Well insulated slow cooker?

[Robl]

We bought a new elec cooker 6 months ago.  I chose on the basis of best efficiency - the new one has a triple glaze front door, and is insulated around the oven.  It uses about 1KWh to cook a chicken - so long as you keep the door closed, the oven stays at temperature for ages without the heater element being on.
It beats our old one (12 yrs old) hands down - that had no insulation at all, you could feel a warm draft of air from the back of it all the time it was on, and the 1.8KW heating element was on almost continuously to hold 180C temperature inside it.
I'm sure the same can be true of slow cookers - good & bad ones, it's all about the insulation, not the element power consumption.     

[M]

Don't want to disagree with everyone, but those watts sound high. We got a slow cooker in the summer to go with our PV, it has high, low, and stay warm.

The high is approx 150w, low 100w, (checked via energy monitor) we've found that cooking times are generally less than most recipes state. Eg if recipe say's 5 hours high, we find 5 low will do the job.

Generally we cook most meals (if in) 1 hour high, then about 4 low, so costs 500w to 800w. All within the PV time window, though during winter, not necessarily whilst generating enough when including background consumption.

The big plus though is that the meat is simply unbelievable! Couldn't find a knife one day, so dished out a pork joint with a fork and a spoon! At this rate, I'm in danger of de-evolving my teeth.

Mart.

PS We cover the top with a light tea towel, partly to keep some heat in, but mostly to stop the lid rattling when the pot is bubbling.

[stannn]

Which model did you buy Mart?
Stan

[melweb]

I bought one of these from Tesco about 18 months ago (cheap & cheerful for a tenner I think). I have to agree with Mart, meat is so much better than a conventional oven. Even my two boys say that my spareribs are as good as TGIF! Bought it after I'd had the pv installed to make use of the free leccy.

[M]

Which model did you buy Mart?
Stan

Sorry Stan, didn't mean to ignore you, missed this post.

Wifey bought a Breville ITP136

I think she said it cost about £12? It says 210W on the bottom, but doesn't seem to use that much. Looking at it now, it is 'smallish' so maybe my surprise at others energy consumption, is that their's are bigger than mine (so to speak).

M.

[stannn]

Thanks Mart
Stan