Saving cash in the kitchen – Part 1.

I can never understand why people would waste money by wasting electricity. Let’s put aside any environmental benefits for one second and think in just monetary terms. You could be working overtime, or worse doing without a night down the pub just because you don’t run your kitchen in an efficient manner. Well I hate to waste things, especially a night down the pub so here are a few practical ways to save you a bit of cash in the kitchen.

Fridge

It is possible to do without a refrigerator and just use the pot in pot cooler instead, but for the rest of us we rely on a good old fashioned fridge. There are simple ways of getting this to run more efficiently my favourite is to fill it with beer. If you think your fridge spends all of its energy trying to keep things cool, if you have some bottles or cans of beer in there once these are cool they radiate coldness. This means that your fridge not only has less of an area to cool down but that area is radiating coldness too, so of course your fridge does not have to work so hard (you can also use bottles of water or any liquid).

Also keep your fridge in a cool place so that it can work less, some folk keep theirs in an outbuilding. I have also heard of people cutting a hole in the floor beneath their fridge, to keep it cool. Possibly not great for keep your house warm or to keep the landlord happy.

You should also keep the back of your fridge clean as again it will have to work harder if covered in dust.

Cooker – Hob

Think flat bottoms and crusty rings here. If you have food deposits on your electric ring then all the heat will not be getting to the pan. It stands to reason that the nearer your pan gets to the heat source the hotter it is. In the same respect your pan should be flush with the ring, if it has a flat bottom rather than a rounded bottom it will fit flush with the ring. So to recap; crusty rings and round bottoms are bad but a good flat bottom and a clean ring is good.

Cooker – Oven

The main area of your oven needs to be kept as airtight as possible. Frequently check your door to ensure that it seals properly. You could try putting a bank note in the door then closing if it stays in the same place your seal is fine, if it drops out then your seal possibly needs replacing.

You should also consider cooking as much as possible in the oven. Nev cooks loads of food in his in one go (such as three casseroles) then freezes it for later use. I always try and dry herbs or fungi in mine after I have used it as the temperature stays pretty warm for a good while after cooking.