Do you always preheat your oven?

rubadub

I can understand preheating for some dishes, esp. cakes or bread. But do you always bother preheating your oven fully everytime?

I never bother anymore with some things, like oven chips or breaded chicken type things. My oven preheats in only 6-8mins anyway. But this speeds up my time overall and saves on electricity.

I do need to move stuff around more, like chips will cook on one side first where the heat is blasting in at the start.

Also both to speed up cooking and save on electricity I often leave frozen stuff in the fridge overnight to defrost, they always turn out fine if not better, even though packs often say "best cooked from frozen".

robbie_998

i do exactly what it says on the tin :pac:

rubadub

robbie_998 wrote: »

i do exactly what it says on the tin :pac:

Thats another related point, do others always follow cooking instructions on packet foods? I rarely follow them 100%. I always think they keep it really simple and try to be foolproof and easy, while not being the optimal cooking method. I change to my own ovens performace and how I like my food. It makes sense that they have generic instructions which should be OK for most people.

Miaireland

I rarely preheat the oven for things like pizzas and chips etc. Mine takes an age to get to the right temp.

olaola

Depends on what I'm doing really - I have a crappy gas oven too, so it's all kinda hit and miss with what I'm cooking. If I want to roast something and get the outside crispy, I'd preheat the tin in the oven and then use it. Otherwise, I'd turn it on and lash it in.