Who says you can’t cook on an inverter?

If the question is, “Can I use my inverter to cook?”, then the answer is a resounding “Yes!”

Up until now most people have only used their inverters for lighter duties like powering up the lights, the TV, and charging laptops and cell phones. But with new technologies for household inverters and advances in battery power storage it’s now quite possible to use an induction hob powered directly from your inverter. These developments make cooking so much easier and more convenient, especially when the electricity supply is sometimes not always reliable! Gas stoves are the option most people have chosen to ensure that they can always prepare their meals but gas can be expensive and there’s always the task of keeping your gas cylinders full, carrying them around in your car and then lugging them into position and connecting them up. In addition, being a nonrenewable fossil fuel gas is not such a great option to use for cooking. As it burns LP Gas releases carbon dioxide and the process of mining it and then processing and transporting it is not very eco-friendly.

Your inverter converts DC (Direct Current) to AC (Alternating Current) which you need to power up your induction hob. Your inverter should have an output of at least 1000W although this might limit some of the functions so an output of 1500W (or more) is preferable. You can charge up your batteries with electricity, when it’s available, and then use your inverter when there’s no ZESA. You can also charge up your batteries from solar panels which makes this far more environmentally friendly.

There are no carbon emissions or pollution from solar.

An electric stove top heats up the hotplate which in turn heats the pot or pan so it takes a while to get to the desired temperature and a proportion of the energy used is wasted. Likewise, with gas some of the energy created by the burning process is dissipated into the surrounding air so neither options are all that efficient. Induction hobs don’t use heaters or burners to heat up your pot or pan. Instead they use a series of magnets to stimulate the iron atoms in your pot to directly create heat. This means you have to use cookware like stainless steel or cast iron – aluminium cookware simply won’t work. The cook top surface always stays cool so it’s safe to use even around children.

Well known appliance brand Whirlpool supplies their 6th Sense induction hobs in different sizes which have generally received excellent reviews. The cooktop instantly selects the correct temperature for boiling, simmering, melting or frying. They use less heat and cook food more evenly so there’s less chance of burning your food. If you spill food on to the hob it won’t get burnt on as it would with a conventional cooktop and the glass surface is easy to clean.

Whirlpool products are available locally from some appliance stores and specialist kitchen companies and you can order them online. At the moment Whirlpool tend to be the most popular brand in Zimbabwe but there are a number of other well-known brands that supply induction cookers like AEG, Hisense and Bosch.