does anyone remember the haybox?

lauren_1

JackieO wrote: »

We were encoraged to share a bath as well as hot water was so precious .I used to bath my two then use their bath water for me

Oh my I do this now!

ALIBOBSY

JackieO wrote: »

We did this back in the 1970s when we had massive power cuts and only had three hours evey 9 when the lights worked I can remember making stews for my two small children overnight in one of these .lots of kerfuffle but needs must when the devil drives .Most of the women in our road did this and often, if you had a pal who had a gas oven you would fill it up with stuff to cook as being all electric I was totally stymied. We also made sure to always use the stairs in case the lifts packed up in the car parks.We were encoraged to share a bath as well as hot water was so precious .I used to bath my two then use their bath water for me

I remember mum cooking casseroles for the street in her gas oven lol. For years she would never have anything but gas to cook on "just in case". We lived in a semi rural area later on so still got (get) powercuts due to all the cables being the overhead type so no wonder she was worried lol.
I remember playing cards and board games by candle light, mum spent all the time telling us to watch the candles not to knock them over . Mind you apart from tv for alot of the 70's not much electric stuff that interested kids. I remember us queueing up at a mates to have a go on her atari rofl.

ali x

ali x

cuca

JackieO wrote: »

We did this back in the 1970s when we had massive power cuts and only had three hours evey 9 when the lights worked I can remember making stews for my two small children overnight in one of these .lots of kerfuffle but needs must when the devil drives .Most of the women in our road did this and often, if you had a pal who had a gas oven you would fill it up with stuff to cook as being all electric I was totally stymied. We also made sure to always use the stairs in case the lifts packed up in the car parks.We were encoraged to share a bath as well as hot water was so precious .I used to bath my two then use their bath water for me

Maybe using the sawdust or straw version maybe, but my one certainly isnt. You just start of the stew or whatever on the stove, depending on whats in it, you just bring it to the boil and then shove it in the box. I do mine first thing in the morning, and leave it in all day - then literally dish up straight from the pot when ready to eat at night - its still piping hot. I must say that curry done in the box is great as the flavours have had time to seep into the meat. Another thing that I like about it, if you put potatoes in the stew - they dont go all mushy - they stay whole but perfectly cooked. Can you tell I jsut lurrrve my wonder box :T

The_Thrilla

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

Oooerr, what did they do :eek:

I first saw hayboxes mentioned on the Victorian Kitchen and Garden (recently repeated on Yesterday, so I've recorded the lot, to go with my book :T ). Never made one myself, but there are more opinions in this thread. I'll add this to that one later to keep ideas together.

Please come back and let us know if it works

The case with the electric company is live, so it is a good idea not to go into detail.

I tried boiling some potatoes in a food vacuum flask, but it was not successful. I think the vacuum flask was not as good as I thought. I will be putting some polystyrene beads together, and will try cooking something shortly.

The_Thrilla

Just found this on YouTube, where she makes a haybox out of a plastic laundry basket, and enough bedding to get you through one of those legendary Minnesota winters:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn4YlBHEYmI


No special equipment needed. Interesting was the bit at the end where she was talking about taking it with you in the back of the car.

Barneysmom

The Thrilla, thank you for posting that :cool:,
I will try it, we've got a couple of army sleeping bags which should help a stew cook quite well.
What a good idea!

I guess it's like the Easyo yoghurt but on a bigger scale.:)

Seakay

was wondering how peoples' experiments had gone? One thing that I found puzzling was why doesn't the polystyrene melt when you put a hot pan from the stove onto it?

jumblejack

Luv this thread. Just been reading up on thermos cooking too. Seems like a great idea to cook whole grains overnight in a flask of boiled water!! I'm gonna try chana dal this way tonight!!! The slow cooking of the dal has put me off using them. This will make it super quick (overnight whilst I'm asleep!) and super economical too!!
I'm gonna look for a suitable box (for themal cooking) to keep in my kitchen. As I have serious space issues, I reckon it can go on the floor where my laundry bin is. I just simply pop the laundry bin on top!! No extra floor space used up!! I have spare pillows which are taking space in the wardrobe upstairs and an extra sleeping bag so if I make a thermal box, several problems are fixed: cheap cooking, extra space in the wardrobe!!
Now all I need to look for is a suitable box which does NOT look unsightly. A BIG n sturdy wicker picnic basket which I could line with foil or HUGE basket with hinged lid? It's gotta look neat or else it's a no goer!

bluebag

I use an old hard sided coolbox, the handle has broken off, with an old, very old sleeping bag and some tea towels and oven gloves on the bottom, works well, especially if you are going out and don't want to leave anything plugged in.

I have a casserole pot and just bring everything to the boil for 3 mins then pack it up.

tightasagnats

I used to cook with Buddhists on retreats, and we made rice in a blanket, by cooking a big big pot of brown rice for 10 mins, then wrapping the pot in a big old blanket for a couple of hours. Always perfect rice.

I have since used the method at home, with normal sized pots, with all kinds of food. Works well with rice, cook for half usual time then remove from stove and wrap pot in tea towels leave for 30mins - hour. You get perfect fluffy rice. Good for soup, stews, only thing that not much good for is pasta. But that cooks fast anyway. Only caution I would offer is not used for chicken on pork in case it's not cooked long enough to prevent food poisoning.