What arrangements have you made for cooking should the energy be turned off?

Esspee

I thought cookers today wouldn’t allow the gas to flow if the electric ignition wasn’t functioning. It is a compulsory safety feature, so I was told.

Mine can be lit with a marptch or gas lighter as can the fire.

We just ordered new gas lighters.
That's about it, really.

karmalady, I hope my Mum's home has back up generators as the home is in the middle of nowhere! It is beautiful and peaceful but with her dementia, I am not sure how Mum will cope if she hasn't got a book to look at. I know that sounds strange (and needy) but a book grounds her in a way nothing else does.

Try not to worry Icanhandthemback, care homes always have to be mindful of eg cpap equipment.

DaisyAnne

Thank you for the link Casdon. It used to be a British characteristic to "be prepared". It will be good if we are moving back to it. This sounds as if at least some of them are moving back to it.

I can't see a link to the actual plan though.

We were all Girl Guides and Boy Scouts, weren't we?!

Well, Brownies or Cubs at least.

Be Prepared is our motto ?

I’m nothing even wasting my breath thinking about it to be honest!

Elegran

Here is a link to the actual plan for sceduling powercuts, should they become necessary.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/995049/esec-guidance.pdf
You can find out what reference letter your house comes under from your power bill. It will be " a letter, often boxed, located near the top. Note that not every energy supplier will include your load block on your energy bills, so if this is the case you will need to contact them directly to find out." When you have this, look in the rota tables.

I just had a look at this, Elegran and it seems to be a version which was Revised in November 2019.

Surely it must have been updated since then, as other events have changed the likelihood of outages?

MawtheMerrier

Ahem
@DaisyAnne - as you will have realised those were not my words but Franbern and while I said I agreed with them, , I did not say them
But hey, never let the facts get in the way of a pile-on .

You quoted, you agreed and then you complained or are you now saying Franburn is responsible for your posts? If Franburn had been the one to complain, I would have replied to her.

Thanks everyone who put on such helpful posts. I have benefited from them. This now seems to have turned into a different sort of thread - the type I try to avoid. So, I'm off to do something more interesting - perhaps on another thread although there is baking to be done but once again, thanks for all the tips and ideas.

as they are going to be planned 3 hour cuts so we will know in advance the time of the 3 hour cut it will not be too difficult to cope with ,

Yep, my words - but - as has been said, never let reality get in the way of a response!!!

No, I do not have ANY camping equipment, nor would consider purchasing or using that. Have a couple of rather elderly jug flasks - bought for some 12 years ago. I AM actually one of those people who would be considered as I am in my80's with several medical problems.

However, I really can keep myself warm for a few hours should CH go off. If it is longer, I could take myself to bed - never have any heating on during the night.

I just find it incredible that people are paying out good money for camping equipment, etc. when so many people are really worried (not about outages) about heating and eating NOW. Definitely no extra money to spend on such equipment to use as a MAYBE.

If people have all that extra money - and wish to spend it that way, it is definitely their right to do so, but this 'fear of future' attitude can frighten far too many people who are just not able to make these arrangements. By the time we get to next April I do wonder how much of this equipment will have remained unused!!1

As for me going to neighbours for help - well, all I can say is that the reason I did not reply very speedily as that I have spent the last couple of hours at a neighbours flat helping her and sorting out arrangements for her as she was worried about something wrong with her gas boiler. IF......repeat IF there is any outages I will be one of those people checking on my neighbours (many who are very elderly) making sure they are all okay.

No more to be said. Will come back next April to hear all your experiences.

Franburn
Thank god for another voice of reason.
The worry about power cuts ( that we might not get) seems to have replaced the worry about covid.
At our ages we could possibly be dead before it happens, if it does ?

We bought a pack of these. That's it, really.

Callistemon21

We bought a pack of these. That's it, really.

Brilliant. You have plenty to share!

Norah

Callistemon21

We bought a pack of these. That's it, really.

Brilliant. You have plenty to share!

And a refill! ?

Callistemon21

Elegran

Here is a link to the actual plan for sceduling powercuts, should they become necessary.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/995049/esec-guidance.pdf
You can find out what reference letter your house comes under from your power bill. It will be " a letter, often boxed, located near the top. Note that not every energy supplier will include your load block on your energy bills, so if this is the case you will need to contact them directly to find out." When you have this, look in the rota tables.

I just had a look at this, Elegran and it seems to be a version which was Revised in November 2019.

Surely it must have been updated since then, as other events have changed the likelihood of outages?

Of course it will be largely unchanged - the area labels will be the same as they used to be, because they define the areas controlled by master switches in the Grid control centres. The central Grid wiring and switching map has not changed materially in four years, so a rota for throwing those switches in an emergency will be as valid now as in 2019. If you can find a revised version, do post it.

I don't think it is claimed to be something new. It is not a novelty for the electricity supplies to face a threat which may cause them to have to impose blackouts and it is not surprising that a system has been devised and still exists unchanged.

I have just shown it to my son-in-law, who says that it looks very like the rota that they received from their electricity supplier during the 1970's power cuts. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose , except that with the internet the rota is more accessible, and earlier, now than it was in the 70's.

I will Cook on my multi/ log burner. I have collected from charity shops suitable pans and also joined a group on Facebook called cooking on wood burners. It’s been a really helpful site with lots of tips and help for us who are new to it.

Esspee

I thought cookers today wouldn’t allow the gas to flow if the electric ignition wasn’t functioning. It is a compulsory safety feature, so I was told.

Our hob is two tears old and we can light burners independently.

DH has bought a new gas bottle for the BBQ. We can use it outside undercover. So he can cook in the cold if needed. We have a little gas camping stove too from when the youngest went on ATC camps. Would they be safe in the kitchen do you think? I would open the kitchen window.

I would try and manage with hot drinks from a flask if the power was off for 2 or 3 hours.

The gas should stay on shouldn't it. We did lose our gas for a week once in January. The gas engineers had to visit every home to turn us back on.

just looked at the Facebook page about cooking on a log burner. It makes it sound all very complicated.

We lost our gas for a fortnight in November 2019, and intermittently for the rest of the winter, and yes, every time it went off. Gas engineers had to make house to house visits when it went back on.

But as for cooking, we are a casserole and stew household and I just assembled all the ingredients for a casserole into a casserole, ideally cast iron, and put it on the burner in the morning. Potatoes got put on top of it for about half an hour before eating. I got a hob kettle and kept that on the stove most of the day, so cooking veg was easy as well, chop and put in a saucepan and pour boiling water over and put on the hob. It was all pretty straight forward.

Callistemon21

We bought a pack of these. That's it, really.

No gas here, so no point.

The only gas we have is a 2 ring camping stove with 2 small canisters, and matches. Matches work fine.

Callistemon21
We bought a pack of these. That's it, really


I thought they were bottle openers!
Pretty useful too, though
#shouldhavegonetospecsavers

Got a 'crockpot' and an old tagine - so could cook with wood in the half-drum bbq in the garden.

MawtheMerrier

Callistemon21
We bought a pack of these. That's it, really


I thought they were bottle openers!
Pretty useful too, though
#shouldhavegonetospecsavers

Yes, they're essential too. ?

Fleurpepper

Callistemon21

We bought a pack of these. That's it, really.

No gas here, so no point.

The only gas we have is a 2 ring camping stove with 2 small canisters, and matches. Matches work fine.

Are you all-electric or does your CH run on oil, Fleurpepper

There are a lot of people here in rural Wales who have oil for CH and hot water but presumably the boiler needs to have an electric spark to ignite, as does a gas boiler, so the CH and hot water go off anyway in an outage.