Would You Try One Of These Energy Saving Gadgets?

[pastafreak]

A non-electric slow cooker. I might...if it was cheaper. Reviews praise it. I'm intrigued to say the least.

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendationref=twister_B0BKSXZKKV?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

[ToraToraTora]

Just looks like it'd get incredibly wrank after a while.

[Vagus]

It's like the old hay boxes they used to use.

No, I wouldn't use one.

[barry1010]

Yes, I have had mine years. 

[Blubster]

It sounds like a new version of the old hay box - a box made from and filled, surprisingly, with hay.

Meals were part cooked in a saucepan or oven dish, and then placed in the box. The residual heat of the food, and the heavy insulation, continued the cooking cycle.

 

 

https://www.instructables.com/hay-box-cooker/

[barry1010]

This is mine, many folk who live on narrowboats use them.

https://mrdscookware.com/

[barry1010]

Mine has a separate insert so two different things can cook at the same time

[davebro3]

No - I don't think my slow cooker uses enough leccy for me to worry about it.

[ToraToraTora]

Funny it says 220 volts but you don't plug it in!

[Vagus]

I noticed that too, TTT 😁

[pastafreak]

TTT...there was a comment questioning how to clean it...and I also wondered about the volts 🤔

Vagus and Blubster...I've heard of hayboxes...a lot cheaper

Barry...yours looks far more practical...and the pot is included! 

Dave...I think I feel the same

[barry1010]

I've used mine for winter picnics, when we drive to the Peak District or Wales for hill walking.  Lovely hot meal waiting for us before the drive home

[NoseyNose]

It's a bit like the old fashioned "Haybox" from a long time ago.

What is the haybox method of cooking?

Haybox cooking involved placing a hot pot of food in a nest of hay and leaving it there to complete cooking. Thermal cooking is an efficient and convenient way to cook – so it's not surprising its making a comeback.

Do hay boxes work?

A real haybox – i.e. a box with hay in it – used regularly by friends of ours. Put hay underneath and around the sides, add the pot, put hay on top, then a lid – works a treat. As a rough rule of thumb, for retained heat cooking you can at least double the normal cooking time.

[NoseyNose]

Barry 1010,

I have two seperate inserts,but I don't use them for cooking! LOL

[Buenchico]

Google finds countless links about making your own hay box.  If you want a commercial product that's cheaper than the Amazon one that you've linked to though, take a look on eBay.

e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/403950497587

[Smowball]

Slow cookers use hardly any electricity anyway - I've got two, a regular one and a really big one. I use mine all the time. Fabulous for batch cooking! 

[barry1010]

Modern slow cookers are more powerful than the early models and cost more to run, even the traditional looking models.

Still much cheaper than an oven and the old fashioned solid electric hobs but induction hobs are cheaper if you measure the amount of electricity used to cook a meal, not the amount per hour.

Cheaper still is a stove top pressure cooker on an induction hob

[rowanwitch]

You have to factor in the energy costs of getting the food up to temperature as well.  I use slow cookers a lot, but they are both quite small.  Can see it working more to keep stuff warm.  I would worry once it got below blood temp bacteria would grow pretty quickly.

[barry1010]

I've got two traditional style slow cookers, one very large one and a smaller one and a two in one pressure cooker/slow cooker.

The two in one is much more energy efficient because it is very well insulated and has a thermostat so isn't on all the time.