Frugal Living Tips

"COOK" YOUR FOOD IN YOUR COOLER BOX FOR FREE

by Natalie E. Rowles
(Pinetown KZN S.A.)

With possible future power cuts in the pipeline, I suggest that you make use of a cooler box to "cook" your meals in or keep the cooked meals hot for longer, without using electricity.

The very first home-made cardboard box experiment helped a bit to keep my food longer warm, but was not as efficient as the bought cooler box which I've used to "cook" my food and keep the cooked food warm for a long period without burning it.

Place a wooden breadboard in the bottom of the cooler box to protect the plastic bottom after placing the hot cooking pot inside the cooler box.

First of all, rinse off uncooked rice in cold water to clean it, then add salt in some boiled hot water to the rice. Place this pot with it's lid on, on a hot plate on the stove for a few minutes just to heat up to boiling point and to start the cooking process. Remove the pot of rice immediately and place it on the breadboard in the cooler box to cook further. Close the lid of the cooler box immediately. Leave the pot of rice for a few hours to "cook" in the heat so created inside the cooler box.

I have successfully "cooked" some of PicknPay's rice meals after following the previous steps, saving electricity cost by doing it this way.

You can start first your cooking process before work and arriving back home, will find your meal cooked or nearly cooked, saving you time without any burnt pots to wash afterwards.

Give it a try and you will be pleasantly surprised by this handy frugal tip of mine.