Comments on: Rethinking Off Grid Cooking [1]

By: Your Off Grid Move-Power Weekend | Real Off Grid Energy and Life!

Your Off Grid Move-Power Weekend | Real Off Grid Energy and Life! — Sun, 09 May 2010 15:52:52 +0000

[...] and can use now. For example, stereo, Compact Florescent lighting, or cooking appliances like a crock pot or electric [...]

By: generator inverter and firewood | Real Off Grid Energy and Life!

generator inverter and firewood | Real Off Grid Energy and Life! — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 01:45:26 +0000

[...] about heating the air around you for a warm home. Recently, we’ve been rediscovering and rethinking about off grid cooking with small appliances. Share and [...]

By: Arild Jensen

Arild Jensen — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 01:50:23 +0000

Marshall I forgot to mention this crock pot was a Proctor Silex model “Crock Watcher” four quart capacity – Low heat is 119 watts, & high heat is 242 watts.

It also has a setting called Autoshift but I have not determined exactly how that is supposed to work. One drawback to buying these at the Sally Ann store being you seldom get the manual with it but for $5 its still a good deal. Some of the smaller models sell for $3 and they are rated for as little as 80 watts power consumption in the 1.5 quart size.

By: Arild Jensen

Arild Jensen — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 01:39:44 +0000

Crock pots are not sophisticated appliances. They lack timers and temp controls etc.
I cannibalized a defective microwave oven to get the key pad and timer circuits for some industrial timer use. All the microwaves I have dismantled have a relay or two driven by the electronic timer so it could be wired to switch on a crock pot and if the controller has two relays conceivably it could be wired to run low heat part of the cycle and high heat some of the time. HMmmm??? A salvaged capilliary tube temp controller could be added to shut off heat above a specified threshold. and if the crock pot is wrapped in a thermo blanket made from Reflectix it will not need the heater on for as long.
That means further reduction in actual electric power consumed. Conventional stoves have a vent pipe at the top which is very heat lossy.
Looks like I just created yet another experiment for my self.

By: Arild Jensen

Arild Jensen — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 01:28:17 +0000

Yes it took 968 watt hours from deep frozen bird to being ready to serve the 3 pounds chicken. No doubt we could have saved some energy if we had left the bird out to thaw naturally. We were away most of the day doing practice for the easter play at church so wanted something quick as soon as we got home. In real energy saving mode the bird would have been thawed out naturally from being deep frozen. After we got home the stock was simmered for an additional 15 minutes to make gravy. Better planning could have reduced the total consumption by 181.5 watt hour even more if you do not want the bird cooked so tender it falls off the bones.

By: marshall

marshall — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 23:33:40 +0000

Arild, did you happen to get the power used for this recipe?

By: Arild Jensen

Arild Jensen — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:38:18 +0000

Last night we cooked a 2 pound chicken in the crock pot ( 3 quart capacity Proctor Silex ) It took 4 hours. The frozen chicken was placed in the crock pot no water added. After two hours the sliced onions were added. By then lots of liquid had collected in bottom of crock pot. Half an hour before chicken was expected to be done, (usually 4 – 4.5 hours) potatoes and peas were cooked normally on a stove ( could be wood propane or electric)
You know the chicken is almost done if it starts to fall apart as soon as you lift it up.
In retrospect the gravy could have been better if we had used the tiny one quart crock pot to simmer it with flour thickening etc.
To do that would involve ladling off some of the drippings from the main crock pot and simmering it together with flour thickening. What we did this time was simmer the drippings in the main crock pot but this uses slightly more energy than the little one.
One further note. A long time ago we broke the original lid for crock pot. It had a steam vent hole but we substituted a pot lid which doesn’t have a steam hole. Results seem to produce a cooked chicken that is more moist and tender.

By: Arild Jensen

Arild Jensen — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:05:13 +0000

to assess how efficient an appliance is likely to be I look at how the heat is transferred into the food and how any heat leak is contained inside the appliance during cooking. Crock pots with integral heating (non immersible) are likely a bit better than the one with a removable liner where heat transfer is ever so slightly more heat lossy. The down side being you have to hand wash the container soon after emptying it or its hard work to clean off dried up food. It may also require more hot water (more energy use) to clean.