At Home? 10 Kitchen Fixes That Cut Food Costs

Spend less in the kitchen: the microwave

Microwaved food takes about 66% less energy than oven-cooked, the easiest of ten. Here's how your food budget goes further, starting today. Number ten: microwaves reheat leftovers about 50% more efficiently than ovens. It's usually the cheapest way to heat food.

Using less energy than an oven is good for your bank balance, too. Before preheating the oven, check if the microwave can do the job. Fish and vegetables keep their texture, flavor and nutrients in it, no fat added. Small appliances like it use about 66% less energy than an oven.

By our count, that's about thirty-four units for every hundred the oven uses. Use containers marked suitable for microwaving. Metal, or plates with metal trim, never go in it. Reheat only the amount you'll eat, so nothing is reheated twice.

Next, the oven door.

Keep the oven door shut

Number nine: opening the oven door to check the food lets out 20% of its heat. Instead, the oven light and its window let you check. Each opening makes the oven work harder to get back up to temperature. Several dishes can cook at once, on different racks.

The top runs hotter, so two dishes can cook at different temperatures. The leftover heat can finish the last bit of your meal. A self-cleaning cycle right after cooking starts from an already hot oven. A convection fan can cut the cooking time.

By our count, if the oven holds a hundred units of heat, one peek lets twenty out. Looking through the window keeps the door shut. If practical guides like this help you, subscribe. Every official page is linked below.

Next, where fruit lasts longest.

Store fruit and vegetables so they last

Number eight: loosely wrapped apples can last an extra two weeks in the fridge. Most fruit and vegetables last longer in the fridge. Leafy greens, carrots and broccoli go in the high-humidity drawer. Most fruits, mushrooms and peppers go in the low-humidity drawer.

Bananas, apples and pears ripen other produce faster, so they're kept apart. Potatoes, onions and garlic like a cool, dry, dark place. Fresh produce needs to breathe, so sealed bags don't help. A bit of kitchen roll in a bag of salad gives a few more days.

By our count, two extra weeks is fourteen more days for a loosely wrapped apple. Storing food the right way means less of what you buy goes off and gets thrown away. Next, the kettle.

Boil only the water you need

Number seven: boiling only the water you need saves about twenty pounds a year, one energy page says. Other pages give different yearly figures for the same habit. A full kettle costs more to boil than a half-full one. Less water to heat means less energy used.

An electric kettle uses 50% less electricity than a pot on the stove. It also boils water more quickly than a pan. A measuring cup shows how much water you need. Keep enough water to cover the element.

Say Maya boils one mug instead of a full kettle. By our count, twenty pounds a year is about one pound sixty-seven a month. That figure is one page's local example. Next, beans and lentils.

Cook with dried beans and lentils

Number six: dried pinto beans cost about twenty-three cents a cup, one of the cheapest options. Dried legumes are usually less expensive than canned. Beans, lentils and other legumes are inexpensive protein foods. Dry lentils and split peas don't need to soak overnight.

Dry beans soak overnight, and legumes are always cooked before eating. They go into chili, soups, stews and curries. Lentils and beans can be a main meal, with vegetables added. They also have a long shelf life.

Say Maya adds a cup of beans to dinner four nights a week. By our count, four cups at twenty-three cents is ninety-two cents a week. Cooked beans keep up to five days in the fridge, or six months frozen. Next, frozen and canned vegetables.

Frozen and canned vegetables

Number five: a cup of canned corn cost sixty-eight cents, against a dollar forty-two fresh. Frozen raspberries came to $2 five, and fresh ones to two sixty-five. Frozen or canned vegetables are just as nutritious as fresh. They're a convenient, budget-friendly option.

Fresh produce is usually less expensive when it's in season. Out of season, frozen and canned can cost less than fresh. They store easily and portion more accurately, which saves waste. Vegetables can be used fresh, frozen, canned or dried, one food guide says.

Freezing does not reduce nutrients. Vegetables or meat bought in bulk can be frozen in portions, so none goes to waste. Freezing also extends the shelf life of fruit and vegetables bought on sale. A cup equivalent is the edible part that fits a standard measuring cup.

Canned goods and staples are worth stocking up on when they're on sale. Buying a lot only saves money if all the food is used before it spoils. Say Maya has a cup of corn with dinner once a week, out of season. By our count, canned saves seventy-four cents a week, about $38 a year.

Neither fresh nor processed turned out to be cheaper every time. Fresh apples, for example, cost less per cup than applesauce. Fresh carrots eaten raw cost less than canned or frozen ones. For canned produce, pick natural juice or water, with no added sugar or salt.

Next, a slow cooker and a cheaper cut.

