Healthy eating appliances
Comments(23)
Photo: Brocolli and greenhouse
An email flew into my inbox this morning from Amazon. Its title puzzled me – “Healthy Eating Appliances” – what did that mean? Teeny weeny knife, fork and spoon sets so we can’t take big wolfish bites? A rowing machine that powers a small fan for cooling food the healthy way? Or could it be something much more basic such as a spade in these grow your own times.
Intrigued I opened the email and discovered that healthy eating appliances are things like slow cookers, juicers and the Coopers Halogen Oven. 
This is a tiny oven that cooks food up to 60% faster using less electricity than a conventional oven. And it’s just £39.99. Unlike a microwave it browns and roasts. It even cleans itself. Being the owner of a large electricity greedy fan oven I am very tempted to invest in one of these as we could save pounds on our electricity bills. Further investigation revealed that you need a set of accessories for your halogen oven
Have you tried one of these ovens? Do you reckon that they are worth the investment?
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Recipe for chicken, mushroom and tomato risotto
Thank you for your comments. And a bit of silly bath time fun with the Frothing Sea Monster trick!
Cutting energy costs
Recipe for sausages baked with herby garlic infused beans, bacon and tomato
Tracing some of my ancestors has taken me on a long journey
Recipe for lamb shanks braised in red wine with shallots: slow cooker/crockpot
HG
I used to have one and thought it was brilliant. Unfortunately, someone dropped the lid and so I only have the bowl now. BTW, that did sterling service as a wedding cake baking tin!
I haven’t bought another one because I moved away from where I bought it and hadn’t seen any advertised until now. I’m very, very tempted to buy another, as, apart from anything else, it’s portable and can be used for barbecues etc. as long as there’s a 13amp plug nearby!
“Teeny weeny knife, fork and spoon sets so we can’t take big wolfish bites?”
lol – you reminded me of one of the many great bits from Ab Fab: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tCQYkFlVec Inspired!
Afraid I know nothing on Halogen Ovens though, I’d never heard of them until now either.
My Mum has used one of these ovens for years and thinks its brilliant, you do need to spend time getting to know it. I’m a little scared of it and find the lid and fan thing on the top a bit heavey. But Mum does not have a real oven any more she cooks just for two.
This year at Christmas she cooked for 12, she bought a second Halogen oven! So I would encourage you to try I would love to read about your adventures with one.
Best Wishes
Helen
Great post, and I will be following the comments with interest, as we considered giving up our oven and getting one of these a regular hob
K
Sorry – typo, one of these plus a regular hob
K
Hi – I read you very frequently, but haven’t felt qualified to respond until now. The Andrew James oven is a remarkable bit of kit, and well worth it if you either use your regular oven without filling it, or avoid using the oven because you can’t fill it. You do have to guestimate a bit until you get used to how it works, but I have found that the normal electric oven temperatures and about two thirds the suggested cooking time works for most things. I haven’t switched my regular oven on since I got my halogen.
I also have a Remoska (see the Lakeland web site) which is also good, thought the halogen is better because the Remoska has no temperature control – having said that, the last time I was working away from home, it did excellent work as part of a portable kitchen snuck into hotels so I could avoid the vegetarian-unfriendly hotel menu – the halogen might be just a bit too big for that, though I may be tempted to try next time I do a long hotel stint!
We’ve just purchased an Excalibur food dehydrater at work and are hooked on this eating appliance! The best thing so far are kale chips…dehydrated with a bit of olive oil, lemon juice and sea salt…very addictive!
My mum wanted one of these as she confesses to be the worst cook in the world of roasted meats, I read up about them about 4 months ago and there was a comparison article in one of the sunday supplements. I can’t remember names and brands but they all rated them very highly but the person doing the review advised to get one with a built in lid stand as the lids are heavy and hot and difficult to handle when checking the cooking ( wondering if that has relevance to an earlier post about the lid being broken) and so having a lid stand was a good idea.
They reviewed about 6 and the one with a lid stand was about £60 which was only £20 dearer than the cheapest model they tested. I have thought of getting one for my mum but for the time being she seems happy putting me off the subject as she can keep begging a roast sunday lunch at mine :S
I can’t comment on the halogen ovens although I do know someone who has just been given one for Christmas as her kitchen is too small to fit an oven in and her dad said the Remoska she had requested was too expensive. I have a Remoska and after a slow start I now use it 2 or 3 times a week. It cooks amazing fish and meat dishes although I have not yet tried baking a cake. I made your beef skirt stew last week with excellent results. The Remoska doesn’t cook more quickly than an oven unlike the halogen versions. Great idea about sneaking a Remoska into a hotel room Suzie. I would never have thought of that!
