What is the most economical means of cooking

[davidk65]

I have been reading the comments here about Halogen (table top)Cookers.
With the increase in fuel cost I wonder if anyone has done the sums regarding cooking appliances? Bearing in mind there are only 2 of us at home, most of the time, and we are retired. We have conventional electrical oven with grill (lower smaller oven) and also a separate electric hob We also have a small microwave and a small slow cooker as well. I found the comments on Halogen cookers very interesting; but which is the best mode cooking and most economical. Anyone know?

[heathfield]

Well, there is a fairly effective cooking method that needs no fuel whatsoever and is totally free to use. Check out 'solar cooking' on Google!!

[Mortartube]

I would suggest that the microwave is the most economical, but I have been less than happy with the results more than once. Probably the best thing to do is cook a large amount of one dish in your slow cooker or even two different dishes in your conventional oven, then freeze what you don't use on that day. If you are doing a stew or casserole for example, with braising steak. It will take far less energy to reheat a pre cooked portion than start the whole process from scratch.

[DTCwordfan]

Have no idea - but keep clear of so called highly efficient ceramic ranges, they crack too easily. We had a safety switch (dead mans) installed under ours viz. the kids... the electrician installing it thought he was doing a favour by putting back our pans and dropped one onto the plate and seriously cracked it. While he replaced it, on his shilling, the new one showed some nasty chips etc within 18 months of having it.

One other cheap option is to use a pressure cooker - you can make some really nice dishes and quickly.......and the pan doubles up for soups etc