Can I cook a baked spud for 4h on low?

[demotedreally]

We are going out at 9am and have people coming for lunch. We should be back 1pm ish. Can I put the oven on 150 or something and put the potatoes in?

I do have an instant pot but I was going to make a chili in that...

Instant pot for chilli and some quick rice when back?

No idea sorry.

Why don’t you do what we do, put in microwave and then 10 minutes in oven to crisp skin? Perfect every time!

Rice doenst work with the rest of the meal really

The other option is to put them on now for an hour and then finish off. I think I am leaning towards that

There are 12 people, so that is a lot of microwave cooking

I tried this once- although when I did get home, I turned up the heat to crisp the skins. They all exploded! The mess was unreal. So I probably wouldn't advise it!

Cook until just done the night before then return to a hot oven when you get home the next day for about half an hour to reheat and crisp up the skins.

I’ve done it many times, best ones we ever had i did in a log fire for 7 hours. Make sure you prick the skins (or they might explode) and wrap in foil, then take the foil off and turn it up when you get home.

Yes, prick them first. I'd maybe go a bit lower, 130/40? You could always turn them up when you get in.

Do you have a timer on your oven? Most do. It's worth getting to know how to use it, it's a life saver.

Have a nice event!

So they are in. We turn them off just before we go out and hope they just stay warm.

We don't have a timer on the oven as it is a dinosaur, we live in a project. We used to use the timer all the time. The oven is also a disaster for a roast dinner which is why we are not doing that

I can recommend McCain frozen jacket spuds, two packs of eight. I discovered these last year when we had a new kitchen fitted and only had a microwave to cook with. You can either microwave or oven cook them from frozen .

oh good,
i was about to say tacos
too late

My oven (and indeed all my ovens) have had a function where you can set them to a temperature, set a finish time and a duration and then they will come on and cook the thing automatically.

You'd need to do a quick test before you went out (set to come on in 5 mins or whatever) but I find it perfect for jacket spuds as they don't need to be in the fridge all day. I actually used to do this a lot when I didn't work from home - I'm now having to go in sometimes and only starting tea when I get in has been really annoying as I have to do long hours currently. You have just reminded me this is possible so thank you.

This is the instructions from my cooker.

X post on the oven timer, sorry!

Yes you can. I grew up with a working mother in the 1970s, before microwaves, instant pots, Ninja foodies etc and we had a lot of jacket spuds for this very reason. I used to have to come home from school at lunchtimes to turn the oven on! (I was the person closest to home during the day). You can also do bacon, sausages and porridge “low and slow”, and stews, chillis etc

I did some in the slow cooker the other day.

Good plan OP, cook for hour, turn off, then warm up in microwave or oven when you return
You can wrap them in foil so skin doesn't dry out in oven

(As Cooking for 4 hours on oven even on low will Just make you inedible potato rocks )

@demotedreally I used to do a roast on low and slow. I'd put the meat and potatoes (peeled but whole or cut large) in before church, come home come a few hours later and whack the temperature up while I did Yorkshire's and veg. The meat could rest on the side. 20 mins later, nice roast all done. If I'd put cauliflower or leeks in cheese sauce in as well, I didn't even need to do veg.

We have an Aga and our potatos can go in for that amount of time.

Do you have a slow cooker. I do my jackets all day on low in that. 4 hours on high would probably be enough. You can always whack them in a hot oven for 15 mins on return while you're sorting everything else to crisp up the skin. Suorrided at rice not working with chilli though - surely that's the standard accompaniment? Also tacos (I know it's too late but if the potoroos don't work out it's a good back up)