Cooking for FREE! Thermal Bag Cooker Review with step by step photos

Well, I say 'free' but you do have a 10-15 minute hob top boil, but that's it!

I'm an avid reader of other people's blogs and also love to browse the MSE forums for ideas on money saving, recipes, frugality and cooking methods.  This is where I first read about thermal cooking bags.  I read and researched wider afield and decided this is something we need here in Frugally Well.

The idea is based on an old fashioned hay box and makes perfect sense to a penny pinching person such as me.  From a modern day perspective the thermal cooking bags are fabric bean bags constructed in segments with a lid.  They hold your pot of previously boiled food for 6-8 hours and the temperature remains high enough to slow cook your meal without paying for additional energy.  Now, do you see the attraction to me?


During my research I found free patterns on the internet to sew such a bag. However, although I can knit like the clappers I'm a complete Dunce when it comes to sewing and I only have a small, battery charged sewing machine for quick repairs or to convert vest tops into market bags (a whole new post me dears).  Therefore home made construction was a no-no.  I posted my lack of sewing skills conundrum on the MSE forum and somebody very kindly pointed me to a small business woman who makes them.  Problem solved!  If you'd like a thermal cooking bag of your very own you can contact this talented seamstress via Facebook by clicking -----> here 

Once I'd identified the correct cooking pot for the job I sent measurements to her and that same day received a photo of a large pink marshmallow and became very excited.  I had become a woman on a mission and it would be mine!  Communication was excellent and I had paid online and been advised that my thermal cooker was on it's way by first class post.  The very next morning Postman Pat delivered my thermal cooker which was duly unpacked, put in the place of honour in my kitchen and cooed over and generally adored for the rest of the day as I had defrosted sausages for TITH so couldn't play with my new toy just yet, but plans were hatching in my mind!

My first attempt at thermal cookery was pulled pork which I took with us to move our adult children yesterday.  It transpired that my pot's lid isn't tightly fitting enough and small spillage occurred en route, however the food was, after 8 hours in the bag, still pipping hot so we transferred it to their slowcooker to bring back to a boil and then turned it down for when they were ready to eat.  So, the principal of the thermal bag worked.

Today we are having a lazy day to recover from yesterday's shenanigans.  I had a YS shoulder of lamb in the freezer which I'd defrosted overnight.   I gather that a large joint would take a lot of pre boiling and so I chopped the lamb and retained the shoulder bone as bone is a good conductor of heat.

Next, I browned the lamb for colour and to begin heating through, then I added some rosemary and mint from my herb garden and covered with boiling hot ready made lamb gravy from granules

The next stage was to bring to a good rolling boil and put the lid on.  I let it boil for around 15 minutes then carefully placed it into my thermal bag which I'd lined with a tea towel.  The gravy was still gently blipping whilst I popped the lid to the bag on and pulled the drawstring tight.

The bag has a base cushion which I was informed can be used or not, the base of the bag is lined with beads too.  In my case my pot was slightly to large for the base cushion to be put inside the bag and so I decided to pop my bag on top of the base cushion for roughly the same effect.  I left it on a wooden board as advice is not to place the bag on a surface which could conduct heat away from the bag.  I had noted from yesterday's pulled pork that although I could smell the food cooking the bag didn't feel warm to the touch which confirms it was doing a good job of insulating.

It's 'cooking' away in the pink marshmallow as I type and I will update later when I unveil the goodies within.  I could do with some suggestions of what to make in it.  Do you have one?  What do you make?  I'd really love to use it as much as possible.  Until later.