Thursday 25 January 2018

Cooking on Gas

When we had the LPG  range fitted here a year ago and all the pipework done we had 19kg cylinders rather than the 47Kg. Mainly because we knew Col was going to be out of action and there is no way I can shift a 47Kg cylinder and get a new one in place. Whereas an empty 19Kg is easy to lift into the car and I can lift a full one out too. BUT they do seem to run out quite quickly ..........well they would .....being a third the size of what we are used to!

The cylinders are linked through a switch over valve, which automatically starts using the other cylinder when one is empty and has a dial that goes red so you know when to change the empty one. Much better than our first years at the smallholding when the one cylinder would often run out in the middle of cooking without me knowing. Now switch over valves are compulsory as is having the tanks chained to the wall.

Anyway, the other day when I swapped the empty cylinder for a full one (we have three - two fixed up and a spare to swap in) I came in to look at the accounts book to see when we last bought one. It didn't seem very long ago. I found we had the original 2 in the middle of April for which we paid the fitter £60- he did them cheaper. Then we were given one about ¾ full from my sister when they moved house and bought one in November for £37. And at the moment we have 2 full ( well apart from one weeks use)Can that be right? Maybe I missed writing one down, though I can only remember buying one.

So we've actually not spent much on gas at all but always possible to cut spending ..................

How can I cut down on use of gas? Perhaps by using hints from the past, from the WWII leaflet called "Save Fuel; Fuel's more precious than jewels" which is one of many period leaflets that make up this little book.
. 
 The book says   Cooking for Victory means Cooking with Economy

The handy hints are.............................

Did you know it takes 15% less gas to bring food to the boil in a covered saucepan?
So use a lid ✔ Yes I do that

Plan meals so that you fill your oven
I Try, it doesn't always work ❌  Must try harder

A gas grill uses a lot more gas than frying
So fry on low heat with very little fat  before raising temperature ✔ Yes rarely use grill.

Don't drown your vegetables, always cut veg into small pieces and use less water to cover.
Cut carrots into slices, shred cabbage, cook in minimal water with tight lid to steam cook ✔ Yes

Most gas used is on the large ring so use a smaller saucepan and smaller ring
Move large saucepans onto smaller rings once they have come to the boil ✔ I try to remember to do this    

And Finally
Most Important.........If just one home gave up toast for a year it would mean 2,000 extra bullets for the war effort !!

They knew how to make you feel guilty back then!

Oh and BTW that pie on yesterdays post needs  20 minutes on Gas 6 and 30 mins on Gas 4. Although the original recipe is for something much bigger using 500g of sausage meat, lots more bacon and 4 eggs . So I think I adjusted the cooking time down a bit - but not much.

And for everyone trying to see book titles on my little shelf...........voila!
Some very old books here and not a celebrity in sight!
Plus the only other recipe books I possess after clearing out lots when we moved twice.

Some of these could go too but Ziffit doesn't want them.

Most of the recipes I actually use are in poly-pockets in a very fat ring binder file thing. I tend to photo copy from borrowed recipe books or tear them out of the supermarkets free magazines.

Thank you for all yesterdays comments

Back Tomorrow
Sue



25 comments:

  1. That's a wonderful collection of books you have there!
    J x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nearly 40 years of picking up copies of old books from charity shops and boot sales

      Delete
  2. I remember stories told by my grandma during that time when they had so little. They always kept chickens, as many did, but when they stopped laying and were needed for the pot she couldn't do it so used to swap with the man next door. Trouble was she said his were scrawny unlike hers, so he had the better deal. I like to repurpose things too, cutting down an 8L water bottle, yarn bombing it and using it as a plant holder, thinking outside the box and being creative is the key xcx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Our Hybrid chickens were skinny things when they got to the end of laying, hardly a scrap of meat on them.
      Your ideas are very creative.

