If you're trying to cut back on spending, there is one room in the house where you can always turn: the kitchen. There are so many ways to save in the kitchen without resorting to a rice-and-beans diet or ramen noodle soup. Here are some tips to get you started.
1. Cook multiple dishes at once.
Rather than using the oven every night of the week to make one dish, consider batch-cooking on Saturday or Sunday. If you can whip up three or four dishes and put them all in the oven at once, you'll save a considerable amount of electricity. Check with your electric company to see when off-peak hours are and make sure you do your cooking during those hours.
2. Only run a full dishwasher.
If you run the dishwasher every night regardless of whether it's full, you're wasting water and electricity. A good tip for saving money in the kitchen is to only run the dishwasher when it's full. It takes just as much water and energy to wash a full load of dishes as a half load.
3. Organize your fridge by use-by date.
If you often find expired, forgotten food in the back of your fridge, then you're wasting a lot of money on food. A good way to decrease food waste is to organize your food with the items that will expire soonest towards the front of the fridge, and those with a longer shelf life in the back. This way, you'll see the soon-expiring items first and be more apt to use them.
4. Switch to reusable towels.
Paper towels aren't terribly expensive, but the cost can add up if you're buying a new roll every week. Purchase a package of reusable rags instead, and use them over and over again to clean up spills and wipe up counters.
5. Turn the temperature on your fridge and freezer up.
The colder you keep your fridge and freezer, the more energy these appliances use. There's really no reason to keep your fridge colder than 40°F or your freezer below 0°F. Use a thermometer to measure the temperature, and turn the thermostats up if you have some wiggle room.
Saving money in the kitchen is easy with the tips above. For more money and energy saving advice, check out our blog post "6 Easy Tips For Saving Energy This Fall."