Cash-strapped Brits wanting to save on their energy costs are being offered tips to help cut back on monthly household bills.
Online healthy retailer MuscleFood has collaborated with money-saver Mrs Kath Symes to share eight easy ways to save money in the kitchen and slash the costs of energy bills.
Following the surge of energy prices last year, it’s expected these bills could rise even higher in the coming months once changes are made to the energy price cap in April.
But making small changes to cooking habits such as turning the oven off two minutes before the timer runs out and putting lids on pans when boiling water could just make the difference in cutting monthly costs.
Ashleigh Tosh from MuscleFood said: “It’s been shocking to see how much our energy bills have risen over the last year and it’s bound to go up again in the next few months once changes are made to the energy price cap.
“We wanted to team up with Kath Symes after getting insight into some of the brilliant ways she has been able to save on energy in her home and still be able to cook up some delicious budget recipes.
“Even just remembering to turn off appliances which aren’t being used can make a big difference to the energy bill as these devices are draining life while in standby mode.”
Kath Symes, who shares her budget recipes on Instagram said: “I’m a big advocate of finding ways to save money around the house and of the biggest worries for many people at the moment is their energy bills.
“This is why I wanted to share some tips to help people save money and notice a real change in their energy bills going down by following them through.
Here are eight top tips from MuscleFood and Mrs Kath Symes to save energy and keep more cash in your pocket:
- Unplug unused appliances
Devices in standby mode still waste energy even if they’re not actively being used. Make sure to turn the plug socket off for the microwave or the kettle to prevent any unnecessary costs from rising.
- Don’t open the oven door
If you keep opening the oven door, it’ll let out hot air resulting in lost energy. If you want to keep an eye on the food, simply look through the oven door to monitor its progress. If it’s difficult to see through the screen it may just need a deep scrub to remove grease marks.
- The 10 minute-rule
Turn off the heat for a few minutes before the timer runs out on an electric oven, as it takes time for the appliance to cool down. The food will still be ready to eat and less energy will be used to make it.
- Keep the lid on pans when boiling water
If you keep the lid on pans when boiling water, it’ll trap the heat within and warm up quicker which means less energy wastage.
- Never put hot food in the fridge/freezer
Not only will it waste more energy to get the hot food to become cool, but it’s potentially dangerous to put it in the freezer. This is because it can increase the overall temperature and increase the chance of bacteria forming.
- Regularly defrost your freezer
Every six months, defrost the fridge-freezer to remove any ice blockages. This allows you to fit more food into the freezer which helps when meal prepping and it can help save money on weekly meals.
- Batch cook
Cooking up multiple meals at once saves the amount of energy being used from the oven. Spare an hour or two on an evening to batch-cook meals for the week and stick them in the freezer for future lunches or dinners.
- Keep a 10cm gap behind your fridge-freezer
If possible, keep a gap of around 10 cm behind the fridge-freezer to allow heat to flow. Otherwise, the heat will be unable to escape and can build up within the fridge resulting in further energy wastage.