Slow cooker beginner - question/s

Pollycat

newlywed said:

ariarnia said:

B0bbyEwing said:

Katiehound said:

I also suggested very early in this thread to use the juice/ gravy from the SC but Bobby thought I had lost the plot! 

If you're referring to where you said "cook the microwave rice in the juice rather than boiling the water" then yes.

Reason being - 

I never said I cook microwave rice in boiling water. 

I cook microwave rice .... in a microwave. (or to be particular, I heat it as it's probably already cooked).

And if we're talking flavour then I see no real difference between doing that  and then pouring on the juice vs sticking the microwave rice in the juice first.

katie is saying you were both confused because she didn't realise you were talking about the packets of microwave rice.

when you said you microwaved the rice first time on the thread i think we all thought you meant either raw rice or those packets of dry rice with flavours in them. both of those types of dry rice can be cooked the same way with water in a bowl in the microwave and if you replace that water with stock or gravy then the rice absorbs it when cooking to add flavour in the rice rather than on the rice. make sense?

Erm… not quite all…. 

I work full time and have often used microwave packs of rice. They are portioned out for you, quick and easy and relatively cheap if you arent buying a brand name.

these days I buy 2 min microwave cauliflower rice - coz it’s too messy to grate cauli and I don’t have a food processor only a stick blender thingy.


I think everyone gets used to cooking in a specific way. I was taught how to cook raw rice on the hob. Never even entered my head to cook it in the microwave unless it’s the 2 min packet rice. No idea why! Never even thought to Google for that option. So this thread has taught me something… and I’ve been cooking the dinners for more than 15 years!

Sometimes it’s good to ask questions, because we all get stuck in a rut of doing things how we always have done and often don’t think that there is another way.

And @B0bbyEwing. Arborio is a type of white rice used for risotto. 

When I bought my first microwave I trotted off to the library to learn what it could do.
No Google 35+ years ago.
I did the same when I had my first slow cooker 50 years ago.
I experimented - some things worked, some didn't.
No t'interweb community to ask then.
I've been cooking for 50+ years and am always open to new methods and equipment that may save me time & money and improve taste.

B0bbyEwing

Pollycat said:

B0bbyEwing said:

Pollycat said:

If it was said in jest, his wife would then show him/give him advice instead of him needing to ask on here.

ORRRRRRRRRRR................

as an alternative way of looking at the situation, I may be off work & looking for input from a range of people because everyone brings a different outlook and she may be fully in the know about that and interested also.

Just a possibility.

You seem quite aggressive to people who are trying to help you.

 Good luck with finding the information on cooking that you are looking for.

Here's my last bit of advice:
Google the different types of rice and try to understand what they are used for.

One could argue that you were quite rude with your overreaction. 

I would argue that I am not aggressive at all. I have said thank you numerous times here. That is aggressive?

FYI - just because two people don't agree doesn't make one of them aggressive. It's a difference of opinion.

Your post that I quoted there was total wrong end of stick. I was merely showing you the right end.

B0bbyEwing

Katiehound said:

Writing in capital letters equates with shouting. Don't bother.

Just a FYI, I don't buy in to all that. 
Words on a screen cause so much confusion but it's what we're dealing with on an internet forum. I've never done this whole capitals is shouting thing. Others might & many might but I don't.

B0bbyEwing

ariarnia said:

katie is saying you were both confused because she didn't realise you were talking about the packets of microwave rice.

when you said you microwaved the rice first time on the thread i think we all thought you meant either raw rice or those packets of dry rice with flavours in them. both of those types of dry rice can be cooked the same way with water in a bowl in the microwave and if you replace that water with stock or gravy then the rice absorbs it when cooking to add flavour in the rice rather than on the rice. make sense?

Yep, sure does when someone explains it.

I'll apologise my end for any confusion.

Microwave rice to me is rice in a bag that's labelled as microwave rice. If it's normal rice that's microwaved then that's just rice that's been microwaved (to me at least).

Though granted, shouldn't assume others have the same outlook. 

B0bbyEwing

newlywed said:

Erm… not quite all…. 

I work full time and have often used microwave packs of rice. They are portioned out for you, quick and easy and relatively cheap if you arent buying a brand name.

these days I buy 2 min microwave cauliflower rice - coz it’s too messy to grate cauli and I don’t have a food processor only a stick blender thingy.


I think everyone gets used to cooking in a specific way. I was taught how to cook raw rice on the hob. Never even entered my head to cook it in the microwave unless it’s the 2 min packet rice. No idea why! Never even thought to Google for that option. So this thread has taught me something… and I’ve been cooking the dinners for more than 15 years!

Sometimes it’s good to ask questions, because we all get stuck in a rut of doing things how we always have done and often don’t think that there is another way.

And @B0bbyEwing. Arborio is a type of white rice used for risotto. 

In order of boldness:

1) Yep that's one of the reasons we have been using microwave rice. The portion is spot on. Granted you could do the same with uncooked rice once you know how much you need in uncooked to convert to cooked. Convenience grabs all of us one way or another at times though. 
I was looking at the price per 100g this week at the supermarket after starting this thread & the 35p bags per 100g for white rice vs the 1kg white rice - the pricing on the label was like no difference. You're gaining nothing by buying the uncooked rice. It wasn't significantly cheaper (unless you buy that Hubbards 45p for 1kg rice - but then I'm back to "is rice-just-rice" question & wondering whether it'll end up like bullets like the boil-in-a-bag rice).
Again, this depends on the price they have the bag at at the time because it's frequently changing.

