Most RVs come with a two- or three-burner cooktop that uses propane for fuel. I don’t need two or three burners since I rarely cook with more than one pot or pan at a time anyway. I make a lot of things in the microwave so mostly use the cooktop for boiling eggs or making one dish meals in a skillet.
And, while I like cooking with gas, I am not fond of the process of buying propane while on the road nor the idea that I need a special detector to protect my life in case my propane system should develop a leak. So I am trying to design my new RV to not need any propane.
Research has shown me that an induction cooktop is the most efficient way of cooking with electricity. If you want to learn more about induction cooking this website is a good place to start: http://theinductionsite.com/proandcon.shtml.
As I often do, I also went to Technomadia’s website, http://www.technomadia.com/kitchen-gadgets-ideal-for-rvs/, to see what they decided to use. Their choice of induction cooktop looked like it would work for me so I bought one.
I knew I would not be able to use my existing cookware on this cooktop because it requires the cookware to be magnetic. Besides, if I took our cookware with me, what would Dave use while I’m gone? So I went shopping for new cookware.
Picture me walking through the store with my magnet in hand trying to stick it to the bottoms of various pieces of cookware.
I went to the store thinking I knew what cookware I would buy after having done so much research on Google. I was wrong. The set I wanted turned out to have pans that were tall but narrow. I couldn’t boil as many eggs as I like to cook at once in their pans. But, the pans I liked couldn’t be purchased individually; only in a set.
A set with way more pieces than I wanted.
So, Dave and I talked about it. He thought some of the pieces I didn’t want would work well for him. I thought I might use the stock pot while in the apartment even though I didn’t want to take it with me in the RV. We thought a bonus pan might make a good gift. And, there’s always Goodwill where someone might be thrilled to find such a good pan if we decide not to keep all of them.
So, I bought them, getting the bonus pan and a gift certificate as extra inducements to buy this set, and we brought them home.
And tried them out. On my new cooktop. Everything works amazingly well. And fast. The combination of this cooktop and these pans heat really, really fast then cook very evenly. It took only four minutes for the water to heat to boil eggs! And I made a mushroom/egg scramble that was big enough to provide three servings so I don’t have to cook every morning. I am very happy with my choices.
Now I just have to decide how many pieces of the cookware I am actually taking with me.
TTYL,
Linda
ps. As my WW meeting leader would say, “40.6 pounds outta here!” I feel like the turtle–slow but steady wins the race.
Almost 41 lbs. That is so marvelous. Not even going to know you when we see you again. I’ve often wondered about those cooktops. Aren’t they the ones that we see being demonstrated at Q?
I know nothing about those cooktops. Now I am a bit smarter about them…thanks.
So glad you are still sticking to losing the weight. Almost 41 lbs. That is like losing a small person. Good job!
Wow! 41 pounds. CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU!. I had never heard about those cooktops or magnetic pans. Thanks for the education. It’ll be interesting to see how you like it in your new RV.
Gosh 41 pounds is terrific. You should post a new picture so we can see what you look like now!
Very interesting cook top. I too generally only use one burner on my stove unless I have company. (which is very rare)
40+ lbs is nothing to sneeze about. Congratulations.
We bought a Max Burton induction unit because like you we hate always filling up the propane and we like cooking with electric. I hope you get a long and satisfying life out of your unit and cook up a storm. I love ours (as the primary cook) and hate using anything else. We were quite fortunate about our cookware in that most of ours was magnetic. But I have been surprised on our last visit to IKEA for some storage devices to discover that even their cheap lines of cookware are induction friendly.
cheers,
Peter
I’ve been curious about induction, Linda, and tempted to try it. Of course most of my existing cookware is not compatible. Also there is the issue of powering it. Do you plan to have full hookups wherever you go? or plan to run a generator each mealtime? You’d need quite a solar system and a hefty inverter to do all your cooking on induction, wouldn’t you – they’re like 1500 watts or so, no?
Other good ways to cook electrically are with small appliances – with an electric kettle, electric skillet, and a rice cooker you can cook almost anything – but then again you need to have where to store those things.
I looked at induction stoves when I lived on my sailboat but never got one. Always been curious to hear from somebody who has and uses one. I hear they use a bit more power than a conventional stove but I like the whole concept and not having to need any fuel is a big plus. Thanks for the article.
Capt. Fritter