When you don’t have a range, or don’t want to use one, what are your options for cooking? It turns out that there are many great dishes that you can prepare. We found out the hard way after living without a stove for a few weeks. Here are some of the kitchen appliances that we used and the meals that we made in them.
Slow Cooker (Crockpot)
Obviously, there are so many different things that can be made in a crock pot. But up until we lost the stove, the main dishes we made all centered around meat. However, with the lack of a range or an oven, I started exploring side dishes and more vegetarian dishes. Without a range, I couldn’t brown meat or boil anything. In some cases, I had both of my crock pots going at the same time.
Some of our favorite crock pot successes were:
Vegetarian Lasagna (no need to boil the noodles)
Baked Beans
Broccoli Casserole
Toaster Oven
With a family of five, being able to make enough food for my family with a toaster oven was a bit of a challenge. Still, it was very doable. The first thing I did was determine which baking dishes would actually fit in the toaster oven if needed. Then I worked with those.
Loaf pans fit nicely, so toaster oven meatloaf was born.
Corn bread, cranberry bread and other quick loaf breads replaced the muffins I usually made.
Homemade Spaghettios
Casseroles (I just divided them into two square glass baking dishes and did them in batches).
Electric Skillet
We have a long electric skillet that we purchased when we got to the point where I had to triple the recipe for pancakes in order to feed everyone. Making one or two pancakes on the stove practically took an hour. Fortunately, I was able to put the electric skillet to good use making some of the following.
Breakfast (pancakes, eggs, turkey bacon) for dinner
Grilled cheese (all variations included a breaded version with mozzarella called “Little pockets”)
Burgers
Would you survive without a stove? If so, what would you make?