Much to my frustration our utility bill for September was higher than the August bill was. Now for those of you who live in the southern areas you know as well as I do that that is just not right.
I've been having trouble for some time with my oven. Even though it is only 5 years old and well maintained. At first the broiler element quit working, but after repeated efforts to find a replacement part I was told there wasn't one. We did try ordering an element of another brand that "should" work only to find it didn't. After that hassle I decided to just forego the broiler. No big deal.
Fast forward to last month and the time to preheat was increasing -- drastically. Sometimes taking up to half an hour to preheat and I was having to add to cooking time. I priced stoves, but decided to wait it out. Especially since the range part is working perfectly.
When the utility bill came in I decided enough was enough. After researching and considering our needs at this stage in life I decided to go with the most economical and quickest fix -- a toaster convection oven.
I splurged on a large one that holds a 9x13 pan with no problem, so I am not out of any "volume" of cooking. The truth is, however, at this stage of cooking unless the "crowd" is home I don't have to bake in bulk. Long gone are the days of needing to bake up 6 pounds of bread dough. Will we replace the stove eventually? Yes, but I will wait for a good sale or perhaps a nice used one. This way I don't have to rush and I really love speed at which this heats up.
My daughter was taking a mid term test when it arrived and I thought it would be nice to have a snack waiting for her upon her return. A quick glance in the fruit bowl showed me I had a lone brown banana. A pull through the bits and pieces cabinet showed a small piece of a bag of mini chocolate chips left. So banana muffins were perfect for our test baking.
I can't tell you how happy I was to not have to fiddle with the temperatures and baking times.
I absolutley LOVE my mini convection oven. You WILL see a sharp drop in your electric bill as a result, I am certain.
ReplyDeleteI hope so. Either way I am really annoying how quickly it heats up.
DeleteI have a simple toaster over (circa late 80's) that still works well and I still use at regularly at the lake place. I keep saying I am going to get one for home since we rarely need an entire large oven for anything I cook. Your ordeal might be all I need to go ahead and bite the bullet
ReplyDeleteI'm finding I do less and less "big bakes" so I am thinking this will work out perfectly.
DeleteWe have a toaster oven that I like to use to keep my big oven off, if possible. Ours doesn't quite fit a 9X13 pan, but for the two of us really that isn't necessary. There are some quirks to it that I've had to adjust to, but overall I've really loved having it. It was my favorite christmas gift last year, actually. :)
ReplyDeleteI've been using this one frequently and I am enjoying how quickly it heats up.
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