A mum discovered she had accidentally slow-cooked a £20 note for a fortnight after using the appliance as a last-minute hideaway for her cash. Stacey Goodwin had £350 stuffed into an envelope on her kitchen counter, which was given as a gift from relatives to help fund her mother-in-law's funeral.
Unnerved by having so much cash lying around, the 41-year-old hid it in the nearest spot when she received an unexpected knock at the door early one morning last month. The florist slipped the cash-stuffed envelope into the insert, the gap between the cooking pot and the heating element, and answered the door.
Stacey invited the funeral director in who'd arrived early to discuss the upcoming ceremony and make plans. Stacey dropped the money off at the funeral home two days later but failed to notice that a £20 note had escaped the envelope.
The £20 note stayed safely tucked away in the slow cooker while, blissfully unaware, the mum-of-five rustled up a number of hearty family meals. It was only when she went to make a stew two weeks later that uncovered its 'crispy' remains.
The note was so 'fried' Stacey quipped it looked like Benidorm legend Madge - and as a joke she served it up on a plate with a side of bread and butter to her bemused 48-year-old partner Justin Conroy.
She says she is no stranger to hiding money in unusual places, often stashing cash in the freezer and in cereal boxes in case of a break-in. Stacey, from Leicestershire, said: "When you see Madge on the show you can see she's been in the sun too much, her skin is orange and wrinkled, that's what the note reminded me of.
"I didn't say anything to start with - I just took the note in a bowl in the living room to my partner and slapped a slice of bread and butter on the side. He was just laughing.
"It was hilarious, who slow-cooks money and who doesn't notice that there's £20 missing? It was a light-hearted moment in quite a dark time for us, it was quite funny.
"At the time it gave us an uplift, my partner's mum would have thought that was hilarious."
Despite the pot undergoing several washes and cooking a chicken, the resilient note survived - merely getting crispy in the process. Now puzzled Stacey is determined to figure out if her note is still classed as 'tender' - in more ways than one.
Stacey said: "I've googled whether you can spend money if you've slow-cooked it. I've tried to word it in all different combinations, it didn't say and I haven't tried to spend it yet.
"I wouldn't have cooked a meal if I knew that £20 was in there, I would have gone straight for a takeaway. The things you could do with £20. I said to the kids, if you'd washed up, you could have found £20'."
Stacey shared her cooking conundrum on Facebook where it went viral racking up hundreds of likes, shares and comments.
One wrote: "Sorry, no advice, but just wanted you to know how funny I found this." Another commented: "This lady should be on the stage."
A third wrote: "As long as both sets of serial numbers are clearly visible [on the note] then the bank should have no issue."
