Grow Your Own Magazine

With fuel prices going through the roof I wonder if anyone can recommend a cooker/gadget that uses little energy.

Am not keen on the microwave for cooking but am thinking of getting a pressure cooker. Having bust the proverbial growing wonderful organic food I don't want to lose too many nutrients so is this a good idea?

Anyone tried the Remoska cooker? Have heard that this takes little energy and gives good results - too expensive for an experiment though.

Stir fry would be good for quick food I guess.

I know that the ultimate energy saving diet would be a raw-food one but for those of us who enjoy cooking it would certainly be a step too far!

Not sure if this ought to be on this thread or the cooking one. If the latter I'm sure someone will move it over (or copy it?)

BBQs? Burn logs and wood/scraps which are free too.

__________________
Mark

Vegetable Kingdom blog

get yourself a steamer, in 20 mins or less you can cook all your veg in one go, if you have 4 veg that saves 3 extra pans, also the veg keeps its flavour, and vitamins, and there is no need to add salt ....... i wouldn't be without mine now. and there are some inexpensive ones out there Argos - www.argos.co.uk

__________________
sometimes i do talk complete and utter rubbish ...... just ignore me if i do ........i'll go away eventually

http://teachy.myminicity.com/

There's also the "Dutch oven" (I think that's what it's called). Think it's basically a box filled with straw, and after you've started off the cooking (stew / casserole) on the top of the cooker and it's boiling hot, put it into the box, cover with more hay/straw and leave it for required length of time. Not too sure about all my facts here, but I've seen it on a Victorian Garden programme and read it in some wartime recipe book.

__________________
Always look on the bright side of life
View my blog - http://chooksandveggies.blogspot.com/

The best way to save is to make sure that you fill then oven when you use it eg batch cook. Always do a massive casserole and then freeze the remainder. Also, cook pots in a pan with green veg on top, steaming. Also, make sure you put lids on pans. All pretty simple stuff and loads better utilising what you already have than spending a fortune (in money and carbon) on something new.

__________________

Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

The Dutch Oven is different (I think) but the haybox (as described by Maureen) DOES have its uses. Pressure cooker is great if you use it properly. 'Efficiency' approaches (like batch-baking etc) will make more difference than most gadgets, but I love my slow-cooker. Microwave is fine if you use it wisely, in particular for re-heating those batch-cooked casseroles!

__________________
Flowers come in too many colours to see the world in black-and-white.

I wouldn't be without my pressure cooker have been using one for the last 23 years.

I used a Remoska a couple of times on a self catering holiday where they didn't have an oven, it was quite good but not good enough for me to feel the need to go out and buy one.

Dinah, the oven runs away with fuel. Lots of things can be cooked on top of the cooker, rather than in the oven.
I had a pressure cooker, many years ago, I didn't like the results and wouldn't recommend it.

__________________

From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

Have had a Remoska for about 5 years. Use it a lot, even camping where I can serve up all sorts of meals. Powered by 500watts. Yes the outlay is expensive but it would depend on what you are using it for. If you are thinking to use is as your main source of energy efficient cooking it would be worth it in the long run. If it's a flash in the pan novelty (sorry about that!) then it isn't. It roasts a chop or chicken pieces beautifully. It will roast potatoes or cook a quick crumble (not all at the same time of course).
I wouldn't be without mine. They now do bigger sizes for the larger family but really it's only something that you could tell for yourself and it's an expensive mistake if you don't get on with it so I wouldn't say go for it - just say I'm very pleased with mine.
The other thing about it is that especially when camping - I just plug it in outside the tent (or even the house) and there isn't the heat or smell inside. Sanjo

A book I've borrowed has a section about hayboxes(Victory Oven).You can get a factsheet fromThe Centre for Alternative Technology~Centre for Alternative Technology Home Page.
Looks interesting but food takes up to 4x longer to cook than normal.~also you have to start off the dish on the hob.

__________________
the fates lead him who will;him who won't they drag.

Happiness is not having what you want,but wanting what you have.xx

If you don;t have gas might be wroth thinking about replacing halogen-style hobs with Induction hobs - provided your saucepans will work them an Induction hob. I forget the exact figures, but I think they use about half the electricity compared to older electric hobs.

I expect all hobs have such facilities nowadays, but on most of the induction hobs I've seen there is a timer which can be used on the rings - saves burning a pan if you get distracted!

Thanks for all your thoughts folks.

With yet another price increase for fuel I'll certainly be looking at using mine efficiently. I'll look out for a second hand pressure cooker for sure.

Do you know, I've been meaning to visit the Centre for Alternative Energy for absolutely years. Have admired what they have been doing from afar. I'll organise a trip now that I've been reminded.

And don't forget to look at capped prices and switching.

Personally our oven is so crap that batch cooking just results in using more for longer so less efficient.

I'm a fan of stir fries and raw food but if the weather is cold a slow cooker is a real boon.

__________________
Bright Blessings
Earthbabe
If at first you don't succeed, open a bottle of wine.

I thought a dutch oven was a fart under the duvet!

__________________
http://plot62.blogspot.com/

Listening to LBC radio today and one piece of advice was to switch the oven off 10 min prior to the food being ready. Any residue heat in the oven will continue to cook the food for the alloted time.

using the oven 3 times a week would mean a saving of over 26hours of electric used to heat the oven over a 12 month period!! Rough figure only as some will use it more than others.

Any brainy ones out there want to work out how much cash you could save??? My brain wont take it :-)

Try using a slow cooker it uses about the same as a 60 watt light bulb.

__________________
I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.
W. C. Fields

I have always been tight with the leccy.
A microwave saves you a lot of fuel. We cook in big batches, and freeze into individual servings.
We have stir frys in summer, and soup in winter. A soup will cook in about half an hour (do a big pan and leave it on the stove for people to dip into, or freeze it ... it improves with age!)

We only put the oven on for a big roast, and that's maybe once a fortnight. The roast will provide 4 meals (chicken curry, chicken stir fry etc)

For my packed lunch I have leftovers from the night before. Cold stir fry is surprisingly tasty!

__________________
~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

I use my pressure cooker a lot for meals which use dried beans/chickpeas etc. It also does venison casseroles brilliantly. Rather than defrost meaet from the freezer in the microwave, I try to think what I'll have for dinner in the morning and take the meat out of the freezer to defrost it through the day so it's ready. I recently changed my cooker and we have a very energy efficient one - well the oven is, but not the hobs! I also have a solid fuel Rayburn which is on over the winter and uses free fuel, but the temperature in the oven and on the hob is next to impossible to control.

__________________

Dwell simply ~ love richly

We have recently bought a bread maker, its not the same as bread cooked in the oven but it is cheaper to run the only problem we find is a slight taint which we do not like anybody know what it could be ie the flour

i dont have a microwave or a pressure cooker and i have one of those induction hobs for which 2 of the rings have blown up and its not that old either, so i batch cook use a steamer for veg do my cakes after instead of heating a cooker up before hand, also a lot of people dont actually switch off there cookers at the mains, ive takenen to doing this every time now