Do you leave the house while things are cooking?

[Earlybird]

Thinking of roasting a chicken for supper tonight, and wonder if I would be unwise to leave the house for school run/few errands (about 90 minutes) while chicken is in the oven. Obviously, would turn oven down, and roast more slowly.

Bad idea, or perfectly OK? Will it taste different/awful?

Its will be fine.

I frequently put something (e.g. chicken) inthe oven in the morning and set the timer to be ready when I get home.

I neevr leave anyhting on the hob - even for 5 min trips out.

i put casseroles in the oven and go out all the time. in fact i never even thought whether it was a good idea or not

No.

im not allowed my dh would kill me

I leave all sorts cooking on hob as well

It'll be fine - I'd leave it out for an hour or two before to get it to room temp and then blast it for 20 minutes on a highish heat first

MP ditto re hob...not sure why peeps get exercised by this.

I quite happily leave casseroles cooking in the oven all the time. I have also left things simmering on the hob for a short while whilst I have popped out to collect DS from nursery (I don't really like to do this though)

I hesitate because I think 'what if something unexpected happens' - either at home, or to delay our return at the expected time.

Wouldn't think twice about a slow cooker, but hob/oven seem different/riskier somehow.

leaving things in the oven is fine, but we have gas hobs and I wouldn't leave them on when out of the house - I agree it's really unlikely that anything would go wrong, but the magnitude of the potential disaster if it did doesn't bear thinking about.

The thing that exercises me most is if there was (eg) a car accident and/or we had to go suddenly to A&E and were out of the house much longer than planned - a neighbour of ours in London did this (popped to shop for beansprouts and left a pan on the stove, saw a hit-and-run, had to stay and give a statement etc) and we had to call the fire brigade as the whole block of flats was full of smoke .

I have an oven with an automatic on/off facility. I sometimes leave it with a roast in and its set to turn off when I am due home, just in case I don't get home. Or I've been known to set it so the oven gets hot enough just as I get home and it turns off at the time I should get home. I wouldn't cope if it didn't turn off at the time I should be home to override the command.

Yes, leave things cooking slowly in the oven but never on the rings for all the reasons mentioned.

I also leave things in the oven with the timer set so it will turn itself off. Roast dinner all ready for Sunday lunch when we get back from church, yum.

And I leave the slo-cooker on. My microwave has a grill in it so I sometimes set that on the timer to pre-heat so its hot when I get in. But if I'm late it would just cool down.

i know people who wont even leave the house while the wahsing machine is on incase it floods

In answer to the OP - yes I do and usually find that things cooked slowly in the oven have more flavour.

The reason I don't do it is because I read our renter's insurance policy, and IF the oven were to go on fire if we left something cooking whilst not being in the flat, the insurance wouldn't pay out.

So I read out tenancy agreement. In such a case, we'd be responsible for damage done to the flat.

Given that it's a rental property and the oven's as old as the hills, I won't chance it.

Jacket potatos in the oven, but only whilst nipping to the shops, not out somewhere for a while.

nailpolish -My aunties washing machine caught fire when they were out

I do it all the time (casseroles etc). Dh would have a fit if he knew.

I use the timer with teh oven - and used to regularly put a pan of water onto the (electric) hob and then walk teh dog round the block. Our hob actually has a timer too - but never used it.