A TikToker has shared her energy saving hack for cutting 50p (60c) or more each meal just by using different appliances to cook it. Heidi Ondrak, known as the Duchess of Thrift on social media, posts her penny pinching tips to help people with the rising cost of living.
The 51-year-old project manager from Plymouth, Devon, shared the tip for saving around £3.50 (€4.15) a week on cooking dinner by using an air fryer and microwave in place of an oven or hob. In the TikTok Heidi shows how she saves 58p in energy whilst cooking a meal of chicken sausages, mash, and peas for four people - cutting the cost of energy used from 77p to just 19p.
Heidi tells her 23.3K followers: “So tonight we've got chicken sausages, peas and mash. Chicken sausages in the air fryer, they'll take about 15 minutes. Now, if I put them in the oven they would take about 30 minutes costing about 27p. In the air fryer It'll be about 9p for 15 minutes.
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“Next up is the peas, so they'll go in the microwave. If you put the peas on the hob for 20 minutes boiling them that will cost just under 20p. In a microwave for four people costs you roughly 6p. This is because the wattage is lower on these appliances and they cook much quicker.”
She continues by scrapping conventional mash for the packet equivalent that only requires boiling water. Heidi uses Idahoan Cheese Mash from Asda or Amazon, costing £1 for 190g which serves three adults.
Heidi says: “Next is the mash, this mash tastes really really nice. So park your preconceptions of packet mash or dried mash because this is absolutely brilliant. So on the hob i'd be boiling those spuds for about 30 minutes, that's going to cost me about 27p.
“Boiling the kettle [for the potato mash], for two minutes say, costs you three or four pence so these are all rough prices based on the wattage of your appliances, they're not exact science. But overall the saving is over 50p per meal.”
Using the air fryer, microwave, and kettle in place of conventional cooking, Heidi calculates that she saves around 58p on energy that she would have used cooking the meal on the hob and in the oven. She adds: “It's thinking about canny ways where you can save money per meal.”
Despite the packet of cheesy instant mash in the TikTok costing 99p, Heidi calculates that it is around 26p cheaper than buying the equivalent kilo of normal potatoes (75p) and then adding cheese (25p) and a knob of butter (25p). That’s before you consider the savings on cooking costs.
Heidi posts her money saving tips to her TikTok channel, @Duchessofthrift, where she has a growing number of followers who rely on her savvy tips. TikTok users were quick to praise Heidi’s cost cutting tip, with one writing: “These are great and also worth remembering that not only saves money but also more environmentally friendly.”
Another user commented: “Professional chef; Idahoan instant mash is the real deal. Can't stand a lot of instant mash, but this stuff is gorgeous.”
Whilst one suggested that you could make further savings, asking: “Why don't you use the pea water to make the mash? vitamins in the water and no need to boil the kettle.” Heidi responded: “Bloody good idea”.
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