A slow cooker and a cheaper cut

Number four: a slow cooker on for six hours uses 60% less electricity than an oven on for one hour. Dinner can be ready when you get home. Another energy page says it likely uses half the electricity of the oven. Its beauty is flavorful meals that don't need you standing over a hot stove.

Cheaper cuts of meat suit long, slow cooking in curries and casseroles. Extra vegetables and beans make the meal go further. A stew can use a cheaper cut because it cooks slowly. One-pot dishes save energy, time, money and washing up.

Stews and casseroles are easy to cook in bulk, then freeze in portions for later. Pressure cookers are among the small appliances that use less energy than an oven. Some cookers can sauté, slow cook and pressure cook in one. A pressure cooker handles roast chicken, ribs, pot roast and chili.

A slow cooker is the one thing on this list you might buy, and it's optional. Say Maya starts a stew of a cheap cut, carrots and beans in the morning. By our count, six hours of slow cooker take about forty units where an hour of oven takes a hundred. Food that needs the fridge is best back in it within two hours.

Reheated leftovers should be steaming and hot all the way through. Defrosted food is best used within one to two days. Next, cooking once for several meals.

Batch cooking for the week

Number three: one older leaflet's tomato soup makes four large servings at twelve pence each. Batch cooking means cooking ahead, splitting it into portions, and keeping it in the fridge or freezer. It uses up leftovers and prevents food waste. One big batch can last days, or even a couple of weeks.

Cooking double and freezing meal-size portions is an easy start. A list of ingredients, minus what's already in the cupboards, fridge or freezer, is what to buy. You defrost a portion in the fridge during the day, then heat it up. Some microwave-safe containers store the meal portions.

Airtight containers keep individual portions fresh. Preparing ingredients in advance counts too. Cooking extra on the weekend sets up lunches for the week. Thawing food in the fridge overnight beats hot water or the microwave.

Making big batches at once is more energy efficient than small meals. Coming home to something already made helps you skip takeaways. Say Maya cooks a big pot of soup on Sunday, four servings for the week. By our count, four servings at twelve pence is forty-eight pence for the whole pot, on that leaflet's prices.

Those prices are an older leaflet's example; today's will differ. Leftovers are best cooled quickly, ideally within ninety minutes. Letting food cool before freezing keeps the freezer from working harder. Cooked food keeps up to three days in the fridge, or longer in the freezer.

Next, the takeaway favorite, made at home.

The takeaway favorite, made at home

Number two: a takeaway favorite costing about five pounds can be made at home for under one twenty-five a serving. That's from the same older leaflet, so the prices are its example. Its chow mein uses chicken, noodle cakes, stir-fry vegetables, garlic and a little oil. The chicken is one fifty, the noodles thirty pence, and the vegetables sixty, for two to three portions.

In restaurants, labor makes up about sixty-four cents of each dollar spent. For food bought to eat at home, it's about forty-six cents. The difference is the extra work of preparing and serving restaurant meals. Pre-packaged foods, like grated cheese and pre-seasoned meat, cost more.

Highly processed foods usually cost more, and give fewer vitamins and minerals. Family-size packs, divided up at home, can cost less than single-serve ones. The shopping list starts from how many meals you'll eat at home. Buying only what's on the list cuts down on impulse buys.

If you don't know a recipe, family, friends or the library can help. Simple foods are versatile: a potato can be boiled, mashed, baked or roasted. Say Maya orders the same takeaway every Friday and cooks it at home instead. By our count, five minus one twenty-five keeps three seventy-five a serving, about a hundred ninety-five a year.

Prices differ from place to place, and buying more isn't always cheaper. Next, lunch and coffee from home.

Lunch and coffee from home

Number one: one money page puts $3 a day on coffee at more than a thousand dollars a year. One of the best ways to get a healthy lunch at work is to pack your own. Leftovers from dinner make an easy work lunch. Cooking a bit extra leaves some for lunch.

Soup goes in a thermos, and leftover rice or pasta becomes a salad base. Keeping the parts apart stops a meal from getting soggy before lunchtime. Even a piece of fruit and a soup are likely to cost double when bought. A lunch packed from ingredients bought in bulk costs less than one bought at a shop.

Bringing lunch to work instead of buying it is the other idea on that money page. Pack perishable items between ice packs, then into the fridge at work. Making your coffee at home and bringing it to work is one page's own idea. Keeping track of everything you buy, down to a daily coffee, shows where money goes.

Noting on the list how many meals each item makes helps avoid overbuying. One money page's own example puts $15 a week at $780 after a year. Say Maya makes her coffee at home on her five workdays. By our count, $3 on five workdays over fifty-two weeks is $780 a year.

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