Thermal cookers: have you used one?

Willowpop

Well, it's my birthday today and I got one of the Argos casserole dishes
So, next is to make myself a thermal bag.
Did anyone buy the beanbag beans to go in theirs? I've looked on ebay and they seem to come in different volume sizes. Anyone know what size bag I'd need please?

moments_of_sanity

Memory_Girl wrote: »

A month in and we have had feedback on the energy savings from one of our ladies

"Hi E,
Just wanted to give you a quick update on my gas cost over the last month having used my thermal bag for lots of meals.....
Gas units used in March were 406kWh and for April they were 377kWh and the only difference is my cooking on the hob costs as my heating has been off since March 1st! So we have saved 29kWh of gas in a month, so impressed with it and am using it today to make spag bol and everyone loves the results from it.
Let's hope everyone who made it has similar or even better savings!
Best wishes, H"

I make that about 1kWh per day which is a not too shabby saving for something made from an old duvet cover and some polystyrene beads :T:T

MG

I think I have become addicted to my thermal cooking bag, is there any cure?

I have sausage hotpot cooking in mine today and can't wait for DH to get home so we can eat it!

moments_of_sanity

Willowpop wrote: »

Well, it's my birthday today and I got one of the Argos casserole dishes
So, next is to make myself a thermal bag.
Did anyone buy the beanbag beans to go in theirs? I've looked on ebay and they seem to come in different volume sizes. Anyone know what size bag I'd need please?

I thought the polystyrene beads were a really expensive way to buy them so managed to buy a brand new bean bag cube for £5 from ebay, I will have enough beans to fill about 10 bags!

Can't help on the amount needed though, not much use really....sorry

Hope you have a lovely Birthday Willowpop

[Deleted User]

Happy birthday WILLOWPOP, hope you've had a nice day, Lyn xxx.

Willowpop

moments_of_sanity wrote: »

I thought the polystyrene beads were a really expensive way to buy them so managed to buy a brand new bean bag cube for £5 from ebay, I will have enough beans to fill about 10 bags!

Can't help on the amount needed though, not much use really....sorry

Hope you have a lovely Birthday Willowpop

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Happy birthday WILLOWPOP, hope you've had a nice day, Lyn xxx.

Thankyou!
I will have a look on ebay and see if there is anything local. I did ask on freecycle, but nothing was offered and nothing has been listed in my area.
If the worst comes to the worst, Argos do what looks like a prett big refil bg for £14.99..and I have a £10 off voucher from when I bought a new mattress the other day, so that would make the beans £4.99.
Can't wait to get sewing! :T

Memory_Girl

Mrs LW - I think I will need every trick in the book to balance my budget when the rates begin to rise - saving on fuel is a very welcome contributing factor ............. especially when you get such lovely food from it.

I think - by eyeballing mine - that 2 cubic feet of beans may be about right - probably a little too much when making a thermal cooking bag.

Todays experiment - Brown Rice .... usually takes an age on the hob.

200g Brown Rice
500 ml water

Up to boil for five minutes then into the bag for 90 minutes and PERFECTO!!!!!



Tender, fluffy and not claggy in the least.

So for lunch I had this:



Rice, pinto beans, chilli, green pepper, onion, coriander and lime. Tex Mex and delish!!

MG

moments_of_sanity

Memory_Girl wrote: »

Mrs LW - I think I will need every trick in the book to balance my budget when the rates begin to rise - saving on fuel is a very welcome contributing factor ............. especially when you get such lovely food from it.

I think - by eyeballing mine - that 2 cubic feet of beans may be about right - probably a little too much when making a thermal cooking bag.

Todays experiment - Brown Rice .... usually takes an age on the hob.

200g Brown Rice
500 ml water

Up to boil for five minutes then into the bag for 90 minutes and PERFECTO!!!!!



Tender, fluffy and not claggy in the least.

So for lunch I had this:



Rice, pinto beans, chilli, green pepper, onion, coriander and lime. Tex Mex and delish!!

MG

MG, do you think the cooking time for white rice would be the same?

Memory_Girl

No hon - white rice takes just 40 minutes to an hour ...... try flavouring it up with some lemon peel its really lovely.

MG

Memory_Girl

OK OK - I think I might be getting just a little obsessed now .... every time something comes out lovely I want to run around and tell everyone that "You gotta try this!!!"

But ............."You gotta try this!"

APPLE PIE OVERNIGHT OATS - for two

50 g rough oatmeal (not porridge oats - the groats)
350 ml water
1 chopped apple
Half teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon maple syrup (or sugar - brown would be nice)



Bring the water to the boil and stir in all the ingredients.

Now settle into the thermal bag overnight and in the morning ....



Soooo lovely and creamy (with no icky pan to clean). The groats are lovely and soft and it really tastes like Apple Pie!!

I had mine hot - it didn't need any milk or any other sweetener so very thrifty.

DS1 had his hot with a spoon of yoghurt on top ..... we both cleared our plates!

Off to investigate some other overnight oats recipe as this is so easy ...... without having to hover over the pan in the morning.

MG

Chi-me

I've been watching this thread with great interest. My problem is my total lack of sewing skills. I have a very small sewing machine - one for sewing a straight line only but I've looked and looked at the pattern for this and cannot fathom out how I'd do it I'm feeling very thick as I can knit very well but not sew .

I wondered whether, if I bought two small bean bags and adjusted the amount of beans inside could I use them as a thermal cooker, one on top of the other with the pot inside? :think:

I really don't want to spend money I don't have buying one but am happy to get a couple of beanbags for the purpose.