The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

C_J

Ooh, what a great read - thanks @CCW007 😀

Si_Clist

C_J said:

...  I see you can buy an expensive cast iron lidded pan in which to bake potatoes on the top of the stove - I was intending to have a go at using one of my smaller Le Creuset casserole dishes for this. Has anyone ever done this?

FWIW we've accumulated all manner of things from charity shops over the years which we thought might be useful for cooking on top of the stove and found that the most useful for our purposes has been a cheap and cheerful Chinese cast-iron casserole-type thing.  It's wonky as hell and the lid doesn't fit properly, but it works a treat as a Dutch oven.

We also have a chrome-plated wire grid thing (a trivet?) like a smaller version of what goes in the bottom of a grill pan and that's used particularly for baked spuds.  Put grid thing on stove, wrap spuds in cooking foil, put spuds on grid thing, cover with whatever fits (eg terracotta flowerpot) and Bob's your mother's brother.

Also much-used is an enamelled steel thing which I believe was a Lakeland product.  It's octagonal, 6" or so across, and is covered with small bumps maybe 1/8" high.  Absolutely essential for keeping a pan simmering rather than boiling.

Finally, we reckon a good stove-top thermometer is well worth the money, especially for things like scones and breadbuns.  Having said that, though, I have no idea how you can confidently buy a good 'un: we have three and they all read different temps on the same stove top.

And finally finally, having mentioned "stove tops", obviously we'd be far better placed for more diverse stove-top cooking if our flue connected to the back rather than the top, but even with the reduced usable area because of the top flue, we still manage very nicely thank you when the need arises (or the mood takes us!).

ETA - Don't forget a kettle!  We got our cheapo stainless whistling ones from Morrisons of all places a few years ago now for a fiver apiece.  They had loads of them as some sort of offer, and I always remember how bemused the checkout captain was when I went back for two more (to keep as spares), and sorted through 'em with my steel ruler to find the ones with the flattest bottoms ...

C_J

Thank you @Si_Clist, that is really helpful. I already have an enamelled metal kettle (we used to use it on the gas stove in our touring caravan) which is in good-as-new condition. I also have one of those oval white enamelled roasting pans with the dimpled lid which might prove useful as a trivet and/or cover. I’ll have fun experimenting (only 12 days to go until the stove is installed) - we too will have limited cooking space as it will be a top fitting flue).

I was looking at the fans which you can stand on the top, and which supposedly circulate the heat. Any good? I don’t mind forking out a bit for useful accessories, as we have saved the best part of £1000 doing the fireplace breakout, plastering and redecorating ourselves. Well, I say ‘we’. It was mostly Mister CJ 😀

Si_Clist

C_J said:

... I was looking at the fans which you can stand on the top, and which supposedly circulate the heat. Any good?

Dunno.  We have two stoves, the smaller of which is a Stovax Brunel rated at just 4kW in our living room.  We live in a cold damp house with solid walls, the room's about 16ft x 12ft, and that stove kicks out so much heat after about a hour that we never need to run it with the room door shut.  I suppose if we went around with a thermometer we could find areas that are cooler than others and conclude that we need a fan, but obviously your circumstances could be completely different.

Cynical old me has often thought there's a lot of tackle for sale, especially in stove shops, which seems to be aimed at folks wondering what else they can buy to go with their new stove

We've somehow managed alright these last 30-odd years with just a poker, a pair of tongs, a toasting fork and an old square-ended wooden spoon which we use to rake the ashes through the grate with in the mornings.

ETA - My Lady Wife tells me that should one wish to be so stylish, one can actually purchase a steel bucket that's painted a very nice Farrow & Ball grey-green with "Ashes" written on it in flowing script, and it's only £49 ... 

C_J

You can get a matching bucket labelled “Kindling” too. You’re perfectly correct that anyone purchasing their first wood burner is likely to be a marketing person’s dream. Our ashes will be heading out of the door in an old galvanised metal bucket that we’ve had for more than three decades (and the wood ash will be used in the garden and, together with some leftover builders’ sand, as part of the dust bath for our chickens).

Ours will be a 5KW in a tiny room 4m x 4m, an old house with solid walls and single glazed sash windows which are pretty but draughty. We’re hoping it will get warm enough that the heat will circulate a bit around the rest of downstairs, or at least take enough of the chill off that we can forego the oil central heating sometimes.

I’m excited to meet our new Charnwood, can you tell?!

-taff

I got one of those fans for mine. It blows the warm air into the hallway and up the stairs, not a great deal, but it deifnitely works.

[Deleted User]

 Thank you for the recommendations about an emergency kit. I also need to buy a kettle to go on top of the wood burner. Does anybody have any recommendations? I have read differing advice about enamel versus steel.  Ideally I would like one that can just sit straight on the wood burner top and not need a trivet XX 

Jellytotts

Big yes to the stove top fans, we've got 2 on ours, one pointed towards the door so the heat travels out into the hallway and across to our bedroom and one pointed towards the far corner of the room where it pushes the heat out across the corner and really warms the room.

Our stove is dinky but works well for our bungalow, I keep an old tin can behind the fan and fill it with water, it humidifies the air which can get very dry otherwise, we both suffered with really stuff headaches for the first season we had it before I read about it. It's not enough to steam up the windows but enough to take the edge off.

Si_Clist

C_J said:

... Our ashes will be heading out of the door in an old galvanised metal bucket that we’ve had for more than three decades ...

In which case, should you ever get the chance I recommend comparing it with what passes for a galvanised steel bucket nowadays.  I wouldn't mind a crisp tenner for every ounce more yours will weigh than the brand new one does.

thriftwizard

Another vote for fans here: we have a 5Kw Pevex Bohemia which is technically more than enough for our 3.84m² living room, but we have a pretty-but-leaky single-glazed window and three doors out of it, two of them into the conservatory, so it doesn't overheat. The fan blows the heat out through the door into the hallway & up the stairs; the heating goes off when the stove is on, as the thermostat's in the hallway, and we all congregate in the living room, which is very sociable & also economical, as lights & other devices go off elsewhere.