My stove (and oven) have been broken for two weeks, and we haven’t yet replaced it.
My husband claims that he’s still doing research on a new model but I don’t for a moment believe him.
I think I’m being filmed for a reality show.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to feed a family of seven—eight if you include the five-month-old that’s feeding off of me—when you have neither a stove for frying nor an oven for baking?
Okay, it’s not impossible.
But it is really, really hard.
“What’s for lunch, Mom?”
“Microwaved soup.”
“What’s for supper, Mom?”
“Microwaved soup.”
“And for breakfast?”
You got it.
Microwaved soup.
My children now run screaming from the room when they see that familiar red & white label. Their life for a slice of meatloaf!*
At first I lobbied long & hard for a gas range—which Julia Child wannabe wouldn’t?—but after considerable research (sigh) my husband presented his findings: Around $1,000 for the new hood & gas line & rewiring, etc. and another $1,000 (so he says) for the stove itself.
Another sigh.
I do understand where he is coming from. If we were remodeling the whole kitchen then such an expense might be justified. We are not, however. We are just…replacing…the stove.
(Remodeling the kitchen would be more fun.)
If you have any recommendations for a tried-and-true electric range, please make them. My husband (the Consumer Reports guy) and I will be most grateful.
Ad Jesum per Mariam,
Ed. Note: Okay, so perhaps there’ve been a few crock-pot meals and grilled burgers for variety. It’s all a blur to my domestically challenged mind.
And speaking of my mind and what’s not left of it, this morning I went to make my coffee. I looked in the fridge for the half & half; it wasn’t there. Aargh! Mentally I blamed Son Number 2 (aka the grub master), who was packing for this weekend’s Boy Scout campout last night.
And then I saw the half & half on the counter. I had already taken it out and set it next to my coffee mug.
This is proof of two things: one, that I need my coffee in order to make my coffee…
…and two, that this No-Stove nonsense is getting the best of me.
.
I wish I could offer you a recommendation. I have a countertop gas stovetop that is separate from the wall electic oven. I much prefer GAS, but know how expensive it is to add that feature.
Just think of all the compliments you will get from your stove/oven cooking when you get one 😉
I wouldn't guess that it would be too expensive to run a gas line (my husband or father-in-law could do it easily), maybe there's a handyman in your neighborhood who could do it?
Love my gas stove (nothing fancy though). And, luckily you have a microwave! We don't have one so it's just the oven/stove and crockpot for us. 🙂
In the meantime…for your crockpot..tried and true recipes:
Bananas Foster
Ingredients:
* 6 bananas, peeled and cut in quarters
* 1/2 cup flaked coconut
* 1/2 tsp cinnamon
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1/2 cup dark corn syrup
* 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
* 1 tsp lemon zest, grated
* 3 tbsp lemon juice
* 1 tsp rum (optional)
* 12 slices pound cake
* 1 quart French vanilla ice cream, softened
* confectioners sugar, for garnish
Combine the bananas and coconut in the slow cooker. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cinnamon, salt, corn syrup, butter, lemon zest, lemon juice and rum. Pour over the banana and coconut mixture. Cover cook on Low for 1 to 2 hours. To create individual servings, place one scoop of the ice cream between two slices of pound cake. Ladle the bananas and sauce over each ice cream sandwich and dust with confectioners sugar.
Hot Fudge Cake
Ingredients
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. flour
3 T. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. milk
2 T. butter, melted
1/2 t. vanilla
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 3/4 c. boiling water
Directions
Combine 3/4 c. brown sugar, 1 c. flour, 3 T. cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir in milk, butter and vanilla. Spread over bottom of crock-pot. Combine 3/4 c. brown sugar and 1/4 c. cocoa; sprinkle over mixture in crock-pot. Pour in boiling water; DO NOT STIR. Cover and cook on high for 2-3 hours or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream
THe simplest recipe which my kids love… A package of boneless skinless frozen chicken breasts, dumped into the crockpot at 8am frozen, top with a can of cream of chicken soup. Set on high cover and walk away. At dinner time add 1 1/2 cups of water with 3 TBSP of flour mixed in well (no lumps), salt and pepper…serve over baked potatoes. (I am assuming you have a roaster in which to bake potatoes) If not get thee to a Target and purchase this item ASAP!