      Delete
  3. Some lovely books, I do want to get Kitchen in the Hills next. I don't have many cookery books apart from Mary Berry, Nigella and Nigel Slater, I have five folders for recipes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Before Amazon it took me 20 years of looking to find the Kitchen in the Hills book. I wrote to Elizabeth West and she replied saying she wasn't happy with that book as her original recipes were for 2 people and she had to redo them for 4 and the publishers didn't give her enough time to do them oroperly

      Delete
    2. Love my Kitchen in the Hills book, always on the look out for common sense books and you have helped fill my shelves through similar posts. My nan was aged 14 when World War One broke out and so very practised at making ends meet. Among many things I remember her doing was using the cabbage water for making gravy and if there was any gravy left on our plates at the end of the meal she would tell us to fetch a spoon and eat it up.
      Nothing was wasted and to this day if I there is something I can't use up I feel terribly guilty - Tam

      Delete
  4. Bring your pasta to the boil and then switch off the heat leaving the lid on is one of my favourites.
    Arilx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a good plan too - not in the wartime book but I guess pasta wasn't around much back then

      Delete
  5. I miss cooking on gas.

    We have so many of the same books ... I could almost replicate your photos on my blog.

    I think we all have a bit of a wartime slant going on at the moment, haven't we. There was a lot of commonsense used in those days even if times were hard 😊

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've used gas for almost all of my 43 (OMG) years of cooking and the year of electric hob in Ipswich made me determined to have LPG here.

      The wartime thing.......I feel as if I'm copying you but honestly had some of my post ideas earlier. And have NO intention on living on rations anytime soon! :-)

      Delete
  6. Like you I've only had to use an electric stove for one out of my (56) years of marriage (makes me sound old lol) and it was not a pleasure at all.
    Stop opening the oven door and put the lid back on - one of the first things my mother (she with no cooking skills at all) taught me.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I haven't had a gas cooker for over twenty years and I still miss cooking on gas.
    Hugs-x-

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's an electric hob I don't like, so seems so slow compared to gas.

      Delete
  8. Think my Nanna must have had that book during the war, the tips you've listed have definitely been passed down - apart from the toast eating one. xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wonder if anyone heeded that leaflet about not toasting when toast is comforting and bread was a staple

      Delete
  9. Thanks for sharing the book shelf. I don't recognise any. Mine has my mum's 1935 edition of Mrs Beetons. my 1987 Christmas present from Mum of Delia's Complete Cookery Course, Marguerite Pattens Every Day Cook Book, Floyd on France (which I like as a good read) and a Czech and Slovak cook book because they cook with lard and many of the recipes are similar to my childhood food which I still prefer. I consult all of these books from time to time. I have never had gas in any shape or form. I also don't have a microwave and have never had one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I use our microwave a lot as it uses less electric, things like scrambled eggs and reheating

      Delete
  10. My downfall is not filling the oven. I like to cook in bulk and obviously fill it with more then, but on a day to day basis I just don't have enough to cook to fill it. It is easier when you have a family at home.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I loved reading along your book shelf. Some very familiar ones in there, Shirley Goode's (I used to love her blog, too) the Elizabeth West's and Rose Elliot, but plenty more for me to keep an eye open for.
    We have just reached the point where we have to admit that keeping the solid fuel Rayburn going is getting a bit too much work for us - felling the trees, sawing, chopping, stacking and then feeding the Rayburn and cleaning out the flues. It's a big decision because besides cooking it also provides all the hot water and the central heating, too. Lots of thought and number-crunching ahead.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We used to get through two wheelbarrow loads of wood a day at the smallholding with Rayburn and wood-burner and used to have to collect and cut wood every week except for summer weeks. It was Very hard work, but so cheap! Oil is easier but more worrying because I don't really know how it works

      Delete
  12. Just when I was starting to think, it might be time to get rid of my old cookbooks...There's something so cozy when you can sit down and look through a cookbook - the internet is nice but does not compare.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Meals in a mug.....
    I want to read that book!
    Rose x

    ReplyDelete