Hot meals when you come home.

studentphil

You know how some people set up their slow cooker to have a hot meal ready when they come home on a night. I was just thinking if you could do something similar with your normal oven timer as in set your oven up so it has the meal ready done for when you come home.

I think you could probably chance it with stuff like veg stews and it would certainly be an outstanding idea for stuff like fresh jacket pots, however, I would not chance it leaving meat dishes left uncooked for hours before the oven came on.

As anyone ever tried this method?

Penny-Pincher!!

I havent, but then I use the SC to do the same kind of thing and at a cheaper price. I love my SC:D

PP
xx

Queenie

studentphil wrote: »

...
As anyone ever tried this method?

Yes, my oven has a slow cook setting and many ovens have timers for just this reason.

For jacket potatoes though, I often bake them on a Sunday when the roast is cooking and then they can be frozen or stored in the fridge for a couple of days and reheated in the microwave.

Using a slow cooker as opposed to using the main oven on a slow cook setting is more economical energy wise.

lil_me

I have never used my oven like this, no timer and have heard of disasters happen. I also bake the potatoes in advance, usually when cooking something else to fill the oven, one in the fridge for me today actually

studentphil

Penny-Pincher!! wrote: »

I havent, but then I use the SC to do the same kind of thing and at a cheaper price. I love my SC:D

PP
xx

Cheers, we have a slow cooker but is old and sits unused.

I would worry about leaving one on unattended as it might set on fire or something. Plus, there is the cost of getting a new one if we went down the SC route.

pipkin71

Queenie wrote: »

Yes, my oven has a slow cook setting and many ovens have timers for just this reason.

For jacket potatoes though, I often bake them on a Sunday when the roast is cooking and then they can be frozen or stored in the fridge for a couple of days and reheated in the microwave.

Using a slow cooker as opposed to using the main oven on a slow cook setting is more economical energy wise.

Hi Queenie.

I have tried cooking jackets in advance, but they never taste right when re-heated

Where am I going wrong?

Regards
Pipkin xxx

grannynise

studentphil ... dust off the SC and give it a try!

I bought one two week ago in Argos for £22 (or maybe £23) and it's FANTASTIC. You just throw everything in, pour on some hot stock and you come home to a lovely appetizing smell and a delicious dinner.:D

And it doesn't seem to matter if you leave it on way longer than the suggested timings .. well it hasn't so far.

Nicki

I did this years ago when we first got our new cooker and I noticed it had this option. Not being as aware of food safety I did do it for things like chicken casseroles and can't recall ever being ill as a result. It didn't work very well for us though as our work hours at the time were unpredictable and cooking in an oven even on low is less forgiving than a slow cooker (half an hour here or there doesn't make any difference but we were often several hours later than we had thought we would be) so we stopped doing it. Now have a SC but am also a SAHM so have best of both worlds!

lil_me

With baked potatoes I do them in the oven until they aren't far off cooked through, finishing off in microwave when I want them (usually freeze a few and defrost before microwaving)

Slow cooker is my godsend, couldn't be without it, saved me a fortune on takeaways which would normally go for when have had a hectic day. Now I plan day before, chop all veg etc I need to put in, with bolognese I put the sauce in the stock pot the night before, then add the meat in the morning. Coming home to a home cooked meal, aswell as the fab smell, yum!

Queenie

pipkin71 wrote: »

I have tried cooking jackets in advance, but they never taste right when re-heated

Where am I going wrong?

Do you mean if you've kept them in a fridge or if you've frozen them?
I never keep them in the fridge longer than two days because I've found they will taste yukky after that. But, are still good to go for up to two days.

If I know I'm freezing them:-

~ for plain, very much as lil_me; slightly undercook, freeze.

~ for filled (ie bacon or cheese) I'll mash the potato with the filling and refill the skins. Open freeze until firm, then package. Defrost and reheat.

HTH

Queenie

studentphil wrote: »

Cheers, we have a slow cooker but is old and sits unused.

I would worry about leaving one on unattended as it might set on fire or something. Plus, there is the cost of getting a new one if we went down the SC route.

You wouldn't have the expense of getting a new one necessarily.
If you clean up the old one and test it, you might find it's still perfectly ok. I know some OS'ers have got their slow cookers from boot fairs and even freecycle. They are so popular that even new, you should be able to pick on up without investing too much. And really, investing is the word!! You can get cheaper cuts of meat which are perfect for slow cooking.

As for leaving it unattended ... they are designed to be left unattended.
But the risk is like any item you leave on while you are out - PC's, electric clocks, dvd players, sky boxes.

If you were to use your oven instead of the slow cooker to have a hot meal awaiting you when you get home, the risks would there too