Not used one of these but from an energy saving point of view the instructions ( http://www.coopersofstortford.co.uk/images/pdfs/ST07719i.pdf ) say it consumes 1200-1300 watts.
Our oven consumes 2100 or so watts according to our energy monitor, so it may save you 1kw/h or so.
Having said that, a kw of electricity is around 14p for us, so to offset the £40 cost of the cooker you’d have to run it for 286 hours instead of your oven to break even…
I have a Remoska, and use it fairly often. There was a big, horribly inefficient built-in electric oven in the house when I bought it so I bought a Remoska and used it a lot. For some things it is quicker than an electric oven, particularly if you get the shallow pan. I have the standard size, and it uses 470 watts, a lot less than the 2100w for an oven quoted above. It is fairly small, so when I did a pheasant and apple casserole in it I couldn’t fit in potatoes as well. (I might have if I’d thought of wrapping them in foil.) I have baked a cake in it–line the bottom of the pan so you can get it out. I was sceptical about the lack of temperature control, but have found it doesn’t need it.
Overall–cheap to run, works very well, expensive to buy, needs worktop space.
I bought a Remoska last year after dithering for a year or more. I’m afraid I took mine back, it didn’t suit me as it didn’t seem to do anything better than some of my other gadgets, I admit I have a bit of a problem with resisting kitchen gadgets!
So I then bought a Halogen oven. I bought a smaller one to start with but realised I couldn’t fit very many of my dishes in. So, that also went back and the full size one arrived. For 2 or 3 people I like it a lot. Be warned though that the lid gets VERY hot as that is where the heat comes from, so the lid stand is essential if you don’t get the one with the attached lid. That one is a lot more expensive than the more usual design.
I have a Coopers one and have just bought an accessory set from ebay. If you are buying the accessories I recommend you browse around as the kits vary with what they contain and some of them would be a waste of money for me.
For example, one includes a rack for doing toast. I would rather just use the toaster than set the oven up.
But the extension to raise the lid thereby increasing the oven’s capacity is worthwhile. As both our grown up boys are on the point of moving out it will be used even more as it will just be the two of us then. I would recommend a Halogen oven though you may need to buy a couple of new dishes to fit the round shape.
Jackie
I’ve read lots of reviews on Halogen Ovens and although most people have only good things to say, there does appear to be one major drawback.
That is that once the halogen bulb goes, then it’s gone for good (unreplaceable) and you need to buy a new oven. If you’re seriously thinking about getting one, I’d double-check this out with the manufacturer BEFORE purchasing, to see if they cover the bulb with any kind of warranty.
Hi Fiona – I do so LOVE your site, it’s packed with useful information. I’d never even heard of a halogen oven but having read your article, then read more on Amazon, I’ve just ordered one to take back to Croatia with us. I love new kitchen gadgets as much as I love finding new ways of being thrifty, and I DESPISE cleaning the oven, so this should make me a very happy bunny. And I’m buying a slow cooker too after reading all your mouth-watering recipes. I just missed out on a dehydrator on ebay last night, but will keep looking. Thank you, thank you.
Cant comment on Halogen over but totally rate Remoska for roasts, baking , stews , veg slops!. My boys hate it as they think it looks pre war but saves putting the oven on and tho expensive to buy – totally cheap to run. It only has an on off switch whihc feels odd at first but you soon get used to it and it really works!!
I also have Remoska from Lakeland (noone else sells them) and i really like it. Its great for jacket potatoes and roast vegetables. As i live on my own it isnt often worth switching on the big noisy fan oven i have in my rented house. It does meals for two easily, and i have the small size.
Also lakeland has a really good returns policy so even though its expensive its good to know you can take it back anytime you change your mind. Most lakeland staff semm to have one in their house!
I will be watching with interest your decision on buying one of these as I too have looked with interest at them. I find that Coopers tend to be a bit expensive, so shopping around might prove worthwhile. I wonder how many of the accessories will prove truly necessary. Depending on the diameter of the cooking pan, I suspect that many tins you have would prove suitable and charity shops (or the local recycling centre) often have raised grids and pans from redundant microwaves which might easily fit the bill.
More time an research may prove to save a fair amount of money on your initial purchase.
Love the site, very jealous of your roadside stall, sadly not something that would last here, they would take the stock, the cashbox and the stand!
Well I’d never heard of a Halogen oven until your post. Did a fair bit of research on tinternet and ended up buying one (the Andrew James with accessories on Amazon). My partner is now less convinced that subscribing to your blog will save us money given that I’d waxed lyrical about its brilliant hints on self sufficiency … but am hoping Roast Chicken a la Halogen this weekend will convince this purchase was just an evil necessity…
I’ll let you know how I get on.
