AIBU to be horrified by this?

[Ovenoff]

Friend has just revealed that when she makes a stew/curry/casserole, anything that can be put in the oven for a few hours and cook on low heat, she would do that and go out for a few hours.

I can’t imagine doing that, anything could happen. What if you got caught up, run over/injured honestly anything could happen and nobody would know you have the oven on 😳.

You have so blatantly namechanged for this OP.

"I can’t imagine doing that, anything could happen. "

Oh fuck off

If she got run over surely the stew would just get dry and burn and most likely someone else would be home and turn it off.

Unattended cooking is the leading cause of household fires. Odds are it won't happen to you but its certainly risky and I'd never leave the house if the oven was on, timer or not.

I also have an Aga. Does that mean I should never leave the house? sounds quite tempting actually

Nope.
I make sure oven off, washer off and dryer off. I even switch off toaster and kettle at mains.
I am overly cautious I realise.

I do it all the time.

All electricals are turned off at the switch in my house- kettle, WiFi, TV, phone chargers, washer, dryer etc. I don’t care if this makes me overcautious because I know of a couple of people personally who have had fires start because of electrical items having been left on.

I know someone who is obsessed with turning everything off. would never charge a phone overnight. Would never leave a plug on. Turns off anything and everything. Exhausting.

I turn off nothing.

However, I would only leave an oven on if I popped out for an hour and had a casserole in on low

What do you people do if you go away in the dead of winter?

We have a frost control on our boiler that would come on if the house gets really cold. I'd rather that than frozen pipes.

Do you turn your fridge off?

Your freezer?

I'd be more worried about it burning the house down, particularly with our oven which has definitely seen better days.

If its not safe to do this then they should stop manufacturers from making ovens with the facility to set a timer for the oven to come on when you are out of the house. Since it was a selling point of my oven, I assumed it was safe to use it.

I leave my washing machine on all the time when I'm out but it's in a detached garage and even if it burnt to the ground, no one would be harmed.

I do this all the time, I never would with my dryer though. They are far more dangerous.

I couldn’t do this but I have OCD and one of my fears is setting the house on fire. I dint think I could physically make it down the road without coming back but for normal people this isn’t a terrible thing to do.

If she got run over surely the stew would just get dry and burn and most likely someone else would be home and turn it off.

I think it's totally different if someone is in the house. I assume the OP meant if no one else was in.

One time I accidentally trapped an oven glove in the door of the cooker without realizing. I popped out for 15 minutes and came back to the smoke alarm going and a house full of smoke. I am always ultra careful now.

I do a 24 hour pork dish. I don't the school would be too impressed if they couldn't come in as my oven was on!

I wouldn't and I don't leave the washer on either after doing so one time and coming back to a flooded kitchen. It hadn't malfunctioned like that previously and you don't know when it's going to.

YANBU I never leave anything unattended if I'm not home.

My oven turns off after 2 hours. It's annoying.

Oh FFS OP

Many ovens have an automatic shut off after a certain number of hours. Discovered our (inherited with house) oven had this when I had a massive fruit cake that needed something like 6 hours and the oven switched off after 4.

Electric oven on a timer - yes I would (and have about 3 times). Slow cooker I do this pretty much every week. Gas oven - no chance.

OMG, Ovenoff - is it even safe to turn the oven on if you are alone in the house? You might trip on the stairs and break your neck before you’ve turned it off again.

We now turn everything off at the plug when going to bed or out. Everything. One bout of being homeless with children after a house fire does that to you. The pp who said it must be exhausting - I can tel you that the hassle of turning off everything is nothing compared to the aftermath of a fire.