LPG was never an inexpensive commodity in India. But thanks to the government's competency and flip-flopping on the idea of LPG subsidy and number of cylinders per year, not to mention the headache of cash transfer back, I decided to go in for an Induction cooktop for the house.
You would have seen plenty of them in stores these days. A Black ceramic surface with some control panel and a cable is all it seems to consist of. But what is induction cooking. Is it like magic, some would ask.
Actually, even I did not know, so here's a quick explanation from Wikipedia;)
In an induction cooker, a coil of copper wire is placed underneath the cooking pot. An alternating electric current flows through the coil, which produces an oscillating magnetic field. This field induces an electric current in the pot. Current flowing in the metal pot produces resistive heating which heats the food.
Right, I still did not understand it, but anyway, the simple explanation is this. You plug in the induction cooker to a plug point and turn it on. Put a metal flat surfaced utensil on it, and voila, the utensil heats up and you can start cooking. A curved utensil will not work due to the lack of contact area between the cooker and the vessel. Hence kadhai's are our of the question.
So how effective is the Induction Cooker, and why did I choose the Bajaj cooker. Well for one simple reason, it was available at a 50% discount on Flipkart then, and costed me only Rs. 2, 000. I have been using it for one year so far and it has not given me any trouble yet.
So why use an induction cooker, when you can use a gas stove. Well, there are two reasons:
*1. Speed of Cooking.
- Saving on Costs.*
And the added benefit on not depending on your useless LPG supplier when the previous cylinder runs out.
1. Speed:
An induction cooker heats up liquids really really fast. For e.g. To boil the water for a cup of tea takes at least 4-5 minutes on full flame on a gas stove. The induction cooker manages to do it in less than 1 and a half minutes, if left at medium power (1000W).
Or to boil one litre of cold milk fresh from the milkman takes at least 15 minutes on the gas stove, while the induction cooker can do it in 6 minutes.So for time saving the induction cooker makes sense.
2. Cost Savings:
Traditionally, the Gas Cylinder at our house lasts for around 28 - 30 days, and costs Rs. 450 per cylinder. Now, we started using the induction cooker exclusively for the following purposes:
Making tea.
Boiling milk.
Making Maggi.
In addition, on weekends, we use it for boiling rice or dal.
Now, for the past 6 months, the gas cylinder lasts for around 37 - 40 days. Which means, in a year, if we earlier required 12 cylinders (12 * 450= Rs. 5, 400), we now manage with 9.12 cylinder worth of gas (9.12 * 450= Rs. 4, 100), which means a savings of Rs. 1, 300 per year.
The induction cooker can use as much power as an iron or geyser. (e.g. 800W to 1600W) However, since it cooks food much faster, you do not need to keep it on for some time. Our electricity bill before the induction cooker was on an average of Rs.1, 200 per month.
After starting to use it, it comes to around Rs. 1, 250 per month on average. Which means an additional electricity cost of Rs. 50* 12= Rs. 600
Net savings is Rs. 700 per year. Now, that might not seem much, but the savings will be much more if you use more than 12 cylinders a year.
A tip for saving more on induction cooking is to not use it for slow cooking items like stews, frying vegetables etc. since the electricity consumed will be for a longer period and the cost benefits may not work out.
Also, sadly, when LPG prices go up in the future, the cost benefits from induction cooking will be much greater.
Now coming back to the Bajaj ICX8. It has various cooking modes like milk, soup, frying, dosa, and the regular mode of simply adjusting voltage.
In my estimation, changing the voltage, i.e. basic cooking mode, is the only cooking mode required. Increasing the voltage results in faster heating, while reducing it is like putting on low flame on the gas stove, allowing you to simmer items like tea.
One drawback is that the cooker is not really smart, i.e. even on the smart cooking modes like milk, it does not automatically shut off when the cooking is completed. Hence, you still need to keep a check on the milk as it can over boil very easily. In that respect, it is similar to a gas stove.
Also, given the high voltage requirements, it does not run properly if you are running a generator or inverter at the house. It might overload or deplete the batteries very quickly.
*Conclusion: Of course, these are minor quibbles. You should not look at induction cookers as a replacement for a gas stove, primarily because it depends on electricity, whose supply is also not consistent in our country. Plus, you need to buy induction friendly utensils for it.
However, think of it as a supplementary cooking stove which can be used whenever you want things made fast, and the induction cooker has a much better appeal.
Personally, you can find many good brands of cookers these days. I would recommend buying that one which is on sale, as there is not much difference between them.*
