New Adventures in Cooking or Screw off BC Hydro...I'm Tired of Giving you my Money!

It's been about a week now since the 220 volt, power grubbing, electric range has left my house and I haven't missed it at all so far. The space that it used to take up in my 12 x 50 foot mobile home was immediately filled and I like the new look. My going stoveless was to be a temporary arrangement until after the wall that it backed onto came down and the kitchen expanded to include what is now a spare room. For this last week I have relied almost exclusively on my woodstove to do all my cooking. The only exception to this has been the day I decided to make myself a loaf in my bread machine and I am already considering my options as far as that appliance, that runs for over 4 hours to make one loaf of bread is concerned. I always do a certain amount of my winter cooking on my woodstove but never taken it as seriously or had so much fun with it as I have had this year. I mean...it's sitting right there in my kitchen burning already to keep my house warm...it's the only source of heat in my place...it's always hot...what the heck. I've made the usual soups and pots of beans as well as complete chicken and salmon dinners, not to mention fried potato, sausage and french toast breakfasts. I don't feel that I've lost anything or suffered at all over this last week and in fact I am grateful for all that the electric range's departure has brought me. It certainly has raised my awareness as to my self-imposed dependence on electrical appliances. Half a dozen times a day I used to turn that stove on to boil my kettle for tea...220 volts of power to heat one cup of water...was I nuts! Two hours of oven time to cook a chicken when my already toasty warm, woodstove is sitting six feet away just begging to be used?! I'm already dreaming of what I'm going to do with all the money I save. Not to mention the sense of accomplishment and pride I feel in doing my part to lessen my environmental footprint. I have felt a stronger connection and appreciation for the food I am preparing in this manner as well. It is hard to describe and I don't quite know where it's coming from. Maybe it is because I harvested the dead trees from the forest this Spring with my friend Bert and split those blocks of wood once home with the help of  Barb and her son Dave, so have those happy, memories to add to the fire that burns to cook my meals today. Certainly don't get any warm, fuzzy feelings from paying my hydro bill when it comes in, LoL! I purchased a two burner, hot plate from the local thrift store prior to letting the range go and am already thinking that I could probably get by with that and my toaster oven(both of which take considerably less power and space) come summer when it is too hot to light a fire inside and too dry to burn one outside. Yes, I am already visualizing outdoor cooking adventures on my trailer park pad for the coming year, but that will be another story for another day. I'm beginning to think that I don't really need a full size, electric range or some of the other gadgets that suck power and take up counter space at all. Some life style adjustments and a little bit of ingenuity...the possibilities are endless...screw off BC Hydro...I'm tired of giving you my money!