Cheap bespoke food prep mats

[tombear]

Having failed to find a cheap craft cutting mat to cut up in my travels I asked herself to look in Asda to see if they had any in their stationary section ( expanded as they are plugging the get ready for school line) They didn't but she brought me back a pack of 3 thin, flexible kitchen mats which I wouldn't use at home but are just the job! Primarily I wanted something hygienic when cutting up meat or kneading a dough I could put on top of a improvised flat surface like a rock or split log.

First one was for the shiny new GSI Bugaboo 10 inch square pan. a 9.5 inch square with the corners and edges rounded off fits well and wont scratch the Teflon.

The second was for a big pathfinder billy, I could have made it much larger and oblong and had it curved around the sides of the pot but then it wouldn't have taken the stove which is a good tight fit. Also the most i'll be using a mat for is cutting up meat for a stew and veg

The third is for my old GSI frying pan ( which is in a rather disgusting condition and needs a deep clean). I could have made it bigger to just fit in the bag but I like the fact that the bottom of the pan is protected from whatever I store in it, and anyway whats a couple of inches between friends?...

Lastly I did a kneading board for the reflector oven. Whoever thought black was a good colour for a cutting board? still it will be easy to see if I've cleaned the dough off properly.

I started off cutting with a heavy scalpel but soon realised some good shears/ light tin snips was much easier especially on the curves. I finished off with a small grit bit of wet and dry to smooth off and round the edges to prevent scratching. They weigh hardly anything, protect the non stick to a certain extent, are easy to clean and reduce the mess left after cooking,

ATB

Tom

 

[Bazzworx]

These are exactly what I use too, I cut mine to size with some heavy duty scissors.

 

[Robson Valley]

I'm using 4 large and 2 1/2 size sheets in the kitchen. What I like is that I can fold the sheet to direct the chopped foods into containers. Surprisingly cut proof and my kitchen edges are sharp.

Amused to see the stove wood pellets in little bags! Smallest I see is 40 lbs/18kg,
I was burning an average of 10,000lbs (5 tons) each winter for home heating.

 

[tombear]

It's cat litter, dead same as the compressed wood dust pellets used as fuel. But available in supermarkets in much smaller amounts. I wanted to try it in that stove and it works very well, for situations we're there wont be anything decent to burn. I weighed out some bags of it that fit inside the billy with the stove etc.

 

[Jared]

IKEA have 2 polypropylene flexible mats for £1, FINFÖRDELA.

 

[Robson Valley]

Interesting app for the wood pellets. Here, the wood pellet heater stoves depend upon the pellets being just about ultra dry. I've had a few bags left over in April, thinking, "oh well, I'll burn them off on cold nights in September." The bags are indoors and dry, but the bags are covered with pin-holes. That's enough for the pellets to suck in house humidity to start to come up to equilibrium.

I learned that I had to buy a ton (50 x 40lb bags on a pallet) and cut the old pellets 50/50 to get any sort of a clean burn. Depending on the weather, of course, I'd burn 50 bags in about 25-30 days with 3 clean-outs of maybe 1 kg brown ash.

Very interesting experiment to learn how well they burn in that little stove.

 

[tombear]

The pellets have been stored in a tied up bagfor a couple of years so ill make sure they are dried out. Next time I use the oven ill fill a roasting dish with them and stick them in after the things switched off and the residual heat should be enough to dry them out.

Atb

Tom

 

[Robson Valley]

Common practice here has been to shut down the pellet stove some time in April. Limp along on cold rainy summer days with the central heating furnace.

So I figured left over April pellets ought to burn OK in September. No, they don't burn with the blow-torch like effectiveness as when fresh/dry. Recall that all my 40 lb pellet bags are perforated with pinholes, makes them easier to pack on a freight pallet. Those get triple-wrapped in plastic so they can sit outside until sold. They don't last long here, Probably 40+ pellets stoves now in home heating use.

I like your plan to "refresh" them in a low oven. Let us know how well that works. But don't do them all for the sake of comparison.