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Post by SA Hunter on Jun 29, 2020 13:23:38 GMT 10
What non electric items do you have at home or in the kitchen that will be useful if the power goes out for a long time???
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frostbite
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Post by frostbite on Jun 29, 2020 13:35:42 GMT 10
A hand crank grain mill.
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Post by Whisperer on Jun 29, 2020 13:58:48 GMT 10
Wood stove with a wet back that is currently connected to radiators and hot water cylinder.
A hand cranked egg beater and butter churn
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Post by SA Hunter on Jun 29, 2020 14:14:21 GMT 10
Wood stove with a wet back that is currently connected to radiators and hot water cylinder.
A hand cranked egg beater and butter churn
when I read wet back, I laughed and thought "what's a Mexican doing connected to your radiator and hot water cylinder"? I'll berate myself now! |
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Post by SA Hunter on Jun 29, 2020 14:15:11 GMT 10
I found a pull string vegetable chopper.
And I have more than a few gas cartridge cookers.
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Post by Whisperer on Jun 29, 2020 14:17:32 GMT 10
Wood stove with a wet back that is currently connected to radiators and hot water cylinder.
A hand cranked egg beater and butter churn
when I read wet back, I laughed and thought "what's a Mexican doing connected to your radiator and hot water cylinder"? I'll berate myself now! That's what they're called here in NZ.
I am not going to hold you up to the politically correct spotlight.... Too much of that already
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Post by SA Hunter on Jun 29, 2020 14:21:42 GMT 10
when I read wet back, I laughed and thought "what's a Mexican doing connected to your radiator and hot water cylinder"? I'll berate myself now! That's what they're called here in NZ.
I am not going to hold you up to the politically correct spotlight.... Too much of that already
haha - pc & me get on like Trump and Antifa!!!!! |
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tomatoes
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Post by tomatoes on Jun 29, 2020 15:28:49 GMT 10
I have a hand crank grain mill and an oat flaker and quite a few other bits and pieces. I have tried to make sure I have enough solar power and the correct inverter to run my blender if I need to, as well as my camping fridges. My blender is needed for making nut milks, cheeses, etc - so very useful.
I have a stovetop pressure cooker (as backup for my electric one) - cut down cooking time.
I have a thermal cooker - use like a slow cooker with only a few minutes of boiling over the gas to start it off - great fuel saver.
I also have a couple of hand crank sewing machines and a treadle sewing machine - with spare parts (several more machines that I haven’t converted yet, and spare hand cranks, etc).
I have a butter churn but no source of milk, so don’t think it will be much use. I’ve made a vegan butter that tastes better than margarine and acts the same, so more likely to use that.
Obviously, there are whisks, knives, etc, that do most kitchen jobs anyway.
I can’t think of anything else off the top of my head.
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Morgo
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Post by Morgo on Jun 29, 2020 17:09:07 GMT 10
2x Weber Q BBQ's and enough gas to use them for every meal for months to come plus lots of accessories to cook differently on them. I plan on adding 3x charcoal BBQ's soon (1x PK Gril and 2x Weber) plus all the accessories. (BBQ has become my latest fad  ) Gravity lights Grain Mill Manual egg beater |
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Beno
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Post by Beno on Jun 29, 2020 17:33:40 GMT 10
I love charcoal weber roasts. If you can get some redgum wood and use the chips to smoke steaks, pure bliss.
I need electricity, i have nothing manual except a cheese grater, garlic crusher and a can opener in my kitchen 😆
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frostbite
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Post by frostbite on Jun 29, 2020 17:37:14 GMT 10
Do cast iron camp ovens and a million tonnes of free firewood count?
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tomatoes
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Post by tomatoes on Jun 29, 2020 20:21:37 GMT 10
Do cast iron camp ovens and a million tonnes of free firewood count? I think so. I am lacking firewood here. Hope to rectify that soon. I’m building up my collection of cast iron and blue steel cookware so it can be used on any surface. I also have a few different ways to use camp ovens. Right now I’m looking for a 12” camp oven with feet - seems hard to find. And when they’re back in stock I have my eyes on cast iron bread pans. |
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frostbite
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Post by frostbite on Jun 29, 2020 20:44:20 GMT 10
We use a tripod. You can very quickly adjust heat by raising or lowering the chain.
