Buying a slow cooker (which? & why?)

windym_2

They are as cheap as chips - a light bulb is about right. If you chuck everything in before you go to work, you can either turn it on then or use a cheap timer to turn it on for you (the plug in sort). When you come home knackered and ready for food, it is all prepared.

I NEVER fry the meat off, I just chuck it all in. I have done everything from casseroles, curry (yes curry) to lasagne. Just make up in the usual way and set the slow cooker to lowest setting. Delicious.

ALWAYS buy the biggest and best one you can afford. You can always make double and freeze the half left over for another day.

HTH. I love 'em. :T

Dumyat

I'm just gutted...I have the second slow cooker you showed us...but I paid full price!
Have to say I love it though...and its so easy and everything always comes out beautifully cooked.

GreenFingers_2

Perhaps the following may give you an idea of Slow Cooking and other appliance costs. This information is very much in layman’s terms from an old gardener so perhaps a more qualified person may correct any glaring errors.

I initially worked out the running costs of my appliances by first figuring out how much electricity really does cost. I did this from the information on the electricity bill. There are a number of variables to consider – such as the type of contract you are on, any discounts for example - Direct Debiting, any charges for this, charges for that, and of course the 5% VAT element. Also, I have two rates of charges on my bills, so many Units at one price followed by so many Units at another rate – phew! :eek: Anyway, considering the aforementioned, my Unit Cost (1 KWh) of electricity works out at 8.44 pence. Note: This cost is from my last bill and does not reflect the recent price rises.

The second task that needs to be done is to find the power rating of the appliance in question. This can be found either in the manual or it will be stamped or labelled on the bottom of the appliance. For example, my Slow Cooker is rated at 180 Watts (this is the maximum power it can use and I guess it is for the High setting – the Low and Auto settings will use less power for the same amount of time it is on – hope that makes sense – lol

Along with the fact that energy prices are skyrocketing the examples below were calculated on the old electricity bill I received in the summer.

SLOW COOKER
This is rated at 180 Watts, so the cost per hour of cooking is: -

= (180 Watts / 1000) x 8.44 Pence
= 1.52 pence per hour

So a six-hour cooking time on High will cost (1.52 x 6) = 9.12 pence

Some other examples of running costs that may be of interest …..

Light Bulb 100 Watts = 0.84 pence per hour
Light Bulb 60 Watts = 0.51 pence per hour
Bread Maker 550 Watts = 4.64 pence per hour (in practice it is less than this due to the various bread cooking stages)
Television 80 Watts = 0.68 pence per hour
Fridge 30 Watts = 0.25 pence per hour (or 6 pence per day)
Freezer 28 Watts = 0.24 pence per hour (or 5.76 pence per day)
Electric Kettle 1200 Watts = 0.28 pence per minute….. yes, per minute :eek:

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MattOsprey

If anyone is interested. I have just found this web site. It is brill. You can go in to a recipe and alter the amount of people or whether you want US or metric. Hundreds of Slow cooker recipes.
I haven't been this excited about cooking ever. My wife is chuffed.
http://www.recipezaar.com/r/q=slow+cooker
Matt

holy-foley

thankyou just what i came on looking for!!!!!!!

Newbird

Slow cookers are so great. I've had mine for nealry 25yrs! would not been without it, and have got one for my parents, my sons, converted my sis.

Boot sales area good place to find them cheaply. I've also got spare ceramic pots to fit mine, in case one gets broken.

Newbird

Matt - great site, good find.

bonvonnie

i've been thinking of getting a slow cooker for a while, but hubby keeps saying that i'll never use it. well i wont know unless i get one!!!

but i'm confused as to how the cooker actually works, and cooks stuff. does it keep it at a constant temperature? will one with high and low setting do? or will i need auto? whats the difference on auto.

what do you cook in yours??

i'm thinking i'll probably use it for casseroles, and soups, our chinese soups takes 3 hours on the hob, so will be cheaper in a slow cooker.

is it really safe to leave the house, with the slow cooker on?? i;m so worried that it'll over heat or something.

Capyboppy

We had a cookworks slow cooker from Argos which worked great. I then found out that my brother in law had a Swan family sized one that was to big for him and he was quite happy to swap for my smaller one. Despite Swan being an old good make, I have found it isn't as good as my old one. Even on the low setting it seems to cook much faster than the old one, and with a lot of items, such as a chicken, I can no longer put it on overnight unless I set it with my plugin timer, as 8-12 hours either makes it overdone, or anything in a sauce even with extra water just thickens and catches on the bottom. Does anyone know why this should be?

Ticklemouse

capy - the modern/bigger ones are higher wattage. My MR one is about twice the power of my old Tower cooker which is both smaller and 20 years older. Haven't got the exact figures to hand but I did notice this at first and now adjust my cooking accordingly.