Keep Cookin' » Tips

Cooking Efficiently – Helping to Reduce Fuel Bills

Jimbob — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 08:32:57 +0000

With the ever-increasing cost of gas and electricity, I started to think about ways that perhaps we as a family could start to try and reduce our increasing bills and one way that perhaps I had not considered before, is by cooking efficiently; obviously I would not want to revert to using a microwave oven to cook all meals, but there are a few simple steps we’ve put in to place to help keep costs down.

When boiling water, cover the pan and it should bring it to the boil in approximately half the time it would take uncovered.

Flat-bottomed pans will ensure full contact with electric cooking rings – if the pan is not in full contact, then heating the pan will be far less efficient.

Certain pan types will conduct and retain heat far more efficiently, for example, copper-bottomed pans will heat up quicker than stainless steel. In addition to this, cast-iron pans retain heat far more efficiently, result in more evenly-cooked food and do not require gas/electric rings to be turned up as high, helping to reduce energy usage and therefore cost.

Ensure the size of the pan matches the electric ring, otherwise a percentage of the heat produced will be lost as waste.

Reducing cooking times sounds obvious, but when using the oven, try not to open the door part-way through cooking; the heat lost has to be replaced, which means the oven has to work harder and use more energy.

Try alternative methods for cooking, for example, for certain food types, it may be far more efficient to use a microwave, rather than an electric hob ring, or use an electric toaster rather than the electric grill in an oven.

Keep the electric hob rings clean – any dirt or burnt foodstuffs left on the rings will absorb heat and therefore, energy.

Keep the reflective areas below gas rings clean – again, the more reflective the surface, the far more heat will be radiated and the more efficient they will be

If you decide to adopt any of these, drop me a line and let me know how it has affected your energy bills – I suspect it will not make a huge difference, but cooking efficiently should make some impact and afterall, anything is better than nothing.

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Local Produce

Jimbob — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 10:17:52 +0000

Having decided as a family to minimise our food spend at major supermarket chains (and completely stopped using 1 in particular), we now invest a little more time in visiting local businesses to source our produce.

One of the most satisfying things to do is to purchase locally produced food and this way you get the freshest ingredients for your kitchen and also get to support local businesses.

In addition to this, these same businesses will employ local staff so you are also assisting the local economy, so everybody wins!

We also visit a bi-monthly farmer’s market held in the local town, which not only has a fantastic array of locally sourced/grown produce, but is also introducing our daughter to the provenance of what she eats. The prices are generally very good for vegetables and you will pay a little more for meat, however the quality and taste is fantastic. They are all local suppliers and with several of them in one place, you generally get to benefit from healthy competition and get to sample a lot of food!

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Wok Care

Jimbob — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 17:35:12 +0000

Having purchased a new wok this weekend and been all excited about putting it to good use this evening, my wife reminded me that what we had been told in Thailand about taking a little time to prep the wok prior to use. Apparently, this ensures you do not have to use as much oil in future cooking, so it’s healthy too!

The process explained to us was to clean and dry the wok after purchasing, then rub the outside and inside with vegetable oil.

Place the wok in an oven and heat it up to about 350 degrees and leave it for approximately 2 hours. The turn off the oven and leave until it cools down.

Now get cooking…!

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Quality Knives – Is It Worth Investing?

Jimbob — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:38:38 +0000

If there is one item in the kitchen that is worth spending that little bit extra on, then in my opinion (for what it’s worth) it is definitely a good quality knife. There is an abundance of kitchen equipment out there that has been designed to ‘make our lives easier’, claiming to prepare and cook an entire meal from scratch, whilst we sit back and enjoy the latest soap on television…..however, the item we use rely on the most and use regularly is a knife.

I remember being given a knife many years ago that claimed to never require sharpening, could cut through most materials and could be used for any type of food preparation. And it could, however, its serrated edges sawed rather than sliced making a complete mess of the ingredients and my fingers on a number of occasions! I decided then to invest in a good quality knife.

A good quality knife should be far more efficient to use (requiring less force to cut) and as a result, the blade is less likely to slip and lead to injury, whilst lasting much longer than less expensive ones. There are many, many types, compositions, shapes and sizes out there on the market, however, I decided in the first instance (due to the amount I could afford at the time) to concentrate on choosing a chef’s knife, as this was the type I used most frequently.

I opted, after a fair amount of research, for a steel blade containing cobalt which increases its strength, complete with a wooden handle, partly for comfort and partly because it looks great! The knife is well-weighted, which means there is less effort required when I slice through ingredients. If you can, I would recommend trying the knife before purchasing, to ensure you feel comfortable with its feel and balance when using it.

In addition to the knife, I would also recommend investing on a suitable cutting surface. Personally, I have avoided using glass as you could quite easily slip and cut yourself, but rather adopted using a good, solid, heavy wooden chopping board, which is infinitely-less prone to moving or wobbling.

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Where can I get authentic ingredients?

Jimbob — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:57:19 +0000

Upon returning from Thailand, abundant with enthusiasm for my new-found repertoire, I was faced with the prospect of sourcing the types of ingredients I’d sampled whilst away. Palm sugar, Holy Basil, Coriander root, Eggplant, Kaffir Lime, Galangal, even simple things like dried red chillies. Having visited the local, big-named supermarket, I soon realised that although you can pick up ingredients such as dried galangal, it’s just not going to have the same flavour impact as fresh produce and is not particularly on the cheap side.

After a little research, I stumbled across a local Thai shop which imports fresh produce, stocks an abundance of dried herbs, spices and chillies, complete with an array of sauces and BIG bags of rice – all this and it is considerably more affordable than the big-chain, supermarket alternatives. There is, of course, the big question of the environmental impact of shipping in these items, however, I strive to live a lifestyle which minimises my carbon footprint wherever possible, so this occasional indulgence does not plague me with guilt.

If you really want to recreate the authentic flavours, then I would highly recommend taking a little time to research where your local alternative shops are; you will not be disappointed and you will be supporting local businesses!