Thermal cooker Dream-pot

geordie_joe

thriftlady wrote: »

:doh:Sorry! Forgot to do the link. Have fixed it now.

Thanks. I bet many people on here could knock up something similar for nothing.

pumpkinlife

I am totally in love with this idea, but would like to see if anyone has any experience with these that they could share? Basically, thermal cookers are metal 'haybox' cookers. You heat the food on a hob in the provided saucepan and then place the whole (lidded) pan inside what is essentially a giant metal Thermos flask. The food continues to cook in the retained heat with no other energy inputs. I assume the results are a bit like slow cooker meals. These are the only two models I have found in the UK, though the prices are reasonable judged against US Amazon, where they are more popular. There are accesories that allow you to cook breads and steamed cakes, too, but they are quite expensive.

Hay box cooking appeals to me from an energy saving and novelty science-experiment nerdy way but our kitchen is very small and I don't have the space to accomodate a large box on the side. These are quite compact and, I am guessing, more efficient.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I don't have the money for one at the moment anyway, but it is almost valentine's day and I can live in hope (nothing says I love you like another kitchen appliance...)

caroc

A few years ago, I bought a strange type of Tea cosy that had a split on both sides (made in Scotland) I now use it as follows :
1) Boil Kettle
2) Place boiled water in saucepan with anything that needs a 5-20 minute boil (pasta, potatoes, most veg).
3) Bring to boil or near boil.
4)Immediately switch off heat and insulate saucepan with tea cosy
5) 5- 20 mins later all will be cooked (carrots can be a bit hit and miss )

You can even get an old tea cosy and make a hole in it for the handle or any thick insulating material will do. Think of the principle, you don't have to buy expensive kit

pumpkinlife

Caroc, I have used the tea cosy method for cooking rice and other quick cook grains, it works really well. I will try some veg and see how I get on.

The shiny (expensive) thermos pot appeals to me because (apart from its shinyness ) it cooks large quantities - 4.5 or 6.5 litres. If I wrapped my large saucepan in towels or packed out a box large enough to accomodate it with hay and towels, it would take up a few feet of space. I want to be able to maintain temperatures that can cook pulses and casseroles etc and serve lots of people.

Pink.

Hi Pumpkinlife,

You can read some thoughts on the idea on these threads:

Thermal cooker Dream-pot

does anyone remember the haybox?

I'll merge your thread once you've had more replies.

Pink

pumpkinlife

Thankyou Pinkwinged, I shall have a peruse. I searched 'thermal cookers' and came up with electric oven threads. I need to learn how to search properly methinks.

seraphina

Kuhn Rikon make things like this that can go straight from the hob (for initial warming) to an insulated container:

http://www.kuhnrikon.co.uk/co-uk/en/products/cookware/speciality/hotpan.html

Butterfly_Brain

Iwould build my own hay box it's a lot more OS

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/1980-01-01/Rediscover-the-Hay-Box-Cooker.aspx

or even a solar cooker - I will try this summer if we actually get one

http://www.solarcooker-at-cantinawest.com/build_a_hay_box_cooker.html

pumpkinlife

I want to try solar cooking at some point too; summers do tend to be cloudy here though.

I have decided to make my own haybox. I am going to try and build it into a wooden chest that is used as a coffee table, so it won't take up any extra space. The guinea pigs will just have to go hungry for a few days whilst I borrow their breakfast hay!

ceridwen

pumpkinlife wrote: »

I want to try solar cooking at some point too; summers do tend to be cloudy here though.

I have decided to make my own haybox. I am going to try and build it into a wooden chest that is used as a coffee table, so it won't take up any extra space. The guinea pigs will just have to go hungry for a few days whilst I borrow their breakfast hay!

Actually - you might have come up with a "winner" idea there - ie a haybox that doubles up as a coffeetable. There might be a market for good-looking boxy coffeetables that open up to reveal an inner (haybox) compartment (complete with detachable cushion-y stuffing). It may be that two versions would be possible - one with and one without the cushion-y stuffing and peeps might be interested in buying the version without the stuffing for a variety of other purposes too (as so many of us are being expected to make do with smaller housing than we expected to have/need to have and therefore have to have furniture that doubles up).

Of course - in a spirit of pure helpfulness;):D - I'm willing to be a guineapig for such a table and give you my opinion as a consumer:D