Energy Saving Cooking Ideas?

anncleveland

I recently invested in a Mr D Thermal Cooker. ie a modern take on the retained heat haybox cooking. I did a good deal of googling and YouTubing to find out if they were useful and decided to go ahead. I have had it for two weeks now and it has been amazing. A 10 minute simmer of chicken casserole or mince and onion, sausage casserole and a gammon joint which fell apart and was delicious, etc. and the meal is perfectly cooked two/ three hours later having put the pan from the stove top into the vacuum outside holder, and NO further use of electricity or gas !!!! 

It came with a smaller pot into which I put vegetables as well, but one could easily put rice or pasta in that, or even a pudding as there is no cross over of taste. I have no idea why the veggies are never over cooked and retain shape and form beautifully, although there is a somewhat scientific explanation ! I am thrilled with it.
I remember my mum, long gone bless her, telling me how successful the haybox cooking was in the war, so I decided to give it a go. The cooker is not cheap but I am hoping to reap the savings back with the huge utility price hikes. 

There are a number of sites which show how to use it and with recipes, but one of the best bits of info I read was that, as long as you can boil/simmer your food with enough liquid, any slow cooker recipe works, just minus the use of fuel.

I do hope this is of use to someone ! 

PS I do use an air fryer and an Instant Pot……which are great, but the Thermal Cooker beats them hands down on fuel use, so I have halved ( or more) my usage of them.

Longwalker

In my air fryer ( ninja af400 ) I have cooked roast chicken twice - tomorrow will be third time along with roast veggies and potatoes and stuffing etc

Steak, mushrooms, jacket spuds, tomatoes

2 lemon Drizzle cakes, a dozen cup cakes

Pork chops

Pork Stirfry

Fish and chips

Chicken tikka masala , onion bhajees and samosa's 

A Chinese ready meal

Sausages, burgers, chicken drumsticks, chicken Kievs, naan bread, garlic bread, part baked rolls, bacon, Yorkshire pudding  - the list goes on

Anything and everything that I would have used the grill or oven for has been cooked in the air fryer

Floss

I have a Tower 5-in-1 airfryer with removable wire racks, I've not baked yet but as Longwalker says, anything that goes in the oven or under the grill goes in there.

maisie_cat

Any alternatives really depend on what you eat, I have an instant pot duo with airfryer, bought last black Friday for £100. I use it every day and use the oven once a week now. We mostly cook one pot meals so I'll make a chilli/curry/pasta sauce etc and then swap the pots for 1 minute pasta/quinoa or 3 minute rice. It does what an oven can do for potato wedges, roasted veg, roast chicken or a cake etc but is smaller. I kept it plugged in via a meter for weeks to see what it consumed and it was an average of  0.4kWh for dinner so around 15p

SusieT

If I can jump onto this thread to save opening a new one, may I have advice please from those who have the multiple option cookers.  I have a microwave and slow cooker and have been given a used Philips air fryer as it was/is a complete pain to clean behind the element where the fat had splashed up! Like everyone else I am looking to reduce the use of the oven and hob as they are energy eaters, and I need to keep the kw usage as low as possible. I frequently cook for 2 and the main things I do now in the oven are yourkshire puds or toad in the hole, pastry on top of pies, and very occasionally cakes. I cannot see how to do anything in the air fryer that requires a flat bottom, as the basket with the handle seems too small (semi rounded and only 7"  18cm across), so not going to fit a tin in for 2 and even without it the base is not flat as it has raised swirls in it.
Since the December eating festival is creeping up, my family want to get together to either buy me one or give me Am@zon vouchers to get one myself. 
So finally, what would you reccomend that can take a small loaf tin size container, cook yorkshires, pastry on pies and sausage rolls, bread and butter pudding, possibly pressure cook and steam puddings if I get brave and do suet puddings in winter. Price closer to £100 if possible, and easy to use, clean and get potsand stuff for. There are so many different ones its a minefield!

luvchocolate

I've just ordered a combination microwave/oven/grill. I live alone so hopefully this will stop using big oven. 
I use slow cooker a lot in winter 

Longwalker

SusieT said:

If I can jump onto this thread to save opening a new one, may I have advice please from those who have the multiple option cookers.  I have a microwave and slow cooker and have been given a used Philips air fryer as it was/is a complete pain to clean behind the element where the fat had splashed up! Like everyone else I am looking to reduce the use of the oven and hob as they are energy eaters, and I need to keep the kw usage as low as possible. I frequently cook for 2 and the main things I do now in the oven are yourkshire puds or toad in the hole, pastry on top of pies, and very occasionally cakes. I cannot see how to do anything in the air fryer that requires a flat bottom, as the basket with the handle seems too small (semi rounded and only 7"  18cm across), so not going to fit a tin in for 2 and even without it the base is not flat as it has raised swirls in it.
Since the December eating festival is creeping up, my family want to get together to either buy me one or give me Am@zon vouchers to get one myself. 
So finally, what would you reccomend that can take a small loaf tin size container, cook yorkshires, pastry on pies and sausage rolls, bread and butter pudding, possibly pressure cook and steam puddings if I get brave and do suet puddings in winter. Price closer to £100 if possible, and easy to use, clean and get potsand stuff for. There are so many different ones its a minefield!

It is a minefield - and all the fans and elements are a nightmare, you need to get in there after every use to keep it halfway clean. I have the Ninja dual and you can not get to the fan at all

I would suggest, if you have FB, search out the instant pot, multi pot, air fryer groups and start reading. If you dont have Facebook, make an account, the days were you have forums like this are near enough over - FB has groups on everything

I have the AF400 and I can put a 2lb loaf tin in it ( farmhouse style ) I fit 6 inch cake tins and theres plenty of dishes that do fit, some you probably already have. I have successfully made toad in the hole and yorkies ( you do need to flip them to finish them off in my air fryer )

I think, if I had my time again, I would have bought a 15 in one, one that can steam, pressure cook, air fry, roast, bake etc with just the one lid. But they arent cheap and I didnt think I would make use of the pressure cook function enough ( my mind has been changed on that )

I have had my AF400 for a month and have only put the top oven on once, maybe use one ring if I cant utilise the microwave , but 90% of meals are ALL cooked in the AF

Floss

SusieT I have the Tower 5-in-1 which has its own FB group. It has removable racks & is quite deep inside.

SusieT

@luvchocolate @Longwalker and @Floss Thank you all, It does sound like a minefield, and its good to know that they are all as bad as each other for cleaning! 
From your comments I have (finally) found some that have a bake function, so I think I would need to up the budget quite a lot to get one of those, and at the moment it will be hard!