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Christmas Cooking Tips

Oil powered range cookers are ideal for cooking Christmas dinner for the family, with plenty of space for cooking and storing food you can cater for lots of dinner guests.

To help you get the most out of your range cooker this Christmas, we’ve complied some tips below;

  • Range cookers act like storage heaters so turning your cooker up on Christmas Eve will help it to store heat. This won’t affect the time it takes the oven to warm up but it will help to increase the maximum temperature when in use.

  • Use the 80:20 rule - using the hot plates on your cooker will rapidly use up a lot of its energy. Try to cook 80% of the food in the ovens and 20% on the hot plates. Only use the hot plates for items that can be cooked in seven minutes or less.

  • Pre-cook and prepare some food the day before - There are some items that can be prepared and partly cooked the day before to save time and energy. Vegetables that can be peeled and left in water over night include; potatoes, carrots, and Brussel sprouts. Whilst roast potatoes and parsnips can be pre-roasted the day before until they start to colour and then finished on Christmas Day.

  • Range cookers, particularly Aga’s, are known for their large ovens and can fit a bird of up to 13kg (28lbs) inside the roasting oven. To avoid using all of your cooker’s heat on cooking the turkey though, let it sit at room temperature for an hour or so before cooking. This will reduce the amount of energy needed to cook it.

  • Using the hotplates to boil cold water will also drain a lot of energy from your Aga. Instead boil water beforehand using your electrical kettle.

  • Use your range cookers wasted heat to perform other functions such as softening butter. You can do this by placing the butter on a plate or in a bowl and resting it on the warm top surface of the cooker.


Remember to top up your heating oil before Christmas so your cooker won’t run out. You can order online at any time by visiting www.aidfueloils.co.uk and using the ‘Quick Quote’ section. Alternatively, call into the office and speak to one of our sales team members on 01543 506117.