Energy saving cooking

miff_2

Apart from the obvious use of a Thermos in outdoor activities you can also use them to cook porridge pasta rice and eggs. Process takes a little longer and some trial and error is involved.   Also when you boil the kettle for a cuppa save the rest in a Thermos for the next one. 

Belenus

miff_2 said:

Apart from the obvious use of a Thermos in outdoor activities you can also use them to cook porridge pasta rice and eggs. Process takes a little longer and some trial and error is involved.   Also when you boil the kettle for a cuppa save the rest in a Thermos for the next one. 

Better still, boil just enough water for a cuppa so there is no water left over to cool down.

How much time, effort and cost is involved in cleaning a Thermos after cooking porridge etc in it?

I make my porridge in the bowl that I eat it from and I cook it in the microwave oven. It takes about 3 minutes in my 1,000 watt microwave oven to cook a large bowl of porridge. I stop it after about 90 seconds to stir and to add honey and sultanas and then give it another 90 seconds. 

Low electricity costs and no pan to clean afterwards.

Andy_L

Wouldn't the MSE approach to porridge be to have muesli instead? No power used at all

Belenus

Muesli is usually a lot more expensive than porridge oats so that would negate any energy cost savings.

I eat porridge because I like it and not because it is cheap. Hot porridge is lovely and warming in winter.

I also eat muesli and other cereals.

twopenny

If you put the oats and water in a pan the night before it's only heating needed. Microwave?
Cold pasta  is less calories. A new  I just discovered.

Bendy_House

As Bel with the porridge - a few minutes in the micro, stirring occasionally. But, good point, 2'penny - if left to soak, that'll do most of the job.

But, in water?! Yuck. Gotta be milk...

When filling a kettle, you'll get used to work out how long for. For my kitchen tap, it's one second ("onethousandandone") per mug, and it drives folk bonkers when I make the drinks and all mugs are filled ending with an empty kettle...
Mil, on t'other hand, would half-fill the kettle, boil it, microwave the milk in her mug, and then reboil the kettle just to get it back to onehundreddegrees. Grrrrr. 

JohnnyB70

miff_2 said:

Apart from the obvious use of a Thermos in outdoor activities you can also use them to cook porridge pasta rice and eggs. Process takes a little longer and some trial and error is involved.   Also when you boil the kettle for a cuppa save the rest in a Thermos for the next one. 

Porridge doesn’t need to be cooked, it forms the same end-product if you just use cold milk or water, so if you want you can make it cold and only warm it if you want when you eat it.

Rice and beans are the same, soaking overnight achieves the same as cooking them.

MoneyMon555

Ninja Foodie is better than putting full oven on, and does all manner of foods

And the best thing for the kitchen in the last couple of years...a Tefal Pressure Cooker, at least halved the amount of time + gas we use on stove 

fenwick458

I think the absolute cheapest way of boiling the kettle if anyone's interested is as follows:

have a jug of water at room temperature next to the kettle and keep it topped up
start with an empty kettle
pour water from the jug of room temp water into your tea/coffee cup 
then pour into the kettle and boil it

zero energy wasted by boiling too much water, and your only increasing the temperature from ~20°C to 100°C as opposed to ~5°C to 100°C when you fill the kettle straight from the tap

I don't do this btw I have a one cup kettle that's plumbed into the mains water so it automatically refills itself, but the principles are the same