UK households are being urged to ‘batch cook’ meals today before prices change at midnight.
Ofgem is raising energy prices by 10 percent on Tuesday, which means that after 11.59pm on Monday night, households will pay more for every unit of gas and electricity.
The average household on ‘typical use’ will see their bills go up from £1,568 to £1,717 a year, or a £149 rise.
That means every £100 you spend will cost £110 from Tuesday morning.
And according to energy firm Utilita’s Price Power List, ovens are one of the most expensive appliances in your kitchen to run, costing £109 a year to run for 30 minutes a day or £218 for 60 minutes a day.
So with the energy price cap changing at midnight, batch cooking as many meals as possible today will save you some money on cooking for the rest of the week, when energy prices increase.
Batch cooking is already cheaper because you only run the oven once, and if you batch cook today you’ll save even more money against Tuesday onwards.
BBC Good Food says: “What are the advantages of batch cooking?
“It saves time and money, reducing the amount of cooking you have to do and energy use from appliances.
“It’s convenient – on busy weeknights you may not have the energy or time to cook, so having a meal you can easily warm up or defrost is very helpful, especially when feeding a family.
“Having a pre-made meal readily available means you are more like to opt for a healthier, homemade choice rather than ordering a takeaway.”
They suggest cooking ingredients which can be turned into different things, so that you needn’t eat exactly the same meal each night.
They added: “Tomato & mince which can be used in a ragu pasta sauce, as smoky black bean chilli or in sweet potato-topped cottage pie.
“Roast cauliflower & squash which can be enjoyed as a delicious vegan curry, as cauliflower, squash & orzo gratin or as fritters with mint & feta dip.”
There is still time to beat the energy price cap though. According to Martin Lewis, there are still energy fix deals which can mitigate or entirely cancel out the price rise on Tuesday if you fix now.
