Daft Questions

Curious_Moose

Ok, my first post here after lurking for a while

I've a couple of unrelated questions so I thought I'd ask them here. Don't know if it's the right forum but never mind.

1) What's the best way of keeping Brussel sprouts fresh? I've bought a big packet (plasticky wrapping), so how do I keep them fresh?

2) What's the approximate cost of using an electric oven at, say, 200 degrees for half an hour. I could try and work it out by switching everything off except the oven and then checking the meter, but I'm hoping someone could let me have a guesstimate. Yes, I know it depends on your supplier and maybe time of day...I'm just after an approx cost though.

Thanks!

clear_blu

As far as keeping sprouts fresh Mrs Clear says keep e'm cool. The crisper drawer in a fridge is ideal.

Most ovens are around 2.5Kw so if its on for an hour then you have used 2.5Kw hours of juice. If you look on your electric bill it will tell you how much you pay for a Kw hour, sorry cant be more precise as all companies have different charge rates and tariffs and there's hundreds of them.

hardpressed

You need to take the sprout out of the plastic bag, plastic bags are bad news for any fruit or veg, salad drawer of the fridge is the best place.

Mikeyorks

1) Sprouts are designed to only be eaten with Christmas dinner and cooked with a few chestnuts! But if you're one of the odd people that eat them on other days - they're best kept cool, as with other objects that shape - but hopefully a different colour?

2) Class A single oven is specified to use around 0.80kwh (I assume that allows for some pulsing on and off). So around 4p / 5p for the 30 mins you quote? But I'd put the sprouts on the hob in a steamer:D

CrabPaste

As has already been mentioned, a 2.5kw oven (2500 watts) will use 2500 watts in one hour. (It'll use a little less because it will switch off and on to maintain the desired temperature, but its much easier to work out the cost at a constant rate).

It's really easy to work out the running costs of electrical equipment, look for the wattage on the label/manual. The easiest way to explain is by example.

A 60 watt light bulb can be run for approx 16.6 hours using 1 unit (1kWh).

That's because 1 unit = 1 kWh which is 1000 watts. (prices per unit vary by tariff and supplier).

So 1000 divided by 60 = 16.6 hours (It takes 16.6 hours to use up 1 unit of electricity).

Simply apply this to any other electrical appliance to work out the cost.

A 2.5kw oven would take 24 minutes to use 1 unit.
1000 divided by 2500 = 0.4 hours = 24 minutes.


Remember that this doesn't work for microwaves in that a microwave oven actually uses much more than it's advertised wattage. My 900 watt microwave actually uses approx 1600 watts. If you know the actual wattage, you can of course apply this to the equation above.

sloughflint

CrabPaste wrote:

My 900 watt microwave actually uses approx 1600 watts. If you know the actual wattage, you can of course apply this to the equation above.

Out of curiousity, how were you able to find out the real wattage?

CrabPaste

sloughflint wrote:

Out of curiousity, how were you able to find out the real wattage?

I use one of these http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=38343&TabID=1&source=1&doy=30m12

Curious_Moose

My goodness, you are a helpful bunch aren't you

Sprouts are now in their rightful place in the fridge, and yes, I am one of the few people who actually likes them outside of Christmas dinner!

In true MS style, I can now cost a meal including heating as well as ingredients!

Cheers :beer:

Avoriaz

Don’t forget that the 5p or 10p that you spend on electricity for the oven will generate heat that will eventually heat the kitchen and house so your heating bill might be slightly reduced in winter.

Of course you should also amortise the purchase cost of the oven against each batch of sprouts and factor in an amount for wear and tear and eventual replacement costs.

If the oven costs you £1,000, lasts for 20 years and is used once per day on average, then you need to apply a cost of about 14p for each batch of cooked sprouts to cover the cost of the oven. (£1,000 divided by 20 divided by 365 = 13.69p).

I think I am generating more hot air than a batch of sprouts.:rotfl:

Glad

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