Efficient cooking

[Kenomac]

It’s now 3pm same day, and here we are in float status at 27.73V 100% SOC. Time for another Nespresso.

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by gauvins

Took a quick look at the NuWave. Noticed the price (inexpensive) and power range (200-2000W in 200W increments).

Looks good.

Now. IIRC, moving Watts using an inverter incurs a loss of efficiency of 15-20%. Any way to migrate this?

Most inverters are on the order of 90% efficient. But there are losses associated with charging batteries too so 20% net losses is a good estimate for a solar setup. Even so, with enough solar panel power the losses are not a big detriment to efficient electric cooking. The cooktop only heats the pan and not so much the surrounding air. A gas cooktop releases a lot of heat into the air which is why induction tops are so popular onboard.

[ursuss]

Best to have an induction stove and a WALLAS diesel oven.
That oven is brilliant, sips diesel straight from your fuel tanks (approximately nothing) and bakes great.
https://www.wallas.fi/index.php?id=55

It all depends how often you will use the oven. If you only bake rarely, an electric oven will always be less cost, weight and hassle. But if you bake a bread every day, the WALLAS diesel oven is a great investment.

Can not recommend the WALLAS stove, its slow and hard to control. For stove I would go induction.

[preventec47]

An outside the box idea for boats which I used about 20 years ago in an RV was that I built a trap door inside my RV for access and welded up an in-line oven with hinge lid top out of heavy metal. in-line, I mean exhaust pipe. I can squeeze in two meatloaf pans side by side while cruising down the hwy. Especially for boats there would be a lot of waste heat going out the exhausts but it would be alot harder to do this safely as with the RV, the oven is outside ( beneath) the passenger compartment and no chance for carbon monoxide in passenger area. It is fairly impressive to pop a chicken,pork loin , or casseroles in the trap door access and pull it out 30 to 45 min later.

[JanetGroene]

A pressure cooker is low tech but still a way to cook quickly. Turn off the burner and the dish continues to cook as long as there is pressure inside. Bring rice up to full pressure, turn off heat, and forget it until pressure normalizes. Rice is done. Ditto the wok and stir frying. Quick, and the smaller you cut stuff up, the quicker it cooks. I eschew all the electric and digital stuff except for a small, cheap electric hot plate to use when plugged in at a marina and paying for power anyway.

[preventec47]

As far as efficient cooking and you have electricity, I dont think anything can beat the latest small sealed electric pressure cookers. The current resistance loops are built into the bottom of the pressure cooker so you are not wasting energy to heat up a stove top . If using gas, same thing with pressure cookers, they convert a higher percentage of the heat energy to the food especially the ones that route the hot air up and around the sides of the pressure cooker so as to transfer as much heat as possible.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

...This is also extremely efficient -- 2000 watts for just a few minutes at a time. Even 10 minutes of 2000 watts is only .333 kW/h, and I rarely run the microwave like that -- usually it's just a couple minutes at a time....

There is no such unit as kW/h. it is kWh.



2000 W = 2 kW = 33 AH at 12V for 10 minutes of use. Not a lot, but not trivial if used several times each day (I included an allowance for inverter loss). That's probably about 80 W of solar panel, on the average, just for that one use. Add induction cooking, an only boats with substantial charging resources could make that work. Yours has that.

[hasse_A]

We have a kerosene stove with oven and we love it. We have been cruising for 4 years now and have filled up with kerosene 3 times with an amount of 24 liters each time.
Kerosene gives you high energy/volume and weight. Last fill up was in St. John, Antigua and it was very cheap. I think we payed $30 EC for the 24 liter. When I where to pay and they said 30 dollars I handed over $30 US but to my surprise they wanted 30 $EC.
We have 420 W of solar power and use a 1400 W water heater for making tea and coffee which saves on the fuel to the stove. This is also much safer when under sail.
We are a crew of 2 and making coffee takes about 8 Ah from our 12 V house batteries.
I am surprised that kerosene is so seldom used since you really don't have trouble carrying enough to survive maybe at least a year. Getting the burner started takes a minute and when you get used to it is nothing to worry about.

/Hans

[The Sun King]

Aboard Sun King I use an electric coffee pot and a microwave oven. I will add an induction plate when Sunflower is ready to sail. The Coast Guard does not even require that I have a fire extinguisher on board with these setups.


What can you do with a coffee pot? A Keurig or other quick maker can supply you with hot water for soups and beverages, but put the hot water in a wide mouth thermos and you can slow cook beans, rice or dehydrated foods. In a microwave, I have regularly made pancakes and omelets, shelf storage foods and then the usual stuff.



These require only short periods of high power, so the requirements are negligible, compared to a continuous draw from the fridge or a/c.


You SHOULD be concerned about 170 amps draw. It is not necessary. Go to 24 or 48 volt house battery and reduce the strain for everything. This is 2019...why do you even have a generator?



It sounds like the alcohol stoves have pretty much gone away.

[weavis]

I use this for constant boiled water. Low wattage 670W and reboils when gets below 90C. (220v) They make a 110v. (bigger units available)

Approx every 3 hours for 1.5 mins.

I use a Clever dripper for coffee.

[FuzzyFeat]

Originally Posted by gauvins

What's the state of the art wrt cooking? We currently have the ubiquitous propane stove. Drawbacks being finding propane, safety, and adding heat to an already hot galley.
Induction plates and microwave ovens require obscene amounts of electricity (1200W or so). Slow cookers are poorly insulated and transfer considerable energy into ambient heat. Solar ovens look like inadequate solutions for morning coffee and evening meal (we do not heat food for lunch anyway).
We make coffee with a stove-top moka pot, frequently cook pasta, occasionally do pancakes, and grill meat. Being able to do this without propane would be great. Possible?

I have found adding a layer of insulation around a multi-Watt crock pot works wonders to reduce power consumption. I made made one with cut-outs for the controls and a cover for the top. We use the insulated crock pot a lot! Cook while the sun shines.
We use a 4 cup Mr coffee for breakfast and usually have oatmeal. I bring the oats up to a simmer, turn off the heat and put the pot in an home made insulating jacket. Cooks itself in ten minutes.

Often, we use a pressure cooker. We put an insulating jacket on after it comes up to pressure for finish the cooking.

We use a 750 Watt toaster.
We are/were full time cruisers and get/got four - five months on a 20# propane bottle in the warm months. Now that i am thinking about it, i might try cooking bread in the crock pot, why not? Any one try it?
I have a thousand Watt inverter and 350 Watts of solar and 450Ah battery bank. We adjust our meal planing according to the weather. Sometimes we just have to use the stove.

[Aargau]

Induction cooktops, pressure cookers, and a new model large sized toaster oven can handle almost every scenario.

I have several models of induction cookers, if you require precise temperature control this is the one you want:

https://polyscienceculinary.com/prod...-control-freak

Makes making caramels (need to bring to 155c, then down to 127c), yogurts (40F for 6 hours), doable which may not be as easy with other types of non-electric cooking.

[weavis]

Size comparison. (Brit small bottle HP sauce )

[maxpics]

Have a look at the Wallas 85DP Diesel cooker. There are different models available bit all of them are very safe burning diesel under a ceramic plate and with a special lid they can even be used to heat the cabin. A stove for baking is also available.
Not cheap, safe, very reliable, backup heater and if you have a diesel engine you should really have look at this.

[Fishbone 1]

Grilling on the stern rail, solar ovans really work but require some attention, and I cold brew my coffee. if i need hot coffe ,I usually don't mind some heat in cabin. My Magma grillalso works well as a single burner for pans.