Thanks for sterling job on blog – we love reading it.
Best wishes
Red x
Hi Jenny
Thanks for this reassuring comment! We eventually invested in the Andrew James one on Amazon and it arrived today. Exciting.
Hi Ruth
I hadn’t seen that hilarious clip. I was just trying to think of the most ridiculous ideas.
Hi Helen
Thanks for leaving a comment. We’ve bought a halogen cookbook too which I hope will give us pointers on how to use this beast.
Hi Karen
I’m really hoping that ours will save money. Our fan assisted oven with a light uses so much electricity that this is bound to be cheaper.
Hello Suzie
Thank you so much for your comment. We really didn’t want to invest in something that wouldn’t in the end save time and money.
Love the idea of sneaking a Remoska into your hotel. Everyone who owns these seems to love them.
Hi Kerry
Ah Excalibers are the best dehydrators! Lucky you. Must try those kale chips.
BTW just nipped over to your blog and have bookmarked it for later as it’s full of interesting stuff!
Hi Mandi
Yes I think that the lid stand is important. I read a review in the Mail about them. They rated the Andrew James one highly but at that stage it didn’t have a lid stand – it does now. I can’t wait to start playing about with it! It’s going to do full English breakfast tomorrow…
Hello Pamela
I fancy a Remoska, I must admit. But I reckon that the halogen oven is a bit bigger and more adaptable.
Hi Nermel
Thanks for that. Our fan assisted oven uses up a lot of watts. Around 4000. So the halogen oven will be a great saving for us. The halogen oven also cooks things faster so there will be a saving on watts time there. As we write about food we do a lot of cooking – several hours a day – so for us this is a good investment.
You are right. It’s best to work out the savings before investing.
Hello Barbara
That’s interesting. The Remoska uses far less watts than the halogen oven. The halogen oven needs worktop space too – it’s quite bulky so we’ve been shifting things around in the kitchen. Thanks for leaving a comment.
Hi Jackie
Danny is a big eater so we are cooking for three in a two person household! I think that once we get the hang of it the halogen oven will be great. I agree with you about the extra gadgets. The Andrew James one came with more gadgets than advertised – I just need to work out how to use them!
Hello Olliebeak
Excellent point! Unfortunately we had already ordered the halogen oven before you posted this. The oven is covered by a 12 months warranty for all parts. So we are OK for a year. Thanks for pointing this out.
Hi Bib
Until I bought the slow cooker I hadn’t really cottoned on to saving electricity when cooking. We use ours a lot and it has been a great investment. Like the dehydrator! Like you we’ve ordered the Andrew James one and I’m looking forward to playing with it.
Hi Lib572
That’s good to know. There is a Remoska longing stirring deep inside me!
Hi Jane
I think that Lakeland is excellent. Everything that I have bought from them has been impressive. The Remoska will have to wait until we have a windfall but I like the idea of such a low energy appliance.
Hi Karen
Well we’ve invested and it looks a sturdy piece of kit. Great idea about checking out the charity shops. Thank you.
The stand is fun. Someone did nick some of the tasting pots the other day but most people are fairly honest around here. Can’t wait to start selling our baby vegetable plants and herbs!
Hi Red
Great that you are enjoying the blog!
I know what you mean about spending to save time and money. I do a fair amount of research for the blog and am tempted by loads of things. Everything (so far) has turned out to be a good investment. I do hope that the halogen oven will be all that it promises to be. I’m going to try roast chicken on Sunday too!
I keep returning to this posting about Halogen Ovens. We have been wondering whether to buy one so I have been very interested in reading all the comments and your replies. I see that you have bought the one you mentioned so am looking forward to you writing about how you get on with it. x
Hi Wendy
I will be reviewing our hallogen oven this week. So far Andrew has cooked two full English breakfasts to perfection. Tonight he’ll be takling roast duck and all the trimmings. So far I’m very impressed.
Well, our halogen passed with flying colours. Incredibly easy to use, our first meal was delicious roast chicken (with lemon and garlic) roast potatoes, carrots and parsnips. Can’t wait to try out a host of other stuff.
We invested in a recipe book because the instruction booklet received a slating (on Amazon). It was worth the few extra pounds for peace of mind – the instruction booklet is inconsistent and filled with errors. However, I suspect with a healthy trial and error approach, the oven will be as simple to get used to as your own oven.
So thanks very much for the tip off!
Hello Red
We are delighted with ours too. The cooking process seems much simpler with far less faffing around.
I have been experimenting with ours and slightly higher temperatures make a big difference on the length of cooking time.
Good to hear that it’s a success with you!