Slow cooker beginner - question/s

maman

That's right @Pollycat. I batch cook in the slow cooker and freeze portions. Then defrost either naturally or in the microwave when needed. I do the batch cooking at the weekend when I'm at  home so that would get around @BobbyEwing's  problem of needing a timer. 

I checked @Katiehound and my largest mug holds 340g of rice which roughly makes just over a kg when cooked. 😊

YoungBlueEyes

I use my slow cooker to make batches too. I’ll make a lot of something (say a curry) which we’ll have for dinner that night. Then the next morning I’ll freeze the left overs into bags and freeze them. 

When we fancy curry again I lift a couple of bags and leave them to defrost in the fridge overnight and reheat in the microwave the next day. 

I like to think having a frozen thing in the fridge saves it from coming on so often (cos the frozen thing is doing the work for it) but I don’t know if that’s true. 

B0bbyEwing

maman said:

I did some rough calculations and I'm getting  about 16 x 250g portions of cooked brown rice from 1kg pack in Aldi.

Ok you've baffled me.

Now I can only get 4x 250g portions out of 1kg of anything. You're going to have to tell me how you got 16. 

I feel like I've been set one of them lateral thinking puzzles  

maman said:

As for reheating. It depends how much you plan ahead. If you take e.g.chilli out of the freezer the night before then it will defrost and reheat until bubbling on the hob. If not, then microwave to quickly defrost and if you want to be extra sure put it on the hob for a few minutes. HTH. 

I was talking more about the times where you've forgotten to get something out. Something has gone wrong, plan has gone out the window kind of thing & you're in a situation where it's takeaway or magic something up.

Pollycat said:

I'm pretty sure Maman isn't talking about cooking from frozen in the slow cooker.

That's good then. Neither was I

I was talking about batch cooking, freezing & then having it from frozen.

Katiehound said:

I cook  rice in the microwave too.

1 x mug full rice  + 2 x mugfuls boiling water- 10 mins on high

Out of curiosity, has anyone crunched the numbers on what that costs vs the hob?

Our electricity costs significantly more than the gas. 
Our microwave is a 900W one. 

Not sure if it's costing more in the microwave or the hob really.

Katiehound said:

basic white rice from most supermarkets is around 45 pence for 1 kg so we are talking  11 pence for 250g dry weight. I've no idea how this works out when cooked as I am doing it for my old dog so judge by scoops rather than weight.

We should look in to this then.

A large factor of us getting the 250g microwave packets is the speed. 90secs, 120secs & it's done. As your [whatever] is about ready to be served, bang the rice in & it's ready.

But since a lot of our teas are with rice, we should just prepare better tbh.

B0bbyEwing

Not that it's a big thing or i mportant or whatever but what kind of freezer do you guys have?

Would like to batch cook meals but our freezer space is limited. Fridge freezer has 3 small drawers. Once you equate for bags of things like frozen veg, chips, meat etc then you're pretty limited in space.

My mother has a whopping chest freezer. Huge thing. You could layer up 6 months worth of meals in that thing. 

newlywed

The rice confusion is 1 kg of dried rice in a packet becomes much more rice when it cooks and swells with water.


I cook extra rice, portion up and bung in the freezer. Then defrost overnight in the fridge and it zaps to hot in 2 mins.

Katiehound

maman said:

 

I checked @Katiehound and my largest mug holds 340g of rice which roughly makes just over a kg when cooked. 😊

This is how you get all those portions!- so using this maths- very roughly 1 kg dry weight becomes 3 kg when cooked

bupster

B0bbyEwing said:

maman said:

I did some rough calculations and I'm getting  about 16 x 250g portions of cooked brown rice from 1kg pack in Aldi.

Ok you've baffled me.

Now I can only get 4x 250g portions out of 1kg of anything. You're going to have to tell me how you got 16. 

I feel like I've been set one of them lateral thinking puzzles  

Bobby, have you never cooked rice from scratch? The microwave stuff in packets is a mad scam, it takes ten minutes to cook it properly in a pot. I do enough for four portions at a time - for me that's 200g dried though your mileage may vary - and it bulks up to twice or three times that. For me therefore a 1kg bag would make 20-30 portions of 100g cooked rice. Cheapo easy cook from Sainsbury's is £1.35 for a kilo. So you are paying a ridiculous amount of money for the convenience of ready-cooked stuff that comes in a plastic bag for the microwave. 

maman

That's what I do @bupster. I portion mine into 250g in small freezer bags. So effectively I'm making my own microwave pouches for a fraction of the price (about a fifth of the price of my preferred Aldi brown rice). 

B0bbyEwing

bupster said:

Bobby, have you never cooked rice from scratch? 

Honestly? No.

Closest to it is boil in the bag rice. 
Wife generally does the cooking. When I do it, if there's too much going on, like this needs to be ready in 5mins, that in 10mins, this in 15mins then I end up getting a flap on and it all goes pear shaped. 

So when I cook I tend to stick to good old stir fry in a wok lol
Or home made turkey burgers with various packed veg & herbs etc.

What's the difference between all the rice though really? You mentioned Sainsbury's so as an example:

£1.85 1kg basmati
£1.35 1kg long grain - I assume the one you're referring to
45p 1kg white rice

Now if I was to go on rice-is-rice then the 45p one wins.

But it depends what overused phrase you wish to use to suit your POV. You (not you, but anyone) may be a "you get what you pay for" kind of person, in which case then you search out the most expensive one - the £1.85 in this example.

We tried out the boil in the bag rice a few times but tbh didn't like it. There were too many bits of rice that were like bullets. 
Cooked for the said time. Tried cooking longer. Didn't seem to make a difference - mostly ok but then you'd get bullets here & there. 



maman, I feel like you're an ambassador for Aldi's brown rice lol. I can have brown rice but I need something with it. The flavour is just strange. Nando's mild sauce or any kind of gravy/juice from cooking. I can eat white rice on its own but I can't do that with brown.

Pollycat

Imho, rice is not just rice.
I prefer not to buy fast/easy cook rice because it's already been part cooked - hence the 'fast'.
I prefer brown rice because it tastes better - imho.
I like basmati rice but don't think it works in a risotto.
What advice has your wife given you about cooking in general?