Preparing for Winter

zenobia

I was wondering if anyone could recommend what type of camping stove to buy.I have never used one before and not sure what to look for. Are the gas cylinders easy to connect to the stove? We had a couple of power cuts last year both lasted for a good few hours so I thought I would be prepared.

mardatha

We had this one and it was great, really stable and the canisters just click on. Then we got the calor gas cooker

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Portable-Camping-Cooker-Cartridges-Refills/dp/B000RHV3MU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=sports&qid=1283516758&sr=8-1

ChocClare

mardatha wrote: »

We had this one and it was great, really stable and the canisters just click on. Then we got the calor gas cooker

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Portable-Camping-Cooker-Cartridges-Refills/dp/B000RHV3MU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=sports&qid=1283516758&sr=8-1

Mardatha, do you cook generally with calor gas? I have got the same little camping stove as you, but my main cooking is all electric WHICH I HATE. There is no gas where I live so I have been wondering about converting to LPG or calor or whatever it's called, but I keep reading that it's astronomically expensive to run. I miss cooking you can control!

mardatha

Years ago I had a fantastic Zanussi calor cooker, then switched to electric because the cylinders kept freezing on us in winter. I hated that damn elect cooker and it cost me £650.:mad: never liked it. Then I found that it wasnt the gas itself freezing, it was the rubber in the regulator. And that if you lagged it with bubblewrap then it never freezes
So I went back to a Calor cooker because I love gas. We get lots of power cuts and one lasted 5 days. The cooker is a Cannon, it comes ready fitted with calor and you dont have to fit the jets etc. We use a 19Kg cylinder once every 3 months, which works out at £10 a month in gas, or £2.50 a week. And my kettle is never off

mardatha

http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/481483/CANNON-C60LCIK


Thats the cooker but I didnt pay as much as that for it, look online for best price.
EDITED - sorry I had trouble getting the right link!
also look here -
http://www.365electrical.com/lpg-cookers.html

hannahO_2

Bought 2for1 knitted gloves today for £5.00 at Claire's. Was tempted to buy a wooly hat as well but that will have to be on another week.

katholicos

By no means am I a global warming party pooper, but i have to say that i do tend to think that there is a significant amount of extremism prevalent in the discussion (whether on line, on TV or in person) of climate change.

To some extent i would even say it can be scare-mongering and alarmist in it's zeal to 'raise awareness'.

ChocClare

mardatha wrote: »

Years ago I had a fantastic Zanussi calor cooker, then switched to electric because the cylinders kept freezing on us in winter. I hated that damn elect cooker and it cost me £650.:mad: never liked it. Then I found that it wasnt the gas itself freezing, it was the rubber in the regulator. And that if you lagged it with bubblewrap then it never freezes
So I went back to a Calor cooker because I love gas. We get lots of power cuts and one lasted 5 days. The cooker is a Cannon, it comes ready fitted with calor and you dont have to fit the jets etc. We use a 19Kg cylinder once every 3 months, which works out at £10 a month in gas, or £2.50 a week. And my kettle is never off

Thank you so much for this - looking far more feasible than eg heating the whole house with calor gas. I have just looked at the links and they have my old Rangemaster in an LPG version *flails*

Sadly, it's £1400 (my old one came with the house ), but we're not redoing the kitchen for ages :mad: so I can feel myself reusing the cabinets if it means I get to have the cooker I love... Off to look for prices for a 19kg cylinder now... does that fit in a cupboard next to the cooker????

mardatha

Ooooh I do feel GUILTY now LOL !! We use Propane, the red cylinders and they have to be kept outside. You just bore a hole (or your gasfitter does) through the kitchen wall to the cylinder - the gasfitter will sort all that. They connect it all up and test it.
I have found out that actually we would be better using the bigger cylinders, the 47kg ones, as they cost £60. Two of my 19kg costs me £60 - so next time we are switching to the bigger size. Plus we would only need to change that twice a year.
Edited- these prices are what I pay including delivery. YOu might get them cheaper.

SwipernoSwiping

With regard to the blogger and his forecast- there is a lot of sense and have read it through, but it is based on alot of "possibles" and "Mightbes" just like anything else.

Equally you can shun the science and look at nature - more berries out and about this year than there was last year, and I recall the press making a lot of fuss about hard winters and berry harvest omens.

http://www.naturescalendar.org.uk - thanks to this the family is off hunting the berries this weekend that I have seen and not "known" what they were. So Sloe Gin, and Elderberry and Damson crumble is also on the to cook list .. amongst others. Going to turn it into a bit of a treasure hunt for my daughter, so she can record her findings on the net when she gets back.

Annoyingly warmfront have approved my paperwork and passed my details on to an installer. - So do I get on with covering the windows with plastic I'll have to rip off again when they want to run draftproofing around the wooden frames? - You can bet on the fact the minute I stick the stuff up they'll ring to make the appt! :mad: and the fire cement wont have dried before they rip it out to replace it with a cassette.