Kitchen appliances that save you money

March 2nd, 2012

Money talks, but all it ever says is “goodbye,” goes the American proverb.

Not so at At Appliances Online! We are going to reveal what everyday appliances you can use that will make you say, “Hello! Welcome back, Bob.”

Most of these penny saving tools you will already have sitting neatly on the benchtop or in the cupboard.

The Electric Kettle

Really! It is the most energy efficient way of heating water, over a conventional cooktop and even a gas cooktop. The basic reason for this is that the element is in direct contact with the water around it. On any cooktop, energy is lost from either the hotplate or gas as it works its way to the pot, which is then lost again as the energy is transferred through the pot. So for boiling the spuds or spaghetti, heat the water up first in the kettle.

The Slow Cooker

Slow cookers are the kitchen queens of saving money and time. They are ideal for stews and casseroles, which means buying affordable cuts of meat. Eye fillet steak is about $30 a kilo, scotch fillet is about $20 and if you’re too Scot for that, then chuck steak – perfect for slow cookers – is half the price at around $10 a kilo. It’s easy done with a slow cooker: throw the ingredients in before you leave for the day and come back to an affordable home cooked meal!

The Espresso Maker

Now that Coles and Woolies have dropped the price of a litre of milk to about $2, it’s even cheaper to drink a cup of joe at home. As for the beans, based on the price for a half pound bag of fair trade coffee from Baristador ($14.50), a shot of coffee costs about 55 cents. Milk and coffee combined, it’s about $1 a cup.

The Stick Blender

This puppy is good for whipping up things quickly and economically. There’s no need to drag out the more energy intensive (and harder to clean) food processor for a milkshake, smoothies, crushing ice, mixing hearbs or a homemade vinaigrette. You can even stick it directly in a pot to blend soups.

The Dishwasher

There’s actually a university study which in 2008 proved washing dishes by hand was less efficient than using a machine. By comparing hand washing 140 items with the same load in a 12 place setting dishwasher the researchers concluded that dishwashers use about half the energy and a third of the water.

What appliances do you use in your kitchen to cut down on costs? Maybe mini-ovens or pie makers?

Keri Algar

Having once had to sit on the washing machine to stop it from bouncing into oblivion, Keri is today delighted with the new (smoother running) technologies that make housework easier every day. A self-confessed lazy-bones, Keri seeks out quirky inventions that ease the human workload, such as the robotic vacuum cleaner (wow). And as soon as someone figures out a Jetsons-like self-cleaning house, she will happily lay her pen to rest and retire from appliance journalism. Until then, her pick is a fridge that will tell her smartphone when it's time to pick up more beer on the way home. Magic.