Whilst cost of living is at the forefront of most peoples minds at the minute, people look for ways to save money especially when it comes to food and cooking. There are lots of ways to eat for less and making your own food definitely is cheaper. But when the energy prices rise, you wonder is the extra time at the hob evening the costs back out?
Now the cheaper way of cooking isn’t always the ‘best’ in terms of getting the most joy out of your food, but if we’re looking at efficiency over quality then there are options which still leave you with good food.
First of all the basics. When you cook food, you’re usually heating it up, this softens the food, adds flavour, kills any bacteria, helps you digest it and most importantly is fun 😉
Heating means energy and energy is what costs. So more energy used, more cost. Simple – just eat raw food…
Microwave
Since the late 40’s microwaves have been a wonder device for many kitchens, however they’re often associated with quick heated fast food (or drink).
Microwaves cook by ‘radiation’ that is ‘absorbed’ by the food, which in turn heats it up.
I use quotations, because your food won’t come out radioactive, the radiation is non ionising and penetrates the food so all the cells in the food vibrate to heat up. This is what makes microwaves cook faster than most other methods and because of that speed it also makes it more efficient and cheaper to run.
Now although the microwave has these negative connotations towards it, it is a very useful device. A lot of restaurants will use one for heating your food before it gets to you. Most food is pre-made and stored ready for service, all it is doing is heating the food and effectively.
Understanding how it works means being careful with choosing what and how we cook things in it. Because it heats things fast, you can dry out your food very quickly so don’t over cook. You can pretty much cook anything in a microwave in theory, from cakes to vegetables. Meat is trickier to get right, though can be done. Just like your ready meals locking some moisture in is key to not drying your food out. With cakes you can cover with clingfilm or a plate or lid with a gap or holes in, this helps steam your food at the same time. Vegetables can be boiled in the microwave to soften, just place in a bit of water, cover and heat.
I don’t advocate cooking meat in the microwave, though you can happily do it. One thing the microwave is amazing for is defrosting meat. I generally buy a quantity of meat from the butchers or shop, portion it up and freeze it. I can defrost it in 10 minutes before I cook it. For this reason I could not do without a microwave.
Air Fryer (small oven)
Now an air fryer isn’t anything new. My folks used an ‘Air Fryer’ (small oven) when I used to go camping when I was a kid. It is just a small convection oven packaged up slightly smaller. Now in terms of cost saving these things can be great. Like all ovens they heat up an element which heats the chamber (space) in your oven. Because the chamber is sealed the heat rises and gets very hot to cook your food. The air fryer is a small convection oven, meaning it has a little fan in there to blow the air around, which actually heats the chamber fast and distributes the heat around your food. Again this is all the same as a normal oven, the difference being the space it has to heat. Less space – Quicker it heats up – Less energy used.
Now unlike the microwave that heats up the food from the inside and out using radiation heat transfer, ovens use convection heat, which only hits the surface of the food. This means the heat has to travel to the centre of your food to be ‘fully cooked’, which is important with things like meat, so the size of the food you put in your oven makes a difference on time.
Air fryers can be a great gadget for people who live on their own or in a couple (that is my parents air fryer above), but for larger quantities you might struggle as the capacity for cooking more in them is fairly restricted. I have a small oven at home which is very efficient and heats up pretty fast, I don’t have to preheat it so I don’t think I would save much from owning an air fryer personally.
Doubling down
Like I said Air fryers are not a new thing, and counter top ovens have been around for a long time. There are many different options you can get now which offer all sorts of cooking combinations. My oven is a combination microwave oven. This means you can use it as a microwave, as an oven, or… BOTH!
Combo microwave ovens double down on the cooking method, meaning you can the hot air blowing around to help heat up the outside and keep it crisp and flavourful, whilst the microwaves heat the inside speeding up the process. They are a bit more expensive to buy though.
Pressure Cooker
Finally the pièce de résistance, the pressure cooker. Since the 1600’s this cookware marvel has been knocking out food and has saved my backside a few times. There isn’t much you can’t do with a pressure cooker and with modern ones it’s even easier to use.
My pressure cooker(s) is one of my favourite items in the kitchen. It works by heating liquid inside its sealed chamber, generating pressure, this pressure allows the temperature of the water to get to around 120oC and with it being in a liquid/steam state still, cooks your food super fast.
You can over cook things in a pressure cooker so its good to know your timings, however things like potatoes that take 20 minutes to boil, can take 6 minutes. Vegetables can take 2 minutes. Slow cooking meat in the oven can take 3+ hours, in the pressure cooker; 40 minutes. The only cost is heating the liquid in the pot (half pint for every 15 mins you’re cooking for), then putting it on low to maintain the pressure. This shorter period of energy usage is what makes it a contender for being the most efficient.
For me the pressure cooker is a great kitchen item to have, it cooks super fast, keeps the moisture in your food, keeps the nutrients in your food; as you’re cooking it less and is on for less time so uses less energy. It is a bit like the opposite of a slow cooker, with similar results.
Extra thoughts
When cooking anything you’re trying to penetrate the food with heat for your desired results. With any item of food that you cook, the larger it is, the more depth the heat has to penetrate. If you’re wanting to save money but don’t want to change the way you cook just yet, why not think about reducing your cooking time by reducing the size of the items you’re cooking. Got a piece of meat that will take 20 minutes to cook? Cut it up smaller and cook it for less time. Chop your vegetables up smaller so they cook quicker. Best example, cut your chicken breast into small pieces to cook them faster or chop your potatoes smaller to soften them if you’re going to mash them.
There are caveats for this, in that you can sometimes you lose more nutrients and moisture in your food this way, but cooking for less time and and being careful can help mitigate this.
What are your thoughts on the best way to cook? Do you use any of the above methods?
If you’re at a complete loss with cooking and want to start saving money and eating better why not look at some of my beginners cooking courses, which can be tailored around what you want to learn take away from it.
