It’s unfortunate to say it, but being a home cook can get expensive. From all the appliances we need to the energy costs we need to pay, not to mention the rising cost of raw ingredients and food, cooking can become expensive if we’re not careful and continually looking out for deals. Moreover, even fast food is more expensive than it ever has been, with “discount options” like the Mcdonald’s drive-through offering less value than it ever did. Of course, this could be a blessing in disguise.
The fact is that saving money in your kitchen is not only necessary but can serve as an opportunity for better daily food planning and expanding your repertoire of cooking skills.
In this post, we’ll discuss a few techniques you can use to save a great deal of money in your kitchen. Over time, this can help you grow and develop in your home cookery repertoire, while also eating healthier for less:
Hand-Make Desserts
Unless you enjoy baking, it’s easy to leave the desserts in your family to ready-made purchases, be that heading to the supermarket bakery at the end of each shop, ordering a nice toffee pudding on top of your takeout from a restaurant, or even just purchasing packet sweets to enjoy in front of a good movie each weekend. But if you spend time developing a tin of wonderful delights that are easy to make and inexpensive with simple ingredients, you can whip up a batch of delicious sweet foods like beignets and have many raw ingredients to make a batch next week. Moreover, when you make them yourself, you moderate your intake of sugary foods, and that improves our health as a nice benefit.
Energy-Efficient Induction
Investment in induction can be a little more expensive than traditional gas or electric ring burner ovens, but you’ll be surprised at how little heat loss they provide as they heat the pans directly using magnets. You can also use this as an excuse to invest in new pans. Over time, the energy efficiency of induction can help you reduce the environmental impact of your kitchen, while also allowing you to save money in the long run. If you pair that with other household renovations like solar panels, you may have structurally improved the cost of running your home kitchen.
Leftover Makeover Recipes
Learning to store leftovers and using them after cooking in batch not only saves you time, but money too. For example, cooking more rice than you need then using it the next day for fried rice can be a wonderful addition to a meal. You can also freeze up sauces such as tomato, garlic and basil pomodoro to use in chilis and ragus from that point on, making sure you don’t waste a drop. Food wastage is a big thing in kitchens, and so focusing your culinary efforts on leftover recipes can be a massive next step in your home cook capabilities.
With this advice, you’re certain to save a great deal of money in your kitchen, all for the better.
Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.
