Electrical Appliances

[DaveM]

Well we are seeing the cost of electricity sky-rocketing in SA so I have been looking at way to save electricity. As there are only the two of us and we normally never fry any food but would rather roast or grill our meat and using the stove to do two pieces of meat each night seemed a bit much. So I had seen one of these advertised some time back and thought I would give it a go. We have now been using it for over a week every night to do most of the cooking and I tell you I am sorry we never got one years back. The food seems to cook better and have more flavour and the meat is much more tender and juicy. They are not expensive and are well worth getting. Not sure how much electricity it is saving right now but I am sure it must be a bit. Normally we would have the oven on for around for long duration to cook and this seems to take much less cooking time over all. We have done a full roasted chicken as well as our normal meat products and they all seem to come out just that much better.

 

[Rocky]

Very interesting.
I have never heard of a unit like that.
Power rates are creeping up here too

 

[DaveM]

It really works great and is cheap to purchase as well

 

[DaveM]

The next thing I will be looking at is something like this

 

[DaveB]

And what exactly is wrong with a Weber braai ?

 

[DaveM]

Yip I have that as well but find it a real mission to clean

 

[The Seeker]

My Wife's had a Jenn-Air convection oven for over 10 years here. It's a combination microwave and convection oven.

They really do a great job, no doubt!

 

[DaveM]

I have seen those around and have been thinking about one as well but they don't come cheap

 

[The Seeker]

The next thing I will be looking at is something like this

View attachment 4295

Dave,

Get the Cuisinart Griddler.

This can be used like the one you posted above AND you can turn over the cooking surfaces to make into a flat surfaced griddle for making pancakes and eggs, etc.

The hinge allows it to be opened up flat and use both surfaces as a griddle or you can use it like a press form making paninis and such.

Here's the text about it:

The Cuisinart Griddler makes "multifunctional" an understatement! Make perfect panini. With four separate cooking options, it can handle everything from pancakes to sausages to grilled cheese to steaks, hamburgers and panini. It helps you prepare more servings of more kinds of food in less time, so you can cook for a crowd - no one has to wait! Simply change the cooking plates and adjust the floating hinge to use the Griddler as a Contact Grill, a Panini Press, or your choice of an extra-large double Open Grill or Griddle.

 

[The Seeker]

I have seen those around and have been thinking about one as well but they don't come cheap

If you take into account that you are getting BOTH a microwave and a convection oven the price isn't that bad. Buying each one separately would cost you more.

I'd say we paid around $800 for ours back then.

 

[hemibee]

We have an engineer in our department that built a solar powered microwave oven and uses it with pretty good results and it's fairly easy to build. Heck it could probably be built by a non-engineer. I'll have to see about getting a schematic and photos so you can build your own also.

 

[DaveM]

Dave,

Get the Cuisinart Griddler.

Yes that looks more like what I am after, must check around and see what we have to offer like this

If you take into account that you are getting BOTH a microwave and a convection oven the price isn't that bad. Buying each one separately would cost you more.

I'd say we paid around $800 for ours back then.

You right but I never heard any reports on one of these so I was a bit scared to spend that type of cash to find out it was a dud

 

[Gromit]

Use our convection all the time and have induction plate too. Induction is excellent ~ boils water in 1/3 of the time of any electric kettle, but you do need the right pots.

 

[CarlS]

Electric rates are creeping up here also. The microwave/convection ovens work quite well. I have had mine for over 15 years - and it still works.

 

[hemibee]

I want to take a sledgehammer to our convection oven. I hate that thing. If this is the best Jennair has to offer then the company is headed down the tubes. YMMV

I will admit ours is old and was old when we bought the house and their have probably been many updates and refinements since it was built but it will be a hard sell to get my wife to agree to another one after this one, she hates it more than I do.

If I ever get her to the point of starting the kitchen remodel it will be replaced with a has oven and the stovetop will also be swapped to gas. If we don't go the remodel route it might just get replaced with another electric oven.

Glad to hear y'all are having good luck and enjoy y'alls.

Have I mentioned how much I hate our convection oven? If not, I hate it.

YMMV.


Posting with Tapatalk for iPhone.

 

[The Seeker]

Use our convection all the time and have induction plate too. Induction is excellent ~ boils water in 1/3 of the time of any electric kettle, but you do need the right pots.

Buying all new pots and pans is the main reason we never went to the induction type.

 

[CarlS]

I want to take a sledgehammer to our convection oven. I hate that thing. If this is the best Jennair has to offer then the company is headed down the tubes. YMMV

I will admit ours is old and was old when we bought the house and their have probably been many updates and refinements since it was built but it will be a hard sell to get my wife to agree to another one after this one, she hates it more than I do.

If I ever get her to the point of starting the kitchen remodel it will be replaced with a has oven and the stovetop will also be swapped to gas. If we don't go the remodel route it might just get replaced with another electric oven.

Glad to hear y'all are having good luck and enjoy y'alls.

Have I mentioned how much I hate our convection oven? If not, I hate it.

YMMV.


Posting with Tapatalk for iPhone.

The home I bought in Lake City has propane for cooking and heating. I much prefer to cook with gas.

 

[otherwise]

We re-did the kitchen a little time back and went for gas cooktop, and electric fanforced oven. At the same time we replaced the electric hotwater system and put in a gas programmable system. It's great we never blend cold water with the hot just punch in the temperature required at each tap. All money saving for us.

 

[DaveM]

Sound like a good idea to have gas water heating as that is one thing that hits the electrical bill big time. I see plenty people are going for the solar geysers this side but I don't know about them. Besides really looking very ugly on your roof I am not sure they would work that well in winter. I have not heard much about the gas water heating systems this side so that may be something to look into.



The gas cooker electric oven is also being used this side but to purchase then this side is expensive. I may just look at the gas cooker at some time as with our new little oven setup we have all we need for most things

 

[Gromit]

We've been looking at converting to gas geysers for a while. Friends up the road from us converted and love the instant heat but love the cost reduction more!