One Electric Hob vs Slow cooker. Numbers?

pfpf

we have a Zanussi free standing cooker.
we don't use either oven or the grill, we use an airfryer.

that just leaves the hobs, which brings me on to the point.

our slow cooker is 200w, so 1kw for 5 hours use (on high setting)? please correct me if i am wrong as i may be being too simplistic with the calculations.

i'll keep it simple regarding hob ring use.
my manual says the ring (the main one we use) is 1700w. it has 6 settings and i use 3 (simmer) and 2 (gentle simmer). i am assuming 1700w refers to setting 6.

at the back of the manual it has an energy efficiency table and for the ring in question it says "ring diameter 18cm, energy consumption 177.3Wh/kg".

i really don't know what to say now other than which is cheaper per hour of use?

i've heard all the benefits of slow cookers and used it yesterday but i can make the same meal quicker on the hob, say 2 hours.

lets go

thank you.

rangout

With slow cookers, you should be batch cooking. Freeze the rest and it just needs a quick reheat later on

You could even do a joint in one and get several meals from it

QrizB

Ok, so you've got a meal (some sort of casserole?) that takes five hours in the slow cooker or two hours on the ring. You haven't said whether your hob is electric or gas so I'll look at both. Sorry, I see you did say in the subject of the post that it's electric.

• Slow cooker: 5h @ 200W = 1kWh. Currently 28p, will be 52p from October.
• Electric hob: 2h @ 1700W = 3.4kWh. Currently 95p, will be £1.77 from October.
• Gas hob: 2h @ 1700W = 3.4kWh. Currently 25.5p, will be 51p from October.

But that assumes you''re running your hob flat out. You say that, in practice, you're only using it on about-half power, so you can halve those prices. It still sounds like the slow cooker wil be cheaper than an electric hob, but a gas hob will be cheaper than either electric option.

If you can make the dish in 2h on the hob, does it really need 5h in the slow cooker? Could you eg. start it on the hob for 10 mins (to get all the ingredients up to temperature) then transfer them to the slow cooker for 2h?

Ally_E.

With the hob use need to incorporate extractor use too. Whenever I cook something like a joint on the stove for 2h there's condensation running down windows and walls unless I have extractor hood on. Sometimes I also need to open a window, which let's the precious heat out during the winter. 

Ectophile

But nobody's going to cook something on the hob for 2 hours with the ring on full power.  All that will be left is a burnt mess on the bottom of the pan.  More likely, full power to bring it to the boil, then low simmer for the rest of the time.

matelodave

It's really a how long is a piece of string question. a slow cooker, electric hob or gas ring all have a maximum rating and in most cases will use their maximum consumption to get up to temperature, but then the thermostat takes over and regulates the temp by turning the heating element on or off (or you turn down your hob or gas ring), so you cant just do a simple calculation based on full.

Similarly it will also depend on the type and quantity of food, the type of hob, type of pot and heat loss to the surrounding area. Gas is probably worse in losing heat to the atmosphere, then possibly electric but a slow cooker usually has a casing around the pot to slow down the radiation of heat from the pot.

An alternative could be a haybox, or similar in which you precook the food to a high temp and then put it into an insulated box to maintain the temp to finish it off, which is effectively what a slow cooker does.

In the end it probably take around the same amount of energy to cook the same amount and type of food, in much the same way as it takes a fixed amount of energy to raise one litre of water 1 degree centigrade but its the external losses that depend on how much energy that it actually uses.

There's only one way to find out - measure the consumption in kwh of each type of appliance using the same amount and type of food, anything else is a guess.

pfpf

thanks all. food for thought - pun intended. 

[Deleted User]

What kind of foods takes 2-5 hours to cook? I can only picture a dried-up brown and black sludge in my head 

I cook every evening after work for myself and 3 grown-up kids, typically all done in 20-30 mins including prep/chopping/clearing up.

I mostly use the gas hob, I can cook any food from around the world in a couple of pans in 10-20 mins. All with fresh ingredients, meat/fish + rice/noodles/pasta/potato etc + fresh veg / salad. Sometimes I use the electric fan oven but nothing takes over 20 mins + 10 mins preheat but I avoid it where possible.

Cooking on gas on a winter evening is essentially free because the central heating is on anyway so the heat from the gas hob heats the house and offsets the gas used for the central heating.

Sometimes cook more than I need to use for lunch at work but I don't waste money freezing it, just let it cool down, in the fridge and then reheat it at work rather than waste money freezing it and then reheating.

The only dinner that takes longer is Christmas day dinner, but that is only once a year, don't have "roast dinner" any other time of the year.

QrizB

Deleted_User said:

What kind of foods takes 2-5 hours to cook?

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/casserole-recipes

The first on the list - beef bourguignon - takes 3h10m, the fourth - beef & vegetable casserole - 3h50m. I didn't go any further down the list.

In many cases, long cooking times let you use cheaper cuts of meat, as chewy collagen is converted into soft gelatin.

[Deleted User]

QrizB said:

Deleted_User said:

What kind of foods takes 2-5 hours to cook?

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/casserole-recipes
The first on the list - beef bourguignon - takes 3h10m, the fourth - beef & vegetable casserole - 3h50m. I didn't go any further down the list.

Be serious, if money is so tight that figuring out whether 5 hours in a slow cooker at 28p (soon to be 50p) is the best option for beef bourguignon then why cook a dish that requires 2 bottles of wine in the ingredients, not to mention £15 of beef?

As for the likes of a 1930's beef and veg casserole, the only reason for cooking for so long is to tenderise tough cuts of beef, so yes if it saves a few quid buying £5/kg beef then it is worthwhile but it is not like there isn't plenty of tastier, fresher and healthier alternatives nowadays.

QrizB

Deleted_User said:

QrizB said:

Deleted_User said:

What kind of foods takes 2-5 hours to cook?

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/casserole-recipes
The first on the list - beef bourguignon - takes 3h10m, the fourth - beef & vegetable casserole - 3h50m. I didn't go any further down the list.

Be serious...

Your question was literally "What kind of foods takes 2-5 hours to cook?" and I gave examples.