Has anybody got a Wonderbag?

[CashmereHoodlum]

And if so, is it any good?

Ooh I've just googled - it looks amazing!!

Well now, I've just googled this too and this looks interesting.

I can imagine this would be rather useful to use when in a caravan or camping saving the bottled gas. hmm... make keep an eye out for reviews on this one.

I googled. But cant find a clear explanation.

Can someone explain how it works?

Seems to be heat retention / insulation. The way we generally cook our food is to apply intensive heat (much higher than the heat we want the food to reach) for a short period. An alternative would be less heat for a longer period. So you heat the food, put it in the wonderbag, which is presumably so good at retaining heat that the food continues to cook, just takes (considerably) longer.

nb-wonderbag.com/Pages/WhatsAWonderbag

sorry, link:

nb-wonderbag.com/Pages/WhatsAWonderbag

It basically seems to be an insulated bag and the idea is you put all your food stuffs in a pot and bring to the boil on the hob as you would do normally but then you put your pot into this bag for next few hours for it to continue cooking/simmering saving the gas you would normally use during this time.

I see. I wasnt sure if it needed boiled or not.

Sounds good.

way better explanation dragon!

When I was in the girl guides we did this with a hay box! A new take on a very old method :)

Nobody's got one then? They do look fab, don't they?

I have one, use it all the time for casseroles, soups etc, its great and we all still ooh and ahh when I do the unveiling of the meal

The longer you can leave it to cook the better, so I usually put a casserole in at about 10.00 am and leave to eat at around 8.00 in the evening, the meat is very very tender.

Ooooohh! Do you have to use a particular size of casserole dish inside? I have a large oval one but I was thinking of buying a smaller round one as we would benefit from having reduced portion sizes, then I thought there might be too much space around the dish.

Also, does it take over your entire worktop? They look enormous.

No, any size as long as it fits, but not too small as it needs to be snug (I think my pot is about 2L) it is rather large, I put it on the hob (once that's cooled) but you could put it anywhere out of the way iykwim. Can't praise it highly enough although you don't get to choose the colour when ordering so I have a rather fetching bright green one. I have to keep in a the bottom of the wardrobe as it can't just sit in the kitchen!

Here's a photo on my hob for scale

Oh lord it's upside down!

Thanks for that. It doesn't look as bulky in your photo as I had imagined. You can choose the colour now, but the ones you can choose are over twice as much as the others so I might take pot luck.

Ah mine was empty, so it will be a bit bigger usually, but I could still use one ring if really needed if that makes sense. Tbh the colour doesn't bother me, it's only out when used, but a great talking point!

Yes, that makes sense, thanks!

I want one - where do you get them from?

Does it have to sit on the hob the whole time?

wanna, no, wherever you like, the outside doesn't get hot at all, the only thing is you can't open the bag until your ready to serve, so you just have to have faith that its cooking!