2) Yep, exactly. That's one of the reasons I'm here. We tend to have samey-samey meals with samey-samey approached. Curious what others do, see if there's anything we could include in our meals/approach. Not necessarily from a money saving POV (that wasn't a shout btw ) but just from a being open-minded POV.

3) Yeah I think that's where a lot of the confusion came from between Katie & I. I never even knew people cooked uncooked rice in the microwave. Never heard of it before as I've only ever known people do it on the hob. That's what my mother always did anyway. Just assumed that's how it was done.

4) Err, yeah I actually responded to this in #2 so not sure why I bolded this  lol.

bupster

Bobby, I think you're making the same mistake here again. Microwave rice like you've been buying at 35p for 100g is pre-cooked. You would need about 35g of dry rice to get the same 100g. The cheapest dry white rice as you have noted is 45p per kilo, but quick cook white rice (which takes ten minutes in a saucepan) is £1.35 per kilo (or 13.5p per 100g dry). It is therefore 13.5p/3 per 100g cooked portion - 4.5p. 

You may be perfectly happy paying eight times the price for the sake of saving seven minutes, but this is a money-saving board, and we'd be remiss if we didn't point out that this is a bit idiotic from that perspective, especially when, as you say, you eat so much white rice. 

PS also, if you don't want it to taste like bullets, cook it yourself. From scratch. The boil in the bag stuff is just as mental as the microwave pouches. 

maman

I don't want to labour the rice question @BobbyEwing (because after all you came on here to ask about slow cookers) but when you cook 'raw' rice, it absorbs the water and increases in volume. So, even if both cost the same per kg you get loads more after cooking rice yourself than reheating ready cooked. As an example, I get 4 x 250g home made microwave pouches from cooking a 340g mug of rice.

My DH and I have our own chosen tasks around the home too. He finds cleaning therapeutic and has dined out on the (true☹️) story of me calling him at work to ask how to turn on the vacuum cleaner. 🤣

B0bbyEwing

bupster said:

Bobby, I think you're making the same mistake here again. Microwave rice like you've been buying at 35p for 100g is pre-cooked. You would need about 35g of dry rice to get the same 100g. The cheapest dry white rice as you have noted is 45p per kilo, but quick cook white rice (which takes ten minutes in a saucepan) is £1.35 per kilo (or 13.5p per 100g dry). It is therefore 13.5p/3 per 100g cooked portion - 4.5p. 

You may be perfectly happy paying eight times the price for the sake of saving seven minutes, but this is a money-saving board, and we'd be remiss if we didn't point out that this is a bit idiotic from that perspective, especially when, as you say, you eat so much white rice. 

PS also, if you don't want it to taste like bullets, cook it yourself. From scratch. The boil in the bag stuff is just as mental as the microwave pouches. 

You know what, you're absolutely spot on.
Well that's a little embarrassing. lol.

And wasn't aware that was the situation regards BITB.

maman said:

I don't want to labour the rice question @BobbyEwing (because after all you came on here to ask about slow cookers) 

Haha, I hadn't actually realised that. Came in talking about slow cookers & we've been on rice-chat for a while now. lol

maman said:

My DH and I have our own chosen tasks around the home too. He finds cleaning therapeutic and has dined out on the (true☹️) story of me calling him at work to ask how to turn on the vacuum cleaner. 🤣

I get looked at funny when I say I do the cleaning. At the start of being off work & asked how an injury was impacting on me I said how I couldn't do the hoovering & general cleaning any more. 
You get that look from them. You can even see their faces through their tones of voice over the phone. It's that "oh yeah, a bloke, cleaning, hoovering, pull the other one".
Oh well.

maman

It's strange isn't it @BObbyEwing, so many stereotypes! We've had much the same. DH loves the fact that I manage our household finances although we have separate bank accounts. When people look askance he just tells them to deal with his equerry! 🤣

The odd thing is that back in my grandparents' day it wasn't unusual for a man to hand over his wages every week for the wife to deal with the finances. 🤔

Anyway, back to the cooking questions.... 

B0bbyEwing

I suppose we're all guilty of stereotyping to be fair. Finances is my area. My wife just lets me get on with it. I try to involve her as much as possible though as it's only right. She just doesn't have the interest (no pun) I do.
Cleaning, financing, which products come in to the house (e.g. she'll say we could do with a [gadget] and I'll generally sort it) are my areas. Cooking & general meal prepping inc. work meals is the wife's area. As well as most DIY things outside of painting (that one's me) as I just break everything. lol. 

Yeah my dad was from the 40s & I can remember something like that. 
I also remember as a youngster, I'd have been younger than 7 I know that much, probably in the 4-5 area, going to his ex wife's house with him & him handing over cash. Didn't know what it was as a youngster but he was making payment for the kids he had with her as they weren't 18. All done in cash. Probably couldn't do that these days.


Anyway back on to slow cookers & the talk of timers.....

I'm guessing you guys are referring to something without digital input: https://www.currys.co.uk/products/crockpot-csc078-slow-cooker-black-10226115.html something along those lines.

Without looking at the model number to see if this is EXACTLY the one we have, it certainly looks like it - this one would be ours: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Morphy-Richards-Digital-460015-Slowcooker/dp/B07B9DJZZV/ref=asc_df_B07B9DJZZV/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=205295139813&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3893986175200485406&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006854&hvtargid=pla-473174588052&psc=1&th=1&psc=1