With the cost of living crisis continuing to take its toll, many of us are looking for ways to cut back on spending, especially when it comes to our food and energy bills.
However, one journalist who attempted to make a full breakfast in a slow cooker to save on energy costs was left 'haunted' by the 'repulsive' result.
Birmingham Live reporter Rebecca Astill was inspired to experiment with the slow cooker after reading that the appliance only costs 23p per meal to run.
After doing some research, she stumbled across a slow cooked fry-up recipe that went viral a few years ago on social media - and decided to put it to the test.
A full English costs roughly 50p in energy based on oven cooking sausages, frying bacon, mushrooms and tomatoes, microwaving beans and toasting bread.
This meant there was a potential 27p in savings to make by using the slow cooker instead, with Rebecca filling the pot with bacon, sausages, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and baked beans.
Here's how she got on:
The fry up in a slow cooker method
The method was pretty easy, although each ingredient required slightly different treatment. The eggs were to be cracked into a mug and mixed with butter and seasoning.
The beans also needed pouring into a mug, but I used a ramekin to save space. The mushrooms were to be folded into some foil with butter and seasoning.
The bacon had to be rolled into tight, sausage shaped structures and stood up around the outside, with the real sausages, and the tomatoes went wherever I could find room. Then there was just the slightly tricky task of packing them all into my small, 3.5L Andrew James slow cooker, and setting it off on low overnight for eight to nine hours.
Energy costs using the two methods
Here is a breakdown of how much it costs to cook a full breakfast the traditional way compared to using the slow cooker:
The breakfast
I woke up to the smell of bacon tantalising my nostrils, and felt sorry for my two dogs who had slept downstairs with that just out of reach smell all night. This was a good start.
It all went downhill at the point when I lifted the lid of my slow cooker to reveal a hard, grey, exploded ball of what had started as egg. The rest was not much better.
The sausages had bent over, and instead of the crisp, juicy ones I was looking forward to, I was faced with what I can only liken to Harry Potter’s arm when he loses all the bones in it in the Prisoner of Azkaban. The beans were sealed under a thick, inedible skin and the bacon tasted exclusively like fat.
The mushrooms and tomatoes were the only good bit about the meal, but who chooses a fry up for the veg? I pulled the contents onto a plate but there was little I could do to rescue the meal.
I even tried to mash the hard ball of egg with my fork to fake the scrambled eggs success for a picture, but there was no way of hiding the repulsive grey streaks running through it. I did not finish my breakfast.
Overall Verdict
Here is the best part. I actually only saved three miserable pence by cooking my fry up in the slow cooker. I used an energy cost calculator to compare all the appliances that would be used in the traditional fry up and slow cooking, and there was a difference of 3p.
I had such high hopes that were crushed by the most disgusting meal I have ever cooked. In theory, yes, it’s brilliant. It just doesn’t work.
Reviews from my family were the same as mine, with mentions of "worst thing I've ever eaten" and "absolutely disgusting" being passed around.
A plate of sausages and bacon would usually be lapped up, but instead has been left neglected in the top of the oven. I am not sure even the dogs would eat it.
I followed the viral recipe to a tee and my advice to anyone thinking of doing the same is probably quite predictable at this stage of the article - do not bother.
Scrap the notion that you need to change everything in your life to save on energy costs, and just eat the damn fry up, the way it should be cooked - fried, crisp, unhealthy and delicious.
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