Friday, 29 January 2016

Watt bargains!

You know the old saying "nothing lasts forever"?  Well, my $1.00 hotplates are now retired.

The plates still worked but the plastic moulding which supported the legs had broken, so the unit was no longer stable.

Our local op-shop had a set of $5.00 hotplates the other day and I brought them home. It's hard to go wrong at that price - especially with a money-back guarantee!

There is no kitchen in the van.  I cook outside, using one of our folding tables as a bench.  It stays set up against the van as there is not a lot of room under our gazebo.  (Of course when it rains, I need a Plan B)!

I cook most of our meals using a large electric frypan.  It's quite versatile and I've made a variety of meals in it.  We don't have a microwave.  Rice is cooked in one of our thermal cookers (using the hotplates for the initial heating).  From time to time, I use one of our Cobb Cookers for BBQing or cake-baking - if I'm not in a hurry!

I was looking for an easier oven option though and had been researching turbo ovens.  The cheapest was the Kmart version - $45.00.  Nick and I were out yesterday.  We visited our favourite tip shop and spotted a great turbo oven - for $5.00!  How good was that?!  It didn't come with a money-back guarantee but had seen very little use.  Once home, it was washed and put into service!

I had a cake mix, so made that last night.  It was jazzed up a bit with some chunks of white chocolate.  The turbo oven did fine work and we all appreciated slices of warm cake as a late supper.  Yum!

The cake mix had been on special at our local IGA for 69c, only slightly dearer than a generic brand.  I prefer to bake from scratch but my limited "kitchen" facilities make that a bit tricky at the moment, so I'm allowed to cheat!  The IGA has a small range of baked goods but the prices are around $7.00 for quite basic offerings - yep the oven has already paid for itself!

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