In my slow cooker today...

triggerhappy_2

Hello! I got a slow cooker for Christmas and tomorrow is to be its inaugural use!

I've chopped up 4 large potatoes and a whole turnip and I have 340g of chopped beef. I'll pick up some onions, carrots and garlic when I pop out later, but I have one question which I can't seem to find a definitive answer to - how much stock should I put in? It's a 4.2l capacity one, anyone know?

Also, how expensive are these to run on low for about 9 hours? Would I be better putting it on overnight when I have a lower rate of leccy?

Thanks in advance, I'll let you know how it goes!

aplaceinthesun

A nice veg soup is cooking in mine at the moment. Just chopped up and popped in a bit of most things I had - swede, carrot, leek, parsnips, courgette,butternut squash, tin of tomatoes, handful of lentils and some veg stock and chicken stock. It smells yummy !

sparrer

I had a turkey drumstick with lots of veg, curry paste, coconut milk and enough water to cover. As there's just me it's made enough for 3/4 meat meals and some of bowls of lovely, warming soup It really was delish. It's only the second time I've used it and can't wait to try out the next recipe

gilly1964

Pot roast beef in ours, to be served later with roast potatoes, mashed swede and carrot, sprouts and cheesy leeks

At the same time as the roasties and leeks will make some Twinks and flapjacks to make the most of using the oven :j

Mands

triggerhappy wrote: »

Also, how expensive are these to run on low for about 9 hours? Would I be better putting it on overnight when I have a lower rate of leccy?

Hi Trigger,

If you have cheaper overnight electricity then, yes, it'll be less cost to run it overnight. But you'd have the inconvenience of the beef not being ready at dinner time so presumably you'd have to put it back on for a while then?

I was talking to the OH about this yesterday as we got our first slow cooker this Christmas also.

Here are my calculations, as best I can figure out:

• My slowee is a 3.5lt Morphy Richards and draws up to 170W on high and 150W on low.
• A KW, 1000W, costs me about 15¢ per hour.
• If slowee is on high then, each hour, the cost is (170/1000)*10¢.
• Therefore the cost per hour, on high, is about 2.5¢

Yesterday I cooked a pork joint in slowee. It was on a mix of high and medium for 8 hours total (might have been a little too long) so the cost of running slowee was about 20¢. Much, much cheaper than running the oven.

The pork, by the way, was the tenderest that I've ever had! Lovely, lovely flavour.

If you want to calculate your own costs then take a look at the handbook for your slow cooker and find the maximum power consumption. Pull out your last electricity bill and find the cost of a kilowatt hour (KWH) both during the day and overnight. Then substitute your figures in the calculation above.

Happy cooking!
Mands

nikinackyloo

bolognaise in mine today

Melonade

Chicken cassarole for me today I don't like cooking in cold weather because my kitchen is quite FREEZING even with the oven on :eek: so I'm already looking forward to tonights tea yumyum!!

triggerhappy_2

Mands wrote: »

Hi Trigger,

If you have cheaper overnight electricity then, yes, it'll be less cost to run it overnight. But you'd have the inconvenience of the beef not being ready at dinner time so presumably you'd have to put it back on for a while then?

I was talking to the OH about this yesterday as we got our first slow cooker this Christmas also.

Here are my calculations, as best I can figure out:

• My slowee is a 3.5lt Morphy Richards and draws up to 170W on high and 150W on low.
• A KW, 1000W, costs me about 15¢ per hour.
• If slowee is on high then, each hour, the cost is (170/1000)*10¢.
• Therefore the cost per hour, on high, is about 2.5¢

Yesterday I cooked a pork joint in slowee. It was on a mix of high and medium for 8 hours total (might have been a little too long) so the cost of running slowee was about 20¢. Much, much cheaper than running the oven.

The pork, by the way, was the tenderest that I've ever had! Lovely, lovely flavour.

If you want to calculate your own costs then take a look at the handbook for your slow cooker and find the maximum power consumption. Pull out your last electricity bill and find the cost of a kilowatt hour (KWH) both during the day and overnight. Then substitute your figures in the calculation above.

Happy cooking!
Mands

Thank you very much Mands! I'll have a wee look at my figures later, but it sounds not too bad. You're right about having to heat it up - seems to defeat the purpose a bit!

I put it on this morning... very excited to sample the results!

Mrs_Thrify

Rice pudding today

Mermaid

triggerhappy wrote: »

I've chopped up 4 large potatoes and a whole turnip and I have 340g of chopped beef. I'll pick up some onions, carrots and garlic when I pop out later, but I have one question which I can't seem to find a definitive answer to - how much stock should I put in? It's a 4.2l capacity one, anyone know?

I put in just enought stock to cover the rest of the contents to keep them moist. I've got a 6l Rival slowcooker, and this works fine for me.

I also tend to turn mine on high before filling it up (while I'm chopping up the veg etc.) to give it a helping hand, and I use boiling water/stock if possible, though this probably isn't essential if you can leave it on all day.

You can thicken the stock with gravy granules or cornflour/water mix in the last hour if need be. I've also found that an hour on high is fine for dumplings, I put them on just before doing the school run, and they are all ready when I get back.

HTH

Mermaid