Toaster Oven vs Electric Oven vs Microwave Oven

[jnj0910]

slmkhoo:

For quick cooking, you can also look at the one-dish meal thread. To save time, even though I am a SAHM, I also sometimes cook in larger quantities when I have time and freeze portions of meat which can be combined with veg for quick one-dish meals. You can consider some of these ideas.

Thanks for all your great advice! My freezer is too small for freezing pre-cooked food though

[jnj0910]

straffan23:

I have tried it all (in a way), so here goes - Thermal pot - First, don't get the cheaper no-brands. Do your research and believe me, it will be worth the extra money in terms of the quality of the pot, and the quality of the heat insulation.


Rice - rinse and put in water to boil for 5 - 10mins. Remove from fire and leave in thermal pot. Soups and stews - Ingrediants should be cooked, and for soups, try to keep it on the stove for 30mins before putting into thermos. If this is done at 7am, rice will be mildly warm at 6pm; and soup will be warm. Things in the pot will not spoil because they have not been touched - i.e. boil, termos.... reheat / eat. It's how some would bring their leftover soup for a boil and leave it on the stove for the next day.

Oven cooking. Roast chicken (legs/tigh/breast) will take a min of 30mins in a preheated oven. The whole chicken will require up to double that time. Some of the quick dishes with oven would be baked rice / pasta. Sauces and rice/pasta pre-cooked. 15 to 20mins.

Stirfry is quick, and so is steam fish. Good idea to do some practice / dry runs before actual cases!

Thanks for your suggestions! Yeah, think I better do some dry runs first

[jnj0910]

[/quote]


Hi,

Since I’ve got the Happycall Pan 3 months ago, it has become my main gadget to cook - at least 75% of the time. Even my oven baked chicken wings are now done using this pan - it’s much faster as no need to pre-heat. The end result of course is not exactly the same as roasting in the oven, but they’re good enough for us.

Using these 2 gadgets help maintain my kitchen "greasiness" level - on days I’m lazy, I don’t bother to mop the kitchen and the floor is clean enough for us to walk without the eeky oily feel.[/quote]

Actually I also got the Happy Call Pan, but found it disappointing as when I cooked chicken or salmon, the pan would smoke and the kitchen smells as if I was bbq-ing food, and when I flipped the pan , the oil and grease would drip out on the stove. Also when I open the pan to check on the done-ness of the food, the oil would drip out again from the "drain". This occurs even when I never add oil to the salmon.
The mess I have to clean on the stove and the splatter when I open the pan to check on the food, and the oily kitchen floor is worse than when i stir-fry!

er,… maybe off-topic… got to ask HCP experts !

[sharonkhoo]

I need to replace my built-in oven. Any recommendations for brands, reliability, stores, after-sales service etc? I just want something fairly basic, though fan-assisted would be nice. My budget is limited, so anything over $700 is probably out of the question. Thanks!

[sharonkhoo]

No-one? Has anyone experience with UNO or TECNO brands of built-in ovens? Tecno is Italian apparently, but I can’t seem to find anything about UNO. Any idea about where are they manufactured, realiability, after-sales service etc?

[vinegar]

slmkhoo:

You don't have to freeze entire meals. I have a small freezer too, and anyway, I don't like freezing vegetables as we like them freshly cooked. What I do is precook extra pork or chicken slices/pieces with some garlic and soy sauce, and freeze them in meal-size portions. They won't take much space if you use freezer bags. To prepare a meal, I defrost one of the portions, and cook with fresh veg and whatever sauce or seasonings I want, and I can get dinner on the table in 30 mins. The frozen meat can be used in fried noodles or rice too.

that's a good idea.nvr think of that.thanks!

[ClayFarmer]

Each of those oven types have different functions. I have a microwave dutch oven at home and I find it more beneficial.

[TopTutorSingapore]

I have a Samsung oven that has convection, microwave and steam modes. It has been reliable so far, and doesn’t take up too much space