Cooking with no cooker. Can it be done?

[PersonaNonGarter]

Woke up to a house full of smoke. Our much-hated aga has finally died.

We are getting a new set of units in a few months time with built in oven (I can’t speed the process up).

How do a family of four get to February with no cooker? Should I buy a BBQ?!

Family with 5 young DCs - no kitchen for 8 months!
Used slow cooker and a microwave. We managed!

Laughing at vomibination cooking - that’s the aga.

The perfect scenario would be to get a cooking utensil that I can keep using after the new cooker has gone in, so I am off to google reviews of the steamer and the instant pots types.

Gah to winter camping. We have no heating on the ground floor of our house.

You need as many of the following as possible

Microwave
slow cooker
toaster
steamer
rice cooker
Deep fat fryer

Slow cooker - stews, roasted joints or whole chicken. You can also do a cooked breakfast over night.

Toaster and toaster bags for toasties, potato waffles etc

Steamer - do the veg to go with the roast in the slow cooker. Wrap meat and seasoning in foil and cook in with the veg.

Rice cooker - add dry rice, spices, coconut milk and fish (salmon works well) obviously rice and you can do things like a frittata or omelette type dish.

Microwave - cook 'poached' eggs in ramekins, if it's a combie you can do yorkshire pudding. Sweet potato 'mash' in the microwave is easier than other mash, just stick a sweet potato in on full for 5 mins, then turn over and cook for another 5 mins. Cut it in half and just squeeze out the 'mash'.

Baked beans with grated cheese in to pour over the toast you do in the toaster.

You can use the fryer to fry potatoes steamed in the steamer to make a sort of fake roast potato.

Our cooker was out of action for 2 weeks, i managed fine for the first 10 days with my instant pot, microwave and single ring induction hob. After that i was pining for my oven/grill, but it was ok. Certainly i would struggle to last til February. If it were me, i'd buy a cheap secondhand cooker then sell it on afterwards.

I am hoping to justify getting a hostess trolley out of this. I’ve decided I need to Be More Gran if I have hardly any cooking facilities.

I nearly bought one, it was on ebay for 50p and didn't sell, but I don't have room.

I used a Ramoska for about a year when I didn't have a kitchen. I liked it, and did quite a variety of meals in it. I used it in combination with a twin burner camping stove, and soon got into the swing of meal planning for it.
But the Ramoska is quite expensive, so I'd suggest a halogen oven which would be a lot cheaper but cook a similar range of dishes.

How did you kill an Aga? I thought they were indestructible.....

www.amazon.co.uk/Quest-Benross-Mini-Rotisserie-Litre/dp/B00PAZ9E6G/ref=mp_s_a_1_20?keywords=toaster+oven&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1539425037&sr=8-20

I have this. It's fits a media chicken. Or 2 small trays of stuff. It was my emergency oven, but I use it s lot instead of the main one since it's cheaper to run. You could get that and a hot plate as a stove top replacement and you'd be fine.

A camping stove from Halfords is £10.

I have one to make chapattis as there is electric hob in our rented accommodation and I just can make them in it as they don't fluff up like on gas.

Also a halogen oven or slow cooker to go with it would tide you over for a while.

A double electric hob is about £30. If you have a combi microwave that's really all you need - how often do you use more than two hobs or more than one oven shelf? Scale down Christmas Dinner a bit and no problem - I managed two years with the above.

A halogen oven cooks the best chicken ever. You'll still use it when you've got your new kitchen.

I have this mini oven since my halogen tabletop died.

www.argos.co.uk/product/7249527

Its handy but for a long time heavy use would recommend an upgraded one and if you want to do Xmas dinner etc in it, maybe with a rotarissie in it as well

Halogen oven is fab. We used ours none stop for a few years until we got a new kitchen.

Instantpot is perfect for the winter. I adore mine.
I would also get a mini oven. We had one when we were renovating.
Surely your first priority is a boiler though?

£170 isn't cheap, for a 4 month cooker!

Get a secondhand one off Facebook marketplace?

We managed a few months with a hot plate, slow cooker and microwave oven. Got a bit repetitive but not too bad. We already owned the microwave and the slow cooker was given to us. I'm sure the hot plate was less than £100. I think it was a convection one. You might get something on Freecycle or Gumtree? If you are in Central Scotland PM me!

Our oven broke recently. I managed two months by using a halogen cooker and a slow cooker.

I've never been so glad to get an oven. 😂

Can’t your aga be fixed? They’re such simple things, a fire in a cast iron box is about it really. You’re going to miss it, with the heating gone too! What’s gone wrong with it?

we have a crap main cooker but cant change it as rented house, we have a combination microwave convection oven does everything we need add an air fryer and a slow cooker and i can cook anything i need to cook

I coped for about 4 weeks with a microwave that is also a grill and convection oven, and a dual portable induction hob, whilst waiting for my new range to be delivered. I put up the lids on the old dead one and put the induction hob on there, as not much was going to damage a cast iron hotplate!

We have a microwave with an oven & grill function. There isn't enough space in it for a full baking tray, for example, but you could do batches as a short term thing?

Forgot to say, that was to feed 2 adults and 2 kids. I even managed to make a baked ham with potatoes and cauliflower cheese.