I have the thermostat set down to 60 [View all]

[Kaleva]

Brought my wife to the hospital last Wednesday and I turned the tstat to 60 from 72 just before we left at 8 in the morning. I didn't return for about 7 hours and the house was still in the mid 60's. Back when the outside temp was zero and below, the temp in the house would drop from the daytime setting of 72 to the nighttime setting of 67 in a half hour. Last Wednesday, the outside temp was about 30 so the temperature differential and heat transfer rate was much lower then when it was subzero outside. The furnace didn't kick on until just before 8 pm.

The reason I'm doing this is that LP gas is $2 a gallon now. In the summer, it's $.90 a gallon so I'm trying to make what I got last for as long as possible. My plan is to run this tank empty in the summer and replace our current 500 gallon tank, which we own, with a 1000 gallon tank tank I can lease from my gas supplier for about $148 a year. Even with the cost of the lease, I could potentially save around $1k a year of heating cost buy be able to buy in quantity in the summer and early winter when prices are low and have enough in the tank to ride it out when prices normally jump. Another reason I want the 1000 gallon tank is to have a lot on hand in case there's ever a problem with supply. I can order when the tank is 40% capacity or lower so plan to keep it at a minimum of 30-40%.

At 60, it isn't bad as long as I wear a flannel shirt and knit watch cap and I stay active which is easy to do with all the projects I have. In the evening when I watch tv, normally just YouTube videos on how to make basic bread or build a compost toilet or about gardening, I'll be in bed under the covers.

For meals, I'm trying out recipes using ingredients that are canned, dried, have a fairly decent shelf life (potatoes, carrots and cabbage for example) and that don't require refrigeration or be frozen until use which I can use to make meals that can be cooked just using the burners on the stovetop which I could light with a torch lighter if power ever where to go out. So far I've made Grandma Porter's Depression potato soup and fried cabbage with spam. Recipes for which I've posted in the cooking group. Tonight, I think I'll make myself black beans and rice. I pulled out 22 recipes out of my cook book that meet the criteria out of and put them in a sperate folder. Many of them involve rice but I think with various recipes, a mainly rice diet wouldn't be so bland over an extended period of time.

Also in regards to cooking, I want to practice using the Hawkins classic pressure cooker and Japanese Style Donabe rice cooker. Both of which are used on the stovetop. Right now, I cook the dried beans using an electric pressure cooker and the rice using a microwave rice cooker. I want the practice using the stovetop to cook the same in case power goes out. Learning to make Navaho Fry Bread is also on my list.