Nesco 18-Quart Roaster Oven, Nonstick $69.99 (Though almost always on sale the week of thanksgiving) It is the key to my Mother's preparing Thanksgiving for on average forty people each year. It can be used just as you would your oven for casseroles, and cakes.
On the stove note…if it is in your budget…go for a Viking you will not be sorry.
🙁 Sorry.
Maybe if you start making reservations instead of crock pot soup he'll move a little faster. Can't hurt to try.
I have a kitchen aid electric and am very happy with it…of course, who wouldn't love a viking?
I have a Maytag electric, flat-top stove/oven. I'd rather have gas, but it's good!
If I lived closer, I'd bring you a meal or invite you all over!!
I have a good crockpot recipe:
Crockpot Chicken Cattitore (how do you spell that word?)
Chicken breasts
chopped green pepper
chopped onion
fresh mushrooms
jar of spaghetti sauce
cook all day, shred chicken or cut thawed breasts into chunks before putting into crockpot
serve with Angel Hair pasta.
It smells soooo good while cooking, it's one of my favorites!
I love Barbara's response!
TRAGIC! It would kill me to have to wash the crockpot each night to use it the next day instead of throwing the leftovers in the crock into the fridge! A few mornings of rubbery microwaved eggs might light a fire under your researcher! My stove is a scratch and dent (the dent was in the back)-saved a boatload and got my gas range with 2 ovens+ convection–also took the extended warranty so they have to fix any problems that the scratch and dent may have caused—I would start experimenting a LOT in your position…which would send hubby running to the nearest retailer! LOL
I'd go Barbara's route, personally.
If something goes wonky with our kitchen gear, I get to call the housing folk to come fix/repair/install a new one. Gov't housing(or renting) does have some benefits, I guess. Anyway, I feel your pain.
I used a Viking in the condo we rented when we first got here: hated it. I could not figure out how to use the timer/clock thing for the life of me so I was always "winging" it. Make sure if you get Viking, you read the booklets.
Thanks for the laughs about the coffee. I'm very much the same. I do not know why I'm not having mine right now as I may type silly things.
No stove recs, but I feel for you. That must be tough! And as for the coffee misfire, yesterday I poured the water in the coffee machine, put the coffee and filter in, turned the thing on and in a couple minutes had a lovely pot of steaming hot coffee…all over my counter! I had forgotten to replace the carafe into the machine.
Like you, I need coffee before I can be expected to make coffee!
Oh, and I may be in the minority, but I don't care for a gas stove. I had one once and just could NOT get used to it. Something about teaching an old dog new tricks, I believe. Luckily we moved soon before the family had to eat too many burnt meals.
You poor dear…I agree with Barbara…several evenings of reservations for 7 and you'll have that gas line and stove in a flash. I have an electric flat top…works fine…but I really want a gas stove. This section of our neighboorhood does not have gas lines from the street to the houses so we too would have to pay for our line to have a gas stove.
I'm amazed at how patient you've been with your researcher…ask my husband about the time the garage door wouldn't work and he procrastinated….;)
Hi Minnesota Mom,
I love my Frigidaire Gallery stove with convection fan inside. It is a smooth top, which is easier to clean. I used to have a gas stove,too, but I honestly could not do anything well except boil water….because I guess I *like* the fact that the electric stove plate stays hot even when you turn it off. And I am not nearly as accomplished a chef as our beloved Ms. Child.
Last time we bought a new stove, we went to Sears Scratch and Dent appliance center and got a lovely stove for about $300 less than a floor model would have cost.
I love consumer reports, too. But then again, research people have to keep their lovely wife happy…so let him know about any sales, and how much money you will be saving by cooking/baking treats for your family *yourself*—and then make reservations for dinner…
God bless you and good luck!
Donna
I feel for you Margaret! Our electric stove/oven caught fire this past summer and we thought we'd finally have the excuse to upgrade to a gas range. Turns out, I have a husband who is handy and was able to resurrect the darn thing and I kissed my dreams of gas (the cooking kind) goodbye.
