Crock-Pot controlled from your phone

0lddog

http://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F7C045/

Gimick ?

The Hill Billy

What do you think yourself?

0lddog

The Hill Billy wrote: »

What do you think yourself?

Answer a question with a question. ?

I've never used a slo-cooker so dont know.

( perhaps a motivation for asking the question )

Markcheese

Before going to work , prep food and place in crock ready to cook , as soon as you arrive at work contact your crock pot to turn it on and have dinner ready in 8 hours time... ?

The Hill Billy

It is a discussion forum. Your input would help. Posting a link & a one word question does not a discussion make.

tHB

twerg_85

If I wasn't so lazy, I'd look at using a raspberry Pi and thermo sensor to auto control my slow cooker.

If you can keep it at a constant temperature it might be useful, like a sous vide setup.


F.

unkel

The beauty of a slow cooker is that you can get your meal going, leave the house for the day and have your meal ready when you get home. It's perfectly safe and it doesn't matter if you're home a few hours early or a few hours late. It won't burn, it won't be overdone or underdone.

So, yes, controlling it from your phone is a gimmick.

rubadub

The philips air fryer has a mechanical timer, so it is constantly going even if unplugged. This disappointed me as I had thought about using a regular house hold timer to cook stuff. When it turns off it does not hold as much heat as a regular oven so does not continue cooking for as long after.

This crock pot thing does seem to be a gimmick, as generally with slow cooking people will want it cooking all day, and I don't hear much talk of people changing temperature throughout the day. You will not want stuff sitting in it at room temp anyway.

For my airfryer I had planned on putting maybe frozen stuff in and beginning cooking within the hour, so I could head off somewhere and come back and it would be just finished cooking.

The Hill Billy

Right now it is a gimmick, I agree. But in the next few years I think that we will see more & more devices in the home being capable of easy control via phone as the standard sold.

They are products that I don't need in my kitchen, the manufacturing of them will consume valuable raw materials & we all end up using more energy.

unkel

rubadub wrote: »

For my airfryer.....so I could head off somewhere and come back and it would be just finished cooking.

Is there any point seeing the airfryer is so quick?

The longest cooking time I've ever had with mine was a hole small chicken. Took about 45m to roast

rubadub

unkel wrote: »

Is there any point seeing the airfryer is so quick?

Just so if I come in starving its ready. Also I like my food to have cooled down a fair bit before eating. I hate being hungry and looking at timers going down!

I often make rice in the microwave, bring it to boiling, turn down on low heat for 10mins and heat off to the takeaway. I might come back 20mins later when the rice is fully cooked and just at the right temp for me.

Swampy

How much does liquid reduce over the day using a slow cooker!

FortuneChip

Swampy wrote: »

How much does liquid reduce over the day using a slow cooker!

Not much at all.
Any recipe for regular stove-top usually suggest lowering the liquid if you're using a slow-cooker.

Not much need for a slow-cooker to be phone activated. Just turn it on as you're leaving the house.
I've done recipes for six hours some times, and eight another time without evening noticing much difference.

kylith

Swampy wrote: »

How much does liquid reduce over the day using a slow cooker!

Because the steam doesn't escape you generally wind up with more liquid than you started with.

squonk

I'm thinking about an Instant Pot at the moment. They're getting rave reviews over on Amazon in the US. They're electric pressure cookers. A friend of mine stateside got herself one the other day and seems to be enjoying it so far. The appliance itself comes with a whole bunch of different programs for Sauté, stew, soup, yogurt, steam, slow cook so you can pretty much make anything in them. They're not great for roasting obviously but that's about all you can't do with them. They just launched in Europe but the version on sale here is an older model and, for the sake of 20 odd quid you'd be better waiting for the newer model which is out in a month which adds some functionality. However, they're launching a Bluetooth connected Instant Pot in the states soon. The main benefit is that it'll allow users to swap cooking programs and for the company, it allows them to up the functionality without creating a Starship Enterprise bridge on the front with buttons for all the extra functions. The device is controlled from your iPhone or Android Phone over Bluetooth. There's no mention of WiFi so it's not controllable via the web but it's a bit pointless in any case. Once you start the Instant Pot, it runs through it's program and then switches to a Keep Warm mode so you can arrive home to warm food.

https://instantpot.com/what-is-the-ipot-made-for/

At present it looks like it'll be mid 2015 before the Bluetooth model reaches us in Europe.

BaZmO*

I'd imagine there'd be a much cheaper option of a plug that is controlled over wifi, so that you could turn on the slow cooker and plug it into the wifi plug (for want of a better term) and just switch it on/off remotely. Surely someone has invented something like this already?

BaZmO*

BaZmO* wrote: »

Surely someone has invented something like this already?

The answer is yes.

http://www.dlink.com/us/en/home-solutions/connected-home/smart-plugs/dsp-w215?ClickID=b6nqvuulge6ymsvmfuuvgg6ymz1lknksqgkl

Avada

I'm not sure why I need this slow cooker in my life, I just do Also the iPad kitchen stand with stylus.

I dont really agree that you cant overcook things in the slow cooker though. IMO chicken can get very 'stringy', thats just one example

Muahahaha

BaZmO* wrote: »

I'd imagine there'd be a much cheaper option of a plug that is controlled over wifi, so that you could turn on the slow cooker and plug it into the wifi plug (for want of a better term) and just switch it on/off remotely. Surely someone has invented something like this already?

Yeah theres a good few wifi enabled plugs on the market. Belkin themselves sell the same technology that is on the slow cooker just in plug form for £29
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Belkin-Automation-Switch-Android-Devices/dp/B009SA9Z6S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1411258451&sr=8-2&keywords=wifi+plug+timer

So paying $129 for a slow cooker that has a cheap wifi system installed on it is quite expensive given that slow cookers can be bought for €15 upwards.

I don't see any point in remote control over cooking when it comes to slow cooking as its going to take 6-8 hours anyway so unless you work 12 hour days or something I can't see its purpose.

Those wifi plugs could be pretty good though for turning on a light if you're unexpectedly out for the evening, they could even be used to open and close curtains with the right add ons so I can see their value. They have good security applications but I can't see them coming in handy with cooking all that much. Like I don't think I'd fancy putting an uncooked dinner in a room termperature oven for 8 hours and then turning the oven on remotely from your phone an hour before you arrive home, it doesn't seem safe