5 tasty tips beyond grocery stores that save you money

Healthy eating doesn't have to be expensive. You can stretch your food budget and still save while cooking with these simple kitchen ideas.

• Leave vegetable oil that's been used for deep-frying to cool completely before straining it through a coffee filter or fine sieve and pouring it back into a bottle for recycling. If it was used at a high enough temperature, it won't have picked up food flavours and can be used again.
• Oil used for frying fish should always be kept separate.

• When making tea, boil only the water you need instead of filling the electric kettle.
• A great deal of energy is wasted by simply boiling too much water.

• Speed up cooking time by covering pans and casseroles with a tight-fitting lid. To make a loose lid tighter, put a sheet of foil under it.
• Ensure the base of your pan covers the electric or gas element so heat cannot escape up the sides of the pan.

• Remove large roasts, whole chickens or turkeys from the fridge an hour or so before cooking so they come to room temperature. If the center of the meat is cold, it will take longer to cook.
• If a roast or casserole needs to cook for more than an hour, start it in a cold oven and cook for the prescribed time, then check to see whether it's done. Reserve preheating for baking only. Pressure cookers reduce cooking time by almost two-thirds. They are better than microwaves for tenderizing tough cuts of meat and for cooking large quantities.

• Steam fast-cooking vegetables in a basket over a pan where you're boiling slower-cooking ones, such as potatoes, to save turning on a second element.
• Heating in the oven costs the same whether you're cooking two portions or ten, so maximize oven heat by cooking several dishes at the same time. This is especially useful with cheaper cuts of meat that require long, slow cooking.

Using your kitchen to its maximum potential not only saves you time cooking, it also saves you money. That way, dinner can be on the table faster with your wallet a little fuller.

--------------------

Discover the smarter way to save time and money

Ready to start saving more on your groceries and pharmacy purchases? Download the FREE YP Grocery app today! It lets you create shareable shopping lists, automatically finds all the best deals and coupons, then delivers them right to you. No more manually scrolling through hundreds of flyers to find what you’re looking for!

Download the YP Grocery app now!