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Beno
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Post by Beno on Jun 29, 2020 21:04:16 GMT 10
Do cast iron camp ovens and a million tonnes of free firewood count? Now we are talking. Apart from all the conveniences electricity provides, i really only need electricity for refrigeration and maybe some light on these bloody long winter nights. |
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dirtdiva
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Post by dirtdiva on Jul 5, 2020 7:34:31 GMT 10
For my kitchen butter churn, grinder, hand mixer, peeler, mandolin slicer, can openers, pressure canner, camp stove. For my home pendulum clocks, old oil lanterns, treadle sewing machine, fireplace and plenty firewood, wind up alarm clocks, I even use
an old rotary dial phone that require no electricity.
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Post by spinifex on Jul 5, 2020 16:19:16 GMT 10
Sorry. I can't hold it in any more ...
My Wife is THE best non-electric item in our kitchen.
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kelabar
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Post by kelabar on Jul 25, 2020 22:06:49 GMT 10
Sorry. I can't hold it in any more ... My Wife is THE best non-electric item in our kitchen. So there are electric items that are better than her? I think that is how feminine logic would interpret that. Now you are in trouble!  I have hand tools for most things except angle grinding and welding. Need power for those. A combination or router plane would be good. Also no ability to saw large trees, only axes. Have experimented with rocket stoves for boiling water. Very effective. Should do another larger one and post it. Cast iron cookware for use over wood fires. Wood barbecue. Not a fan of powered appliances. Normally too noisy or too painful to clean compared to manual alternatives. |
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Post by Joey on Jul 26, 2020 10:37:54 GMT 10
I have knives  gas BBQ (used to own a charcoal BBQ but could never get the thing going unless I stuck the missus hair dryer underneath to get the charcoal glowing lol ) cast iron pots/pans/plate portable gas burner with plenty of spare cartridges When I was in the big smoke yesterday when looking for a brazier for the back yard but everybody was sold out and they said that they were having trouble getting new stock in. So will go to the scrap steel yard when I'm back at work this week and pick out from truck rims to make a DIY brazier |
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Post by Stealth on Jul 26, 2020 11:26:41 GMT 10
Seems like grain mills are a pretty common non-electric item. That's about the only thing that I do have. I plan to get some egg beaters soon, but in reality there's not a lot more that we need beyond good knives and a decent whetstone. I watch quite a few youtube vids on historical cooking methods and if any of the things that we have now end up croaking it's easy enough to replace the majority of them with hand crafted stuff that works just as well as their modern equivalents.
Egg beaters are another story though. Sure, you can make a whisk out of some good sticks but I'd much rather beaters for whipping egg whites than a whisk any day lol.
We have a Webber smoker which can be used as a (really short!) regular Webber by removing the central column portion, but we also have an Akorn smoker that does a much better job of retaining heat. It makes a great little oven with very little fuel required to keep it at a good temperature overnight if required. The Akorn is also far more effective at smoking things because the Webber leaks smoke like a sieve despite my best attempts at plugging gaps with thermal tape. The regular Webber would be fine for BBQing but the Akorn wins hands down for oven-roasting and smoking foods in general.
The only other thing that I'd really like to get a hold of but is somewhat challenging is a Sun Oven. I know you can make them but our ever-present problem is storage and I can't dedicate space to bulky items at the moment. That one remains a nice to have rather than a need to have while we have a few other cooking options like camp ovens and smoker/bbqs.
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tomatoes
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Post by tomatoes on Jul 26, 2020 16:18:59 GMT 10
.... The only other thing that I'd really like to get a hold of but is somewhat challenging is a Sun Oven. I know you can make them but our ever-present problem is storage and I can't dedicate space to bulky items at the moment. That one remains a nice to have rather than a need to have while we have a few other cooking options like camp ovens and smoker/bbqs. I made a solar oven once long ago. I wasn’t particularly successful cooking in it. Although I have looked at the foldable premade sun ovens, and I would get one if I had plenty of $$, my experience on the homemade one puts it pretty low on the list. I did buy a bottle that has various reflectors that claims to heat water to a temp that you can make tea, and that your water should be sterilised, etc. (I can’t remember the details as it was quite a few years ago). I tried it out on a hot day. It was pretty unsuccessful. I followed the directions carefully and I can’t remember if it never got hot enough or if it just took many hours. I’d be interested to hear if anyone has had a good experience of solar cooking. For my money and effort - I love my Kelly kettle for quick boiling water and small meals (and I’d consider getting a second smaller one - as mine is the largest) and a thermal cooker or camp oven for long slow cooking. These all need fuel but generally not much. |
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Jul 7, 2024 11:02:41 GMT 10