But while we were investigating the gas vs. electric options, we discovered that we absolutely did not want a glass/ceramic top electric stove for the following reasons:
1) can't (or shouldn't) use cast iron vessels on glass/ceramic top because it can a) get too hot (no where for air to circulate) and b) is too heavy. Both can cause the cooktop to shatter.
2) can't use it with a canner–again not even air gets circulated
Both of these were deal-breakers for me as I have two LeCreuset vessels which you'd have to pry from my cold dead hands and I do a fair amount of canning.
Good luck!
Ugh, how annoying! Hope you get a new range soon.
Here's one of my favorite crockpot recipes. It's from the cookbook Fix It and Forget It 5-Ingredient Favorites.
Roast Beef with Ginger Ale
3-lb beef roast
1/2 cup flour
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 envelope dry brown gravy mix
2 cups ginger ale
1. Coat the roast with flour. Reserve any flour that doesn't stick to the roast. Place roast in slow cooker.
2. Combine the dry soup mix, gravy mix, remaining flour, and ginger ale in a bowl. Mix well.
3. Pour sauce over roast.
4. Cover and cook on Low 8-10 hours or until the roast is tender.
Try Craislist. Really. Our stove broke last year and I REALLY wanted a gas/ convection stove and oven, but they were way out of my price range. My dear husband found a used one (but nearly new- since the people were just remodelling) that we bought for a fraction of the price of a new one… and I love it. Good luck!
That should have said Craigslist. Sorry.
Just have your hubby through another chair on the fire. Weenies on a stick!!
Me thinks your husband is pulling your leg, friend. A decent new stove only costs about $300.
I believe in quality products. The stove and oven are used daily. In our last home we put in Thermador counter top and double ovens. Fantastic!
Having said that, I am living with Whirpool Gold — an electric stove top and double ovens. Definately not the same but here beachside power outages destroy every appliance eventually. Yes, we have some surge protection. It's still damaging. We've had these appliances only six years, have replaced the electronics of the double ovens and am working with the big burner that burns everything and the hot light always stays on. I've adjusted but these products I would not recommend.
I have a propane tank gas grill with side burner I think we paid $225 I cooked with the grill for every meal for three weeks when we renovated the first house kitchen and even now power outages of three days to a week that grill is in constant use. Along with electric tea kettle, and expresso coffee maker. I've had to stay with electric but long ago I had gas. It's biggest advantage,cooks slower and even, takes all types of cookware works in power outages. cons watch that smell. I've saved two families from being gassed! And I remember the house blow up in South Riding, VA because gas hookup was not done right.
You have a large growing family, if you do a lot of cooking, go for quality.
I am never commenting about products again! No sooner had I written to you and I went to put a homemade pizza in the oven for lunch today. Last night we had homemade pizza's with company and I didn't realize the 500 degree oven and an uncooked piece of tomatoe on the inside glass do not go together. I found the inside glass cracked around the shape of the tomatoe. This is a second repair to double ovens. Good old internet and a husband whose now willing to take apart things and see if it can't be fixed. The glass replacement piece is $35 new double ovens $2,000.
I'm not much of a cook and I have only ever had an electric stove, but I do know that a glass top is awesome if you tend to cook things over, as I do.
You should get another quote on running a gas line. It shouldn't be that big a deal. My mom switched from electric to gas and the prep work cost less than $100. I'd go for gas. The years of joyful cooking will more than pay for whatever you spent on installation and product.
Oh, I just saw that the $1000 included the new hood. Got it.
Still, I say go for long term happiness.
Order a pizza!
My stove is broken, too! I'm going on about 1.5 weeks, though. We've been doing crockpot, microwave, and I can still use the oven, just not the stove top. We're going shopping after supper and I'm leaning toward a GE Profile PB920(something -there's other letters in it). My last one was a Maytag and it lasted 9 years. 🙁 But I do some canning on it. The GE has a paragraph about canning in the manual, so I figure this way might be okay. I'm thinking I'll get a countertop burner for those days when I need to run the stove all day long. Best wishes on your search and hopefully you will find some good recipes that don't need a stove! I'm trying some of those Complete Helper meals – some of them can be made in the microwave. But you'd probably have to do two together for your size family (I only have two little boys – who will soon be eating for six, judging by their current appetites, but we're managing right now).
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