Off grid. Living with solar and bottled gas.

The sun has shone all week. So we have not needed the generator to top the batteries up. I have made a concerted effort to manage the household tasks within the power options. That means bottled gas or the batteries for power, and of course, the sun and wind to dry clothes. Not that it matters if we run the generator as it is very economical but I have sort of set myself a challenge to manage without it. The gas runs the caravan three-way fridge, water heater, BBQ and burners and the solar manages appliances.
I’m sure I have told you that I am not an open fire lover, and anyway this is fire ban time, so wood fire cooking is out.
As an aside we were very saddened by the news of the fires in SA this week. We know the affected areas well since we lived outside Freeling for many years and our kids played sport at Hamley Bridge on weekends. As it happens the shed on our old house site was burnt down during the crisis. Wow!  Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost so much, not the least being the sense of security that home is supposed to give.
Back to the off grid challenge.
So I have been trying to crack bread baking in the BBQ. Our BBQ does not have a lot of clearance under its lid so I have to watch how high the dough rises in case it hits the top.  The other challenge is the amount of heat coming from the flame under the BBQ plate. I have been cooking cob loaves in a pie plate with five layers of folded aluminium foil in its base. I place the tin on two small pizza trays and put the whole lot on a low rack to keep a space between the BBQ plate and the base of the loaf. The loaf is a bit black on the bottom still but the bread is really  nice.

I finally found a 1lb tin that has a really heavy base and not too high sides so today’s bread looks very professional. Still cooked on the rack and two pizza tins the bottom of the loaf is brown but not burnt. The sides are crisp as well. Looks like the loaves on the suppliers web site.

It helps that I have found the correct place to aim for on our temperature gauge that K drilled a hole in the BBQ lid to install. 180 degrees at the BBQ lid for an hour produce this loaf today.( I did scones in it last weekend and it does all our roast and meat cooking.)  K was doing important things outside while the bread cooked.

The 12v 2000w inverter runs useful appliances including the our beloved coffee machine. With the power flooding in from the solar panels, as long as I don’t exceed the inverter’s capacity and I don’t run appliances too long and drag the batteries below save charge levels,  I can pretty much do any task. The trick is to do things that draw larger amounts of  juice while the sun makes the power during the day and to choose appliances that are low in power requirements. Electric kettles and toasters are generator only appliance and I don’t use them. But my stick mixer works quite nicely. At night the batteries handle lights, charge phones, run the camp fridge freezer, run the DVD player and TV and stretch to a coffee or two. Occasionally on a grey morning I might have to boil water and make plunger coffee if the batteries are low.
Today I washed in the twin tub, made coffee, ran the microwave to cook eggs for K and cooked these cake pops in a cheap cake pop machine. Apparently grandmas are supposed to have “something special for me to eat” when granddaughters come to visit. I hope she likes these little wonders. Five minutes in the appliance for 6 little cake balls.  I used a microwave cake in a mug recipe because a full cake mix would do about 30 balls. Six at a time I think I might have lost concentration well before the end.
I think this might become a grandma and granddaughter activity.

On a completely different subject, I finally finished my 12ply knitted afghan. Now all it needs is a home. This pattern is a favourite of mine. It starts from a rectangle in the middle and with clever casting on and off grows outwards. Mind you the 12ply yarn is hard on my wrists so I might stick with 8ply in future.

K is running new cables from the inverter today so I need to go and move some things out of a cupboard. I am anxious for this improvement to be finished ‘cos then I can leave the coffee machine on the bench instead of lifting it across to the inverter plug. Anything to make coffee more accessible I say.
Feeling quite self satisfied.

Cheers Sue
A Ferg on the Move.