Reddit reviews Waring SB30 1300-Watt Portable Single Burner

Have you considered buying a single burner?

I've been using this awesome Waring model because I don't wanna smash my glass range with my cast iron.

I'd start buying fresh fruit once a week to complement and sometimes replace the McDonald's and Taco Bell. I think that's the bare minimum.
Other than that I would get some sort of cooking facilities- maybe a crock pot as suggested elsewhere or a countertop oven and hotplate- probably better if you can get them combined. If I had room, and cash, after that then I might also want a minifridge. It's an expensive outlay initially but would save a lot of money in the long run as well as improve diet considerably.

I'm firmly in the propane camp, but for 2-3 gallons of liquid, you are going to need no less than 1300 watts. This Waring job should do the trick.

http://www.amazon.com/Waring-SB30-1300-Watt-Portable-Single/dp/B000I14C7I

I was in a similar situation once, but it was a year, rather than two months. I purchased a plug in extra burner so I could actually cook. I've found that I still use it years later even though we have a normal kitchen now. It's a handy thing to have. I would suggest it as it opens up so many more things you can do.

This is the one I have but you definitely don't need to go pro like I did. https://www.amazon.com/Waring-SB30-1300-Watt-Portable-Single/dp/B000I14C7I

Otherwise, most people don't realize you can cook pasta in the microwave, so that might open up some ideas for you

What about an induction cooktop. You would need stainless steel cookware to use it, but maybe an option for you?

If your glass stove won't work, these work well with the standard sized pressure canner.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000I14C7I/

I used mine so much, I finally burned out the element, but the price is decent!

it's really the thermal mass (heavy ceramic bowl) of a slow cooker... that causes a large delay from when the heating element is switched on to when the actual water temp changes. It takes a while for the temp controller (if it's a PID algorithm) to learn how to compensate for this delay.

Also a slow cooker has a relatively weak heating element. Rice cookers will be better... but you probably would lose water bath size.

I found these to be the best option for a DIY. You can use whatever container size you want.

http://www.amazon.com/Waring-SB30-1300-Watt-Portable-Single/dp/B000I14C7I/

Don't bother with the bubbler. Yes it moves the water but you're mostly just pumping cold air into the water which also creates instability. You're better off just increasing your water bath size and not overcrowding your food.

I got a waring one. I always find myself running out of burners when cooking for a crowd so for me it was killing 2 birds with 1 stone.

There are a variety of electric hot-plates that you can get which would be good for this, although they are generally going to be limited by the electric supply. If you are in the USA that means realistically you can only use ~1500 watts of power from a circuit. For comparison, a large element on an electric stove puts out about 2500 watts, and a burner on a gas range will put out even more than that.

So if you are talking about large-quantity, high-temp cooking you are right at the limit of what a standard electrical circuit can provide, and that does't even account for a second burner. (For the record I have this portable electric burner and like it. Some of the cheap electric ones with the exposed coils are a little unstable but that one is very sturdy for large pots.)

You could also look at portable propane burners, like this one that puts out 9000 BTU/hr which is about 2600 watts.

If you are talking about a proper grill you could look at the Weber Q line. There are a few different sizes but the smaller ones are collapsable and you can buy a folding stand for them if you want to travel with it. I'm sure there are also similar grills from other manufacturers but Weber is well-loved.

I don't have one of those =[ I'm thinking about something like this. http://www.amazon.com/Waring-SB30-1300-Watt-Portable-Single/dp/B000I14C7I/ref=pd_sim_sbs_indust_3

Check the charges to see how much is usage. My gas bill was always $23, $24, around that so I looked into it and I have to pay a $20 a month fee to keep my gas connected. So I was actually only using $3-4 a month.

Anyway, why don't you cancel your cooking gas? This will pay for itself in less than a year:

http://www.amazon.com/Waring-DB60-Portable-Double-Burner/dp/B000I16B18
or
http://www.amazon.com/Waring-SB30-1300-Watt-Portable-Single/dp/B000I14C7I/

EDIT: ebay link for the first one, $50!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Waring-Pro-SB30-1300-Watt-Portable-Single-Burner-/400214022082

EDIT2: Or if you want to get realllllly cheap:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Better-Chef-Double-Electric-Countertop-Range-IM-306DB-/320728771717?
OR
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Electric-Countertop-Portable-Double-Burner-Hot-Plate-1440-Watt-/160663582987

1. I use Reflectix, works well! Seems to be faster heat times than without one, and better heat retention. There is an OLD template (http://i.imgur.com/cNvFJQB.jpg) that I found to be inaccurate for the current US model. So, I made a new one: http://i.imgur.com/pcc2ZVV.jpg
   
   
   
2. I am still looking for a good Hop Spider also, and like you I am thinking of getting (or making) a 300 micron. Hop Spider/Sock is way less annoying than having a bunch of little bags floating around (or getting a clogged filter!).
   
   
   One poster on homebrewtalk found one that allegedly works well and is easy to clean: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=568752, it's https://www.williamsbrewing.com/HOP-SPIDER-FOR-KEGGLE-GRAINFATHER-P4030.aspx - a bit pricey, though, so I am still on the fence.
   
   
   

3. The heat stick may not be needed if you have good enough insulation around the Grainfather (I don't use one and feel the heat time is fine, but YMMV!) - it would definitely help speed up the process. A 1300W heat stick would help, but you need to watch your amperage usage - a Grainfather on "high" plus a 1300W heat stick draws ~24 amps or so, so you definitely can't (safely) run them on the same 15-amp/20-amp circuit to heat your water!
   
   
   Additionally, I use a Waring 1300-watt electric burner to heat up sparge water while waiting for the mash to finish: https://www.amazon.com/Waring-SB30-1300-Watt-Portable-Single/dp/B000I14C7I
   
   
   Same word of caution with the 1300W burner as with the heat stick - a Grainfather on "high" while using a 1300W burner draws too many amps for the circuit to handle. You /could/ run the Grainfather on "low" while mashing and also run the 1300W burner heating sparge water at the same time(only ~16 amps or so) if you had a 20-amp circuit and adequately rated extension cords. It's still a bit safer to run each device on its own circuit, especially if you aren't sure of the extension cord's rating.

What you want is a multi-purpose electric cooker like this one. You can set it to whatever temperature you want (within reason), so it can serve as a slow cooker or a steamer or a deep fryer or whatever. You can make pancakes in it if you work at it. I've done it.

If you're using it as a slow cooker, you might want to invest in some kind of timer to shut it off after so long.

EDIT: the other thing you could consider is a single burner electric range/hotplate (there's many cheaper ones than that one) and a couple of pans.