If you look carefully at the energy vampires in any house, there’s one common denominator: heat. This means cooking can be among your biggest costs, along with electric heaters and warming water for washing and radiators.
Amin Al-Habaibeh, Professor of Intelligent Engineering Systems, Nottingham Trent University carried out a series of mini experiments at home to compare the energy saving specs of the different appliances and normal cookers.
The savings and payback period depends on the food, fuel and technology. But in general using more efficient kitchen technology will lower your household energy bills. The findings are published in Air fryers and pressure cookers: how you can save money on your cooking bills but in summary:
- Chips: air fryer wins
- Rice and pasta: thermos cooker wins
- Potatoes: pressure cooker wins
Bear in mind that gas ovens are generally cheaper than electric ovens and inductions hobs beat conventional electric ones.
Remember that freezers work more efficiently when they are full while fridges use less energy when there is space for the air to properly circulate.
BBC Good Food suggests 21 ways to save money
- Plan ahead & budget. Make a budget and try to stick to it. Write down a shopping list that corresponds to a meal plan. Be prepared to swap in ingredients that you can’t get or that have gone up in price while you’re shopping. Don’t shop hungry or you’ll buy too much food.
- Explore bulk buying
- Buy fruit and vegetables in season. Try to buy most of your fresh produce in the season that it’s grown and harvested. If it’s grown close to home, with no transport or freight costs, the produce on offer should be competitively priced.
- Look out for offers on fresh produce. Some greengrocers have bargain bins of produce or offer bulk-buying on certain items, such as overly ripe bananas or blueberries. Supermarkets also sell off produce that’s going out of date, so shop at the end of the day when the stock is checked and goods are reduced.
- Opt for less but better quality meat. Cured meats in small amounts can pack a punch flavour-wise, so try adding a few slices of chorizo or a spoonful of ‘nduja to meals. Cutting the amount of meat you buy will enable you to buy better quality meat in the long term.
- Choose cheaper cuts. The difference in price between chicken breasts and thighs is bigger than you may think: about £7.33 a kilo vs £1.85 a kilo. The cost also goes up for organic meat. Choose lamb neck over lamb chops, pork collar over shoulder and so on, to save money.
- Use frozen veg. Frozen veg comes ready prepped, so you won’t discard any of the weight that you buy. It’s easy to portion and you can use small amounts quickly. Just stir into your pan of food and heat until cooked.
- Herb care. Cut herbs are expensive, so store the stems submerged in water in the fridge and you won’t waste a leaf. This works especially well for coriander and keeps the leaves in tip-top condition.
- Generate leftovers. Pasta, noodles or rice dishes are all good for making in excess and might save you having to buy your lunch the following day.
- Buy a pressure cooker. Using a pressure cooker cuts down on cooking time and allows you to buy cheaper ingredients that usually need a longer time to cook. These include beans and pulses (which can be cooked dry or soaked) and cheaper cuts of meat. A pressure cooker also makes the most of meat bones and carcasses, extracting every last bit of flavour from them for stock.
- Stock up your freezer. Ensure you have a good range of frozen food – it’ll last longer and you’ll save on food waste as you’ll only use what you need. It’s a misconception that frozen produce isn’t as good for you as fresh. Frozen vegetables are often frozen soon after picking, so the nutrients are preserved.
- Use everything. Something as simple as eating your cauliflower and broccoli stalks rather than throwing them away can be cost effective and save waste. Trim any woody bits, or just peel and cut into slices or strips and cook along with the florets. Stale bread can be made into puddings or whizz into breadcrumbs to make crunchy toppings for bakes and pasta.
- Cook dried pulses when the oven is on. Dried beans and pulses are cheaper to buy than canned ones but you have to soak then cook them. Using the oven to cook two items at a time makes economic sense, so make use of that spare oven shelf by cooking a pan of beans along with your main meal. Bring the soaked beans or pulses up to the boil in a large pan, then transfer to a baking dish with a tight-fitting lid and bake in the oven until tender.
- Batch cook basic ingredients. When making tomato sauce, make two or three times the recipe and freeze in portions for a quick pasta sauce or for adding to vegetable or meat dishes. You can do the same with batches of fried onions or white sauce. If you have cheese that’s past its best, make a cheese sauce and freeze in portions.
- Make your own treats. A simple homemade oat cookie, flapjack or a cake that lasts in a tin for a few days. Cut into small pieces so it lasts longer and is cost effective.
- Roll a rolling pin along the length of a tube of tomato purée and whatever remnants are left in the tube will squish out.
- Regrow lettuce from stalks. Pop a stalk in a container of fresh water in a sunny spot in the kitchen and, with any luck, the stalk should reshoot with micro lettuce leaves after four to five days – that’s enough to put in a sandwich. This works especially well with the living lettuces that are sold with their roots.
- Replant supermarket herbs in bigger pots – if you tend them, they’ll keep growing.
- Dust off appliances you may not use regularly to save on food waste. Use a blender or food processor to whizz up banana ice cream using sliced and frozen overripe banana, chop herbs for freezing or turn some never-going-to-ripen tomatoes into a purée (which you can also freeze).
- Make a regular stocktake of your kitchen. Knowing what is in your freezer, fridge and store cupboard will ensure you let nothing go to waste or end up buying anything in duplicate, which is a waste of money.
- Know your dates. Make sure you know the difference between best-before and use-by dates. Use-by dates indicate a period when food is no longer safe to eat and should always be adhered to. They’re usually found on perishable goods and it may be dangerous to consume them past that date. Best-before dates indicate the optimum quality of an ingredient – the items are safe to consume past this date but may not be in peak condition.
