Avoid using Gas and Electricity

mardatha

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned elect cookers as huge users. We tried & tried to get the elect down but it only went so far then stuck. We live in a village with no gas, 1000ft up and its cold with frequent powercuts, so I got a calor gas cooker. You get huge fancy ones now, really lovely cookers:)
Threw out the kettle & got a whistling one instead.
In the 4 weeks since we got the cooker, the weekly elect units went down from 58 units to 42. We dont use DD payments, we just read the meter once a week, count up the units and put the money in a drawer.

meanmarie

But how much gas did you use Mardatha? I used electricity all my cooking life, got a gas hob when kitchen was remodelled last year and I hate it! Things boil more quickly but can't turn the b***dy thing down to a simmer, so am having to use big oven to cook casseroles etc....(yes I know I should get a slow cooker!) My electricity consumption didn't decrease significantly when I stopped using an electric hob, so feel it is more expensive now as gas is costing me at least €100 a year...large cylinder.

Marie

Rebekah24

Dorato is that central heating or economy 7?? all electric? gas and elec??

If its not E7..that is a LOT!!

My cooker is now off at the mains... electric leech!!

cw18

My main oven (as I said) is electric, but I also own a combi-oven (or I did when it worked - must get it in for repairs as the thermostat or one of the elements has given out on me..... think it's the thermostat as the auto setting for jacket potatoes still works fine!). As I'm only cooking for two of us, the majority of my oven cooked stuff fits in there - and being a smaller capacity oven it doesn't use as much power to cook the meals.

I have a gas hob and LOVE it. I'd never go back to an electric hob, as I hate that the rings take so long to cool down..... I had a habit of catching things as they were about to boil over, and had to remove them from the ring while it partially cooled in order to stop the contents of the pan overflowing. I don't have any problems simmering on it

mardatha

I think it depends on what you're used to - all my life I had gas until ten years ago... I never got used to electric. Mine has a slow cook setting in the big main oven MM, and the rings go right down to a tiny peep. Only had it 4 weeks so can't tell about the gas price yet.

exlibris

This may have been mentioned before - I have not yet read all the thread.

We have a steamer which goes on the gas jets - not an electric one. I actually use the bottom part to cook potatoes, the next layer to cook veg and the top layer to poach fish. One meal on one ring for the same amount of time it takes to cook the potatoes. If we are not having something like fish which can be cooked in the steamer the top layer can be used for a steamed pudding, though I usually leave it on whie we eat the main course to make sure it is done properly.

HTH

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

exlibris wrote: »

This may have been mentioned before - I have not yet read all the thread.

We have a steamer which goes on the gas jets - not an electric one. I actually use the bottom part to cook potatoes, the next layer to cook veg and the top layer to poach fish. One meal on one ring for the same amount of time it takes to cook the potatoes. If we are not having something like fish which can be cooked in the steamer the top layer can be used for a steamed pudding, though I usually leave it on whie we eat the main course to make sure it is done properly.

HTH

Steamers are great,I use them all the time and it's saved me a fortune.

Broomstick

And I use the water (from the pan underneath the steamer layers) as stock for soup/stews the next day.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

Broomstick wrote: »

And I use the water (from the pan underneath the steamer layers) as stock for soup/stews the next day.

That's a very good idea and one I've never thought about doing before you mentioned it.

zzzLazyDaisy

aless02 wrote: »

Ollie - to be honest, I don't know for sure, BUT as the light is directly outside our front door and we're the only flat with a separate entrance at all, I would hazard a guess that the wiring is such that it feeds into our supply since the only other 'communal' light is way around the other side of the building. .

Haven't read to the end of the thread, so apologies if this has already been said.

I once had a flat where the outside light for the whole block was run off my electricity supply. It was a simple switch on/off light so tended to be left permanently on. I discovered it was on my power supply when a fuse went and the communal light didn't work until I changed the fuse.

So you can probably check fairly easily - just turn your electricity off at your meter for a few minutes and check to see if the sensor light is still working.