Economic Hardship: Kitchen tips to help you save on gas

To refill a 12.5kg gas cylinder costs anything between N15,000 and N20,000 depending on your area in Nigeria today. It used to be about N3,000.

More alarming is the fact that no one is sure when the hardship will cease. It may still get worse before it gets better, if it will ever be.

Consequently, you need to live smart to see the end of these trying times.

Microsecondnews Life Style has put together a few tips to help you in the kitchen.

1. Opt for pressure cooking. Invest in a pressure cooker so you significantly cut the time you spend cooking beans and similar food.
2. Avoid boiling water to bathe. There is really no reason anyone, except infants and the elderly, would need hot water to bathe in this sweltering heat. It’s just a habit. Quit the habit of using hot water. It may appear difficult at first, but if you do it consistently over time, your body will get used to it. However, if you must use warm water, it does not need to reach boiling point before you turn the burner off. All you need is warm water. If you are still boiling bathing water to the point it can strip a chicken of its feathers only for you to mix it with copious cold water, you are being wasteful.
3. Never put your cooker or burners near windows. Drafts of wind from the windows disturb heat efficiency and make food take longer to cook. If you cannot take your burners away from the windows, look for something to shield the burner from the wind to achieve optimum heat efficiency at all times.
4. Don’t leave food on fire to dry. Sometimes you hear, “The rice is done. I’m just leaving it on the burner for the water to dry.” That is wasteful. Strain it instead. Get a sieve and turn the rice into it to drain.
5. Some people leave food on burners and turn down the heat so it can remain hot. This is wasteful in the context of today’s economy. Get a cooler, or food warmer, or wait for the eaters to be available before doing the cooking.
6. Stop unnecessary frying. Some people fry ‘ponmo’ (cowhide) to keep it tender by the time is is cooked in the soup. You are wasting gas, oil and valuable time. Get a pressure cooker to cook your ponmo. It will be as tender as you want it in less time than it will take to fry it.
7. Don’t allow members of your household to eat different meals at the same time. It’s wasteful. Agree on a compromise and cook it at once to save on gas.
8. Identify the reason you are putting the food on fire first. That determines for how long it should be on fire. If it is simply to make it hot for eating, it does not need to stay longer than a couple of minutes on the burner. However, if it is to kill off germs, that requires more heat exposure.
9. DO NOT BURN FOOD! This should actually be a criminal offence at this time. You are wasting expensive gas and wasting costly food. Don’t walk away when you put food on fire. Stay close to monitor its progress.
10. Use small burners with small pots and big burners with big pots
11. Always cover your pot so that the content can reach boiling point quickly.

Let’s have your own ideas in the comment section. We may compile and add your ideas under readers’ additions later.