Show Would you leave the house with the oven turned on?
Recommended Posts I mean on purpose. To cook a casserole or something. I just found out about lead in crockpots while doing research for a new crockpot, and it has me thinking about alternatives. I know some have suggested the sunoven, but I just don't see that as a practical, everyday solution. I'm wondering if I could put something in the oven and leave it cooking for several hours while I'm away. I've never done that before, and to be frank, the thought is rather unnerving. But maybe it's not much different than cooking in a crockpot. So, what say the hive? ;)
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Yes. I do it all the time or some days we'd have no dinner because I wouldn't be here to cook it. Can't say I think it's the safest thing in the world, but I do it. I do worry that on those days I'll get into an accident and not make it home and then my house would burn down...but I still do it.
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I have done it. Only several hours for a roast, but I leave things in for a short time while I pick up a kid or something like that fairly often.
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Well my oven has a cook timer , so I will set it to automatically turn off after a certain amount of time. It's very convienient. I don't have to worry about fogetting, not getting home on time, or anything like that.
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My gas stove has a timer to turn itself on and one to turn itself off. I think it's designed that way so it can be used on the Jewish Sabbath, we're not Jewish but we've used the settings! Mostly for things that need to cook a long time like a roast on a day we'll have company and I'm going to be gone all afternoon. I've sometimes made up quick bread batter (like pumpkin bread or nut bread) and left it in the oven overnight, setting it to bake itself right before I get up. My kids love breakfast, but I don't function super great first thing in the morning. Certainly not well enough to actually cook something! My only concern is leaving things in the oven too long before it turns on, I don't want to invite bacteria while it's not being refrigerated. So I'm picky about what I put in and how long it's there before cooking.
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Not a chance. I won't leave on the washer/dryer either while I am gone.
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I said 'no' because in just the past year, my stove blew a fuse and sparks flew everywhere in behind the oven, where it could have set the wall, floor or cabinets on fire. I've never had this happen with an oven before, but products are made more and more shoddily and just can't be trusted any more to work as they once were designed to work.... One large eye on this same stove has never worked properly, despite being worked on over and over again. I think 3 of the four eyes have had to be redone - and this stove is less than 5 years old....
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No way. And if something happened, the insurance would not pay because it would be considered negligence.
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Quick trips only at low temps.
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I can program my oven to turn on, bake at a certain temp, and turn off after a certain amount of time. It's FANTASTIC. I use it when we're going to be gone all day and get home right before dinner time. I can come home to a hot meal and all I have to do is throw together a salad or quickly sauté some extra veggies, etc. I mostly use it for dry beans (I had NO idea they would cook so well in the oven!) and brown rice or frozen (prepared or homemade) lasagna, etc, so far... My range is a new-ish gas/electric dual fuel and I luuuurve it. Someone mentioned not leaving the washer or dryer on when they leave. I don't leave my dryer on 'cause unlike my oven, it *won't* turn itself off any more. Sigh.
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No, I am paranoid about having things plugged in or turned on when gone or in bed at night!! I am also a little OCD. It drives my husband crazy! I check the locks and stove and candles 3 or 4 times before I go to bed!:tongue_smilie:
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:iagree:
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I do it all the time. My afternoons are spent running kids around to activities, so that's the only way I can make sure dinner gets done. It does have a timer that I can set to turn on/off at a certain time and I only use low temps when I'm gone.
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Sort of... dh works nights so he's always home and I'm sure I've done it for a roast for a little while. I leave the kids home "alone" that way often as well. He's asleep, but I'll open the door and tell him I'm gone - he'll sort of grunt that he heard me and then roll back over. It's probably horribly unsafe (for the oven... not the kids - I mean, if the kids have a problem, they'll go get him - if the oven has a problem it'll just blow up or something) but there it is.
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I have never left my oven on while gone, but then again I am not much of a cook. I try not to leave anything else running either like washer, dryer, or dishwasher. We have had several bad incidents with electrical appliances. Once when we were washing clothes and the washer was completely full of water, the hose on the back of the washer came off and flooded our first floor. My hubby was upstairs at the time and I was at the store, so we didn't notice it until it was too late and all the water had overflowed. It ruined our flooring, baseboards, and some wallpaper in the kitchen. We have had dishwashers that started cooking (melting them) the dishes inside. Every now and then something would fall down into the heating element and burn so bad that smoke was coming out of the dishwasher. Don't know if it would actually burn the house down, but I figure I don't want to find out.
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No. My dad was a firefighter when I was a kid, so I am really paranoid about stuff like that. I don't leave the dryer running either.
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I do. Dryer, too. That's me, tempting fate all over the place.
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ditto--and delay start too, so I can put something in to start in an hour or 2 (or 3)
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Other because if my electric oven had one of those automatic on/off timers then I'd preset it & go. I used to do that before I moved into this house where I have the only electric stove I can remember that doesn't have that feature. Without that, I will only leave it on if someone else is at home.
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Just curious--what kind of stove is it?
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Isn't it amazing how much our parents' jobs can affect us? I still can't bring myself to go on a motorcycle because of what my dad saw in the ER.
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I voted yes (electric oven) as I am often not in the house when something is in the oven. I'm usually in the farmyard, though. I don't normally oven cook things for a really long (2 hours or more) amount of time. If I need to be away, I'll use the crockpot.
