Cooking up savings

We were talking in the office today about cooking, and how one of our clients had told my colleague she cooks all her veg & potatoes in the same saucepan to cut down on the cost.  It got me to thinking - I'd read something recently about how 4% of the average household energy bill goes on cooking, according to uswitch.  There's loads of tips online on how to reduce your heating costs, and cutting your food bill, but what if we could cut the cost of cooking the food as well?  So I sat down with my pen & paper (I'm OldSkool, you see) and got to thinking.

My steamer, hard at work

• Use a steamer. Rather than cooking everything in one pan like our client above, use a steamer set. That way you keep more of the goodness in the veg, you can add layers at different times for things that take less time to cook. You also save water, only boiling one pan, and use only one burner instead of three.
• Use pans with lids.  Lids keep the steam, and therefore the heat, in the pan, so you need less energy to keep the water boiling - and your kitchen is a more pleasant place to be.
• Use the smallest pan for your needs.  There's no point using a massive soup pan to boil one egg - it takes more water, and more energy to heat.  Small pans boil quicker.
• Use the right sized burner.  Don't put your tiny pan on the big burner, most of the energy will be wasted heating fresh air, and don't put your big pan on the tiny burner, or you'll be waiting til Christmas.
• Keep the oven door closed.  Don't peek inside every few minutes, no matter how tempting it is. Your cakes won't rise, and if you're cooking my Never Failed Yorkshire Puddings I will get really cross with you.
• Bulk cook.  If you've got the oven on for Sunday lunch, why not put pudding in at the same time?  Or a cake for tea?  Or a pie for later in the week?  The oven's on, and it's cheaper to reheat something in the microwave than to cook it from scratch another day.  Use the energy you're already using.

A lot of the people I work with are in fuel poverty - spending more than 10% of their income on heating their home (and as fuel for cooking comes from the same source, naturally that must be included).  Little tips like these can make a big difference - it can mean a family's home is adequately warm for their children, that their children go to school having had a decent night's sleep following a home-cooked meal. Money is tight for everyone at the moment, so maybe these little tips could help you, or someone you know?  I hope so.

This is not a sponsored post, I have not received payment for writing it. I am aware that there are sponsored posts at present on a similar subject, however this post was inspired by a conversation at work, and is not related to those posts. Links are provided for convenience only, I am not a member of any affiliate scheme & will not receive reward for their use.

Win a cooking lesson with Daniel Galmiche!

What are you doing on Saturday 3rd November?  I know what I'd like to be doing.  I'd love to be joining Michelin starred gourmet chef Daniel Galmiche, at The Vineyard, Stockcross in Berkshire, for a cookery lesson.  Daniel has appeared on programmes such as BBC's Masterchef & Saturday Kitchen and Sky's World's Greatest Dishes.  And now he's teamed up with food blog The Ideas Kitchen to give 4 foodies the cookery lesson of their dreams, a tour of The Vineyard's wine cellars and kitchens, and topped off with a five course tasting lunch.

Wow.  You'll find me tucked up in the wine cellar, clutching a bottle of something rather expensive, stroking it. My precioussss.

Well, if you think that you'd be a better person to go than me, and who can blame you, here's what you have to do.  Watch these three videos carefully, as Daniel meets his fish, vegetable and beef suppliers and cooks up some seasonal dishes.

Fish.

Vegetables.

Beef.


Then, when you're done, Click here to answer a simple question about the videos you've just watched.  (That sounds like something out of the Krypton Factor, doesn't it? Do you remember the observation round?)

The competition is already underway, and closes on 17th October 2012, with the cookery lesson taking place on 3rd November, at The Vineyeard in Berkshire.  Good luck, I hope we both win, and I'll see you there.  Just don't come between me & my preciousssssss!

This is a sponsored post, which makes it no less interesting.

Magpie Monday - Returning to the fold

Miss, I've got a note from my mum. It says I couldn't do Magpie Monday because the bank man was very cross with me because I got paid early in December and that meant I had no money.  S'True Miss.

Well, it's been almost two months since I did a Magpie Monday post, according to my archive. You'd think I'd be overwhelmed with things to show you.  Well, nearly.  There's a couple of bits I picked up last week, that will form part of a present for a friend who I know reads my blog, so they can't go on here just yet.  I think I need another trip to Caerphilly, as I found a big basket of upholstery remnants in one of the shops, but couldn't think of anything to do with them. Then I saw hand stitched & embroidered Kindle cases on Etsy, and had a flash of inspiration, so I need to go back!

But I have had a few little treats.  Shopping just before Christmas, we decided to be eco-minded and get the train, rather than driving and trying to park in Cardiff.  Only trouble is entertaining a bored & grumpy Squeaky for the 50 minute journey home.  However, there's a lovely nasty, dirty little strip of shops, featuring no less than 3 charity shops, just outside the train station, so we popped in before our train & I found this little set of 6 Fifi lift-the-flap books for 50p.  We don't even watch Fifi, but they did the trick.

