LPG consumption can be lowered

10 tips to reduce your LPG consumption by nearly 50%

1. Use the pressure cooker - Pressure cooking reduces cooking time by 30–70%, especially for dals, beans, potatoes, and meats.

2. Soak pulses, beans and rice - Soaking reduces cooking time significantly.
Typical soaking times:
• Rajma / chana: 8–10 hours
• Dals: 30–60 minutes
• Rice: 20–30 minutes
Soaked foods cook 30–50% faster, saving LPG.

3. Use the right sized burner - On most Indian gas stoves:
• Small burner → tea, tadka, reheating
• Large burner → pressure cooking, boiling water
Using a large burner for small vessels wastes gas.
Don’t use the large burner for all the cooking. Flame should not burn beyond the circumference of the pan.

4. Cook with lids on -
Cooking with a lid
• Retains heat
• Reduces evaporation
• Speeds up cooking
This can reduce fuel use by 20–25%.

5. Cut vegetables smaller - Smaller pieces cook faster because:
• More surface area
• Faster heat penetration & faster cooking
Example: diced potatoes cook faster than large chunks.

6. Cook multiple items together - Use stacking in a pressure cooker:
• Dal below
• Rice above
• Vegetables in a small bowl
This one-flame multi-cooking can cut fuel use dramatically. Even in smaller cookers, you can keep one vegetable directly in the cooker and another in a cup over it (like smaller quanity veg for sambar)

7. Check the burners - Blocked burner holes cause inefficient combustion. Clean burners every few weeks to ensure:
• Blue flame
• Faster heating
• Lower LPG use
Yellow flames = incomplete combustion.

8. (my fav tip)Switch off early and use residual heat - Many foods continue cooking with trapped heat.
Examples:
• Rice/khichdi
• Pasta
• Boiled vegetables
• Dal after pressure cooking
Turning off the flame 2–3 minutes earlier can save fuel.

9. Use flat bottomed heavy vessels - Heavy-bottom cookware distributes heat evenly, reducing cooking time.
Best materials:
• Stainless steel with thick base
• Triply steel
• Cast iron (for slow cooking)
Thin vessels waste heat and burn food.

10. Smarter cooking - Use an electric kettle for boiling water for tea, pasta, or blanching vegetables or to add to pressure cooker. It is more energy-efficient than LPG for water heating.
Batch cook rice, dal, beans,potatoes for 2-3 meals. Referigerate the extra portions. For the same fuel consumption you get double the meals cooked.

In most Indian kitchens, combining just 3 habits (pressure cooker + soaking ingredients + closed lid cooking can save nearly 30% fuel.

These tips are not just useful for the current times, but also to be more careful with LPG usage in our kitchen, reducing wastage and costs both. more