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Me too. I also use my probably lead filled crock pot and my alien-inviting microwave. It might be an early end for all of us.
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Never. I don't leave any appliances running when I am out, it's just not worth it.
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No way. Twice now I've had the coil literally burn on our electric oven and the thought of that possibly happening while I'm out of the house gives me the shudders.
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Yep. This one.
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I have, for very short periods of time, when I am slow-cooking something that has the oven on for 6-8 hours at a low temperature. It is not something I make a regular practice of doing. Our oven at least has some interlocks that would keep the gas from firing if it wasn't lighting. I do not leave the washer or dryer running when I am gone. It only takes one instrument failure on those to cause either a flood or fire. I also don't leave the toaster plugged in. The house next door had a fire due to a toaster oven shorting out while nobody was home.
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I voted no as I'm so fearful of my home burning down. I don't even leave our toaster oven plugged in. I can't leave with the washer/dryer and/or dishwasher running either. I know me being here may not help if something were catch fire; however, it just makes me feel more comfortable having everything off when I leave the house. This is where I am neurotic :)
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This is me too.
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I had an oven element burn out one time when I lived in an apartment. If I had not been right there when it happened it could have burned down our home as well as all the others in our building. Even though my oven now has a timer and we live out disconnected from everyone and everything, I still am too paranoid.
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Yep, they call it sabbath mode, but it actually can't even be used on sabbath (when we can't cook or open the oven, thus causing the thermostat to turn the heat on again). We can use it on non-sabbath holidays when we can actually cook in an oven, but the oven has to be turned off before the holiday starts. So really, it should be called holiday mode. :) :) :) And all "sabbath mode" does is prevent the oven from automatically shutting off after 12 hours, and makes the light bulb not come on when you open the door. Just a little trivia...
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No. DH was a safety officer in the Navy and would kill me even if I didn't burn the house down! LOL
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My mom did this often and we survived. However, I just can't do it! Just seems too unsafe.
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Other, I have a slow combustion wood stove. I cook things in the oven all the time while I am out.
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The heating element in our oven has shorted out and caught on fire twice. So no, I would never leave the house with the oven on. We are going to get a new stove when I get my bonus next month, but I still won't leave with the oven on because even new things don't always work the way they're supposed to. We once had a brand new ceiling fan short out and catch on fire in the room where dd16 (then a baby) was sleeping. If dh had not been in the next room and saw what was happening while the fire was small, dd very well might have died.
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An oven set low is similar to a crock pot and those that turn off automatically are even better. I have no problem doing it.
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No, but then again I don't leave the dryer running or the toaster plugged in either. It drives my DH nuts that half the time I wait until the dryer is done before I fall asleep. I have a very strong fear of fire, stemming as far back as my childhood. I was the kid that snuck back downstairs to make sure the fire in the fireplace was completely out.
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No, absolutely not. I don't leave the dryer running either. A couple years ago, a local family nearly lost the entire house when the dryer caught fire. They had done a load of laundry right before bed and left the dryer running. The smoke alarm woke them up.
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The question I was going to ask here was, did food fall on the elements?
Wow, now that's a concern. Our cheapo stove that came with our house has already had one of the surface elements go. If dh didn't want to wait until the stove was really done for, I'd have replaced it by now. Guess I won't be leaving dd home alone with the oven on anymore unless I'm in the yard.
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I haven't read all the responses, so maybe this has been mentioned, but... This is what you need: http://www.rayburn-web.co.uk/ I'm sure you can find an American supplier. It's an oven that can cook like a slow cooker. We have one, but the temperature control in it doesn't work, so we don't get the full benefit. I've heard they're wonderful when they work properly, though.
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For my instance, no, food did not fall on the elements. Still freaked me out good though!
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Food does not have to fall on them. I witnessed the top heating element in our late toaster oven burn out - it just broke open at one spot, started shooting sparks, and then went into flames. Fortunately I was right there. I unplugged it and left the door shut and it went out on its own. If it had remained plugged in, I suspect it would have been worse.
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This happened to one of the burners (aka elements) on our stove. Dh was sure it was because of water spilling on it sometimes when it was wet. But the fuse blew & it stopped. Is this something that has always happened, or is it that newer stoves are made of inferior materials?
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Sears Kenmore. I'll never buy another Kenmore appliance. We replaced our entire kitchen at the same time with all Kenmore and we've had nothing but trouble with every single piece of it....
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Ours was an older GE, no food or liquid in it. I was preheating it to put a chicken or a duck or something in it.
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Diddo!
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Yes, I do. I'll leave the dryer running also. I do wet used matches before tossing them in the trash, if that gains me any safety cred ;). My dad was OCD on fire safety (his childhood home burned down), and I always tended to react the opposite way. Dad (upon discovering that I left the dryer running): Do you want the house to catch fire when you're gone?? Mini-me (genuinely puzzled): Well, I don't want it to catch fire when I'm here.
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Thank you for your replies. Interesting that the yays and nays are rather even. I'll check to see if our oven has a timer, but since we just bought our house and I suspect that it's an older electric model, I might decline for now. I do try to worry about about real threats vs. something that's not as likely to happen. Just not sure which camp this falls into. :tongue_smilie:
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No way. Before I was born, my family completely lost their home from a fire. Not due to leaving something on - it was an electrical fire - but I grew up in a "fear of fire" atmosphere.
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Can i leave the house with the oven on
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