a car boot sale for a quid and it had no instructions.Do you get the stuff you put in hot first on the stove and then put it in or just put it in the sc and turn on?

morganlefay

hesmy, there's a better thread than this with detailed recipes etc for a sc. Bet you'd find a sc cookbook in a charity shop near you, tho somewhere on here you will be able to find out all you need to know. The simple answer is that you can do both - but it slightly depends on how many heat levels your cooker has etc etc. And indeed you might even be able to download instructions for your exact cooker from the internet. Good luck !

(Well I didn't mean 'better' but rather that it's a thread just devoted to sc use.)

Horace

mardatha wrote: »

MLF, I sit the remoska on the hob and lay the lid beside it.

I do the same - I wouldn't be without my remoska but I do need to get another shallow pan as I dropped the other one and it is dented so much the lid no longer fits:rolleyes: I have the standard one but then I am only cooking for me but I always cook more than I need anyway as I use my freezer a lot. I used to have a slowcooker but i got rid of it. My mum gave me a huge george foreman grill because it was too big for her and dad:rolleyes: and I live on my own so its a little big for me too and I havent used it yet:rolleyes:

csarina

Can I enter this debate please???? I have as many of you know had a remoska for 10 years since they first came out. I cook just the same in it as I do in the oven, 2 pork chops and roast spuds take just an hour, the same as in an oven but uses less electricity. Anything you cook in the oven can be done in the remoska. OK if you make toad in the hole you do need to line the edge of the pan with foil to prevent the yorkie burning, but it only takes a couple of secs to slip the foil ring in.

Last year when OH was ill and put on a special diet I bought a slow cooker to make stock, I used it once, it is now sitting langushing in the back of the cupboard. I have a small prestige stainless steel pressure cooker which makes stock in 20 minutes.......and it tastes better than the stock from the slow cooker. Stews also cook in 20 minutes. A 1.5kg gammon joint 15 minutes in the pressure cooker, strip off the skin and rub a mixture of brown sugar and mustard into the scored fat then approx 20 minutes in the remoska.....delicious.

A pressure cooker was a god send when I was working with 4 children and a husband waiting for supper........ ready within at the most 3/4 of an hour after I walked in the door.

For me its the remoska every time, backed up with the pressure cooker for stews, you can even make jam in it.......

morganlefay

Csarina I completely agree with you....I use my pressure cooker now for stock and a few other things, but hardly ever use the sc. It just shows what individual (and thus very interesting) people we all are. Hee hee. :beer:

(and the Remoska daily, of course !!!!)

MRSMCAWBER

Morning all

I'm another one who loves my remoskas :TMine is on every day at least once -often much more and when really busy -both go on
I have found that it cooks the best pies, cakes, jackets, roasties... in fact I can't think of anything that I don't like in it.
My gas cooker only goes on when I make hubby hm baguettes or hm pizza -everything else goes in the remoska,
I do use my slow cooker a lot in the winter as its a big thing so I can make bigger batches of chilli, goulash soups etc for the freezer -but the rest of the time its pretty much the remoska and the electric steamer...

Sublime_2

Hello, I am somebody who uses my slow cooker loads. It cooks all sorts of things from lasagne, chilli, pasta sauce, soups, and stews to salmon and whole chickens, and is one of the best purchases I have made. I like the fact that you can put it on in the morning, and forget about it till suppertime.

However, I am looking at an alternative to an electric oven, as I prefer some things cooked that way. I like the look (and price) of the JML oven, as posted by Geordie Joe, so thanks for that.