At times it feels as if I'm stuck in a gridlock. No matter at what time you leave there's always a traffic jam.
After reading the price of gas increased more than electricity I asked myself: What if I'm no longer able to buy those bottles with gaz?
I use them for cooking and baking and preparing food mainly for the children. If it was only me I would drink water, tea, a glass of milk, ate some yoghurt and a handful of fruit. I'm fine with that.
My cheap oven - without thermostat - runs on gas although at times the smell of (leaking?) gas makes me nauseous, and I have visions of mass of bodies in the gas chambers, I keep using it.
I decided to go on a pilgrimage on the world wide web where I read people bake bread in ricecookers. I don't have a rice cooker but I do have an electric wok and an electric water kettle (low Kwh since it was meant for camping) which I could use.
The past week I tried to figure out how to prepare food with what I have instead of buying the next electric kitchen help.
The kettle is good for boiling water, eggs (3 minutes boiling) and to warm vacuum wrapped sausages/food.
The electric wok was a gift from a neighbour and is a different story. I made scrambled eggs and tried to cook rice in it which isn't easy. I managed and a plus is water boils fast but I needed way more water, keep an eye on it and the rice got stuck. Cleaning the wok is quite a task too (not my favourite job).
Unecessary to say I still have the 'halogen lamp oven'.
I never managed to bake pie (apple) or cake with it which means I mainly use it for chicken or to make old bread/rolls a bit fresh again.
Last week I gave rolls made by me another try. It worked although the bottom remains white and looks a bit wet. Once out of the oven I turned the bread upside down till it was cold. It was good enough and the children liked it.
Today I gave it an other try.
This time I made a flat bread. Since this kitchentool isn't too big I didn't preheat and lowered the temp to 150-175°C. This way I can bake a bread without watching it within 20 (my guess even 15) minutes. It is definitely faster than using the oven.
There's a big chance all those high power lines will be useless in the nearest future too. Useless for the common man which means I most likely give up on cooking or baking although, my child said someone bakes cookies in a hot car. I never tried it but it might be worth the try. Cars can feel like baking ovens and I doubt baking something good is impossible if you use a lower temp.
Great ovens with thermostat my grandmother never had. It's possible to bake in an oven that runs on firewood and for sure the temperature cannot be controlled so perfectly as is possible today which feels a bit odd since in most households cookies, bread and great meals are rarely prepared. By the way, I read it takes up to 20 hours to 'bake' the rye bread I like so much which is done in an oven that's still hot but not heated any longer. You might say there are all kinds of screwed up people but I think it's very creative and for sure not a waste of the heath of the oven (firewood/coal). If it's possible to bake the rye bread overnight in a nearly cold oven baking in a(n old) car is too (the slow cooker turns out to be a best selling product).
What if I can't afford buying gas or pay for the electricity (electricity is more likely)?
In that case I need to find a way to have water. Water is most likely what we will miss most. Besides of being thirsty and dirty without water we can't stay alive. We can live without pie, cake, cookies and bread no matter if they are bought or homemade but being thirsty and dirty is not my kind of thing.
Is this message ment to children or adults? The world will turn into a smelly place where (sexual) diseases will reign. I doubt dirty Germans will bother/annoy Putin.
See @mariannewest for a daily prompt to write about.
Prompts for the #weekendfreewrite of July 23/24, 2022
mass of bodies
all kinds of screwed up
pilgrimage
gridlock
unnecessary
high power lines