It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

nannygladys

Euromorris - your box looks brilliant.

I've given up with my slow cooker and put it away, I much prefer my food cooked on the stove if it's a stew, chilli etc but I only cook for me. 

In the 70's at one point, one of the shortages was potatoes, and I can remember trying pasta and serving it with gravy as potatoes were so expensive we used to have a fish and chip van come to the village once a week and it stopped coming for a good while as nobody could afford the chips!!! 
Nannyg

maisie_cat

Slinky said:

Somebody mentioned slow cookers and how much electricity they use, I found this article:  https://chefspick.co.uk/how-much-electricity-does-a-slow-cooker-use/

That's bizarre
I've been using a plug in meter the last 2 days and measured every use of the slow cook & pressure cook functions as well as the bread maker.
The SC used .44 kw on a 6 hour programme.
The PC used .08kw on 0 minute noodles, getting to pressure cooks them.
The PC used .26 kw on a 30 minute high pressure dried beans programme, 500g batch.
The breadmaker used .54 kw on a 3 1/2 hr 1kg bread programme. The rise is at 35 deg 10 mins and the bake at 135deg 40 minutes of the longer programme.
My all in rate is 23.6p/kwh so the cost is 10-12p per recipe. 

maisie_cat

Slinky said:

Somebody mentioned slow cookers and how much electricity they use, I found this article:  https://chefspick.co.uk/how-much-electricity-does-a-slow-cooker-use/

I've just read beyond the anxiety inducing "11 to 28p per hour to run". The source material suggests numbers similar to mine with less than 500 Watts total for 6 hours on low. 
The wattage on any appliance is not what it will use every hour unless it's running full pelt. 
BTW, I'm not awake at stupid o'clock worrying about bills, just fed the cat who is not impressed with reduced heat.

euronorris

I've just checked my slow cooker and it is a 200w appliance. I suspect that that is when it is on high power, but I suspect the energy use drops a little once the required heat has been attained, as it is more maintenance then. I would hazard a guess that the low setting is half that to get up to temp, and then drops a bit as it enters maintenance of temp.

The TGTG bag was great. The mango and the peaches aren't even ripe enough to eat yet (much to DDs frustration). The apples are pink lady! A brand I would never usually buy due to price. DD often eats an apple each day, so I'm not paying nearly £2 for 4 apples! Lol. Going to get a batch of carrot soup on soon 👍

Rosa_Damascena

euronorris said:

I've just checked my slow cooker and it is a 200w appliance. I suspect that that is when it is on high power, but I suspect the energy use drops a little once the required heat has been attained, as it is more maintenance then. I would hazard a guess that the low setting is half that to get up to temp, and then drops a bit as it enters maintenance of temp.

The TGTG bag was great. The mango and the peaches aren't even ripe enough to eat yet (much to DDs frustration). The apples are pink lady! A brand I would never usually buy due to price. DD often eats an apple each day, so I'm not paying nearly £2 for 4 apples! Lol. Going to get a batch of carrot soup on soon 👍

Add a more than a dash of chilli, that will warm you up all right! 

LadOnTheHill

The rating on an appliance is the maximum amount it can draw, which might be different to the amount it will draw.

A 2000w kettle uses 2000w/hr, usually seen as 2kwh. It will draw 2000w of current while it's turned on, but it will have to be on for an hour to draw 2kwh. If it's on for ten six minutes, it'll add 200w to your electricity bill.

Something more complex,
like a washing machine, might have a high rating because of the heating element, but that won't be running all of the time.

Nathalia

@LadOnTheHill do you mean six minutes for 200 W?  (a tenth of an hour for a tenth of the power) or am I missing something?

Cheers!

joedenise

euronorris said:

I've just checked my slow cooker and it is a 200w appliance. I suspect that that is when it is on high power, but I suspect the energy use drops a little once the required heat has been attained, as it is more maintenance then. I would hazard a guess that the low setting is half that to get up to temp, and then drops a bit as it enters maintenance of temp.

The TGTG bag was great. The mango and the peaches aren't even ripe enough to eat yet (much to DDs frustration). The apples are pink lady! A brand I would never usually buy due to price. DD often eats an apple each day, so I'm not paying nearly £2 for 4 apples! Lol. Going to get a batch of carrot soup on soon 👍

I like to add some red lentils when I make carrot soup; 1) to make it go further and 2) to thicken it up!

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

I saw this article this morning which seems to say that if you soak your beans overnight in bicarb and salt they won't take so long to cook. Not sure if anyone has tried this but might be worth a go.

euronorris

Already made the soup. Eating now. Its delicious. No chilli added, as DD then wouldn't eat it as it would be 'too spicy mummy!' Lol. Luckily, she is very keen on soup!

Made a huge batch of the soup and it still only used half of the carrots haha.