Next shop along, I needed something to entertain me on the same journey.  I'll be honest, there's no way in a MILLION years I'd've paid full price for this, and it's already in the pile to go to the charity shop on my next donation session, but for £1.50 to Macmillan, I didn't really mind, and the guy behind the desk was so helpful, opening the door for me while I pushed Squeaky's buggy, I was sold.  I found a shiny Celtic lattice bookmark in the third of the three shops, so it was clearly meant to be.  I had to stop myself buying a huge number of baubles I didn't need, just because they were shiny, but luckily I remembered we only had a tiny tree this year and had more baubles than we could use anyway.  So I was a good person.  Really.

And so we come to 2012.  As I said, the bank manager's in a bit of a mood with me, and I'm not allowed to go shopping at the moment.  Don't tell him, but I did pop my nose round the door of BHF in town last week, and I found something lovely on the bricabrac shelves, while I was convincing myself not to buy a LeapPad for £10.

Look at it!  Gaze in wonder!  Be astounded at the beautiful things that people give to charity here.  And be even more amazed that I paid less than £1 for it.

Then trust me, as I turn it over, and it doesn't say ANYthing on the base.  Seriously, you didn't think I'd picked up a real Le Crueset for a quid, did you?

And just to make you feel even better, a perspective shot next to a bottle of nailvarnish.  That's right, a tiny weeny mini pretend Le Crueset.  Just the right size for baked brie, or some sort of hot dipping sauce, but probably not for a ginormous casserole.








Pop on over to Missie Lizzie's place and see what else people have been buying!

Cooking With Mummy Episode 2!

 Hello, and welcome to another episode of Cooking With Mummy!  I'm your host, Squeaky, and this time, I'm going to show you how to make Yummy Pumpkin Cupcakes.  Don't forget, Mummy's not a very good cook, she needs all the help I can give her.  She also forgot to take many photos of these cakes, what am I going to do with her?

To make Yummy Pumpkin Cupcakes, you'll need a packet of cake mix.  Mummy says they are better, but I think she just doesn't like doing the measuring.  Before you mix everything together, get some orange food colouring (or yellow & red. I learned that today, they make orange!)  Add this to any other liquid you've got to mix in - you'll want quite a bit of colouring.  You could also add some flavouring, we used orange flavour too, it's delicious.  Mix it all together, and see how bright the colours are!  Upsy Daisy helped mix too.

 Put the mix into some cake cases, and get Mummy to put them in the oven.  I knew Mummy would come in handy for something, she doesn't even burn herself now, since Grandma gave her those things to go on the edge of the racks!  Leave the cakes in the oven until they grow.

Once your cakes have grown, you can get some fondant icing, and some green colouring, and mix them up to make little green stalks to go on top of your cakes to make them look like pumpkins.  Sort of.  Mummy isn't very good at this, is she?

All that's left to do then is eat!  And as you can see, I don't like to waste a crumb!

Mummy would like me to add that this is her entry into the Appliances Online Messy Kids Cooking Competition at Baby Budgeting. I'd like to add that cupcakes are yummy.

Cooking with Mummy

Hello, and welcome to "Cooking With Mummy".  I'm your host, Squeaky.

Unfortunately, my Mummy really isn't a very good cook, so today I'm going to teach her how to make a simple and tasty dessert for all the family.  You can join in too if you like.

Take a bowl of milk, and add some interesting looking powder.  Have a quick sniff, it smells sort of like strawberries!  Wow!  Aaaaaaaachooo!  I wasn't expecting that!  Make sure you watch what you're doing, or you might end up with strawberry stuff everywhere, and we don't want that to happen, because then we won't be able to eat it!  Gosh.  If your Mummy is helping, you can give her the empty packet to put in the bin.  Mummy can manage that bit, I think.

Next, take a whisk, and whisk the strawberry powder into the milk.  This bit's really exciting, and a little bit messy.  Look!  The milk!  It's going pink!  I didn't know you could get pink milk at home, I thought you only got pink milk when you're out and have been really really good.  The milk is starting to get a bit thick as well.  Make sure you mix it really well so there's no lumpy bits.  You can let Mummy give it a quick mix too if you like, but not too much.

When your pink milk is nice and mixed, get Mummy to find a big spoon.  Then you can share out the yummy pink dessert into bowls so that everyone gets their own bowl of dessert.  Be very careful not to spill any, we don't want to waste it, do we?

Mummy and Daddy can have pretty teacups for their dessert, but I'd recommend keeping the biggest portion for yourself.  I've used a Very Hungry Caterpillar bowl, but you might like to try Mr Men, Spongebob Squarepants, or even Hello Kitty.  Just make sure that your bowl is bigger than Mummy and Daddy's bowls.  You've done all the hard work, so you should have most of the yummy pudding!

Finally, don't forget to clean up after yourself.  Some people like to put all the dishes and spoons in the dishwasher, but I prefer to clean them up myself.  You've got to make sure they're properly clean, after all.

Well, that's all from me, I hope you've enjoyed this exciting episode of Cooking With Mummy.  Mummy would like me to add that this post is her entry into the Appliances Online competition to win £100 in Amazon vouchers with Red Ted Art

In the words of a LOLCAT

OH HAI!

I MAKED YOU A COOKIE!

We've been cooking this morning, and it's still not even half past nine!  Wonders never cease.

(They're still cooling right now, but if you get here in the next half hour, there might just be a biscuit or two left!)