8 strategies to make your cooking gas last longer

Given that cooking gas is now priced at around 1200 naira per kilogramme, we must use it more sparingly due to the escalating cost.

Gas cookers are quick and easy to use, but when it comes time to replace your gas cylinder, consuming too much gas might come back to haunt you.

Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to extend the life of your cooking gas, such as choosing the appropriate pot, making sure your pots and pans cover the flame entirely as they heat up, and utilizing cooking pots and pans made of metal.

1. Use the appropriate pot and burner.
You must use the appropriate pot on the appropriate burner if you want your cooking gas to last longer. Some gas cookers include several burners of varying diameters for a specific purpose. Use the largest burner when cooking in a large pot, and the smallest burner when cooking in a small pot. In this manner, the burner’s size and the amount of gas burned will match. Cooking gas will only be wasted when little pots are used on large burners.

2. Recognizing the connection between temperature and heat
Cooking gas combustion creates flames, and these flames provide heat energy. The flame produces more heat the more gas it burns, and vice versa. A cooking pot’s temperature increases and it cooks food when the heat is absorbed by its contents. A cooking pot’s temperature will determine how quickly food cooks.

It is important to remember that after a liquid in a cooking pot reaches its boiling point, additional heating or gas burning will not raise the pot’s contents’ temperature or speed up the process of cooking the contents until all of the liquid has evaporated.

Therefore, the key is to keep the flame low enough to keep it boiling.

3. As much as possible, keep the cover on your cooking pot.
Make sure the pot lid is securely on and covering the burner in order to extend the life of your cooking gas.
When cooking, cover your pan to prevent steam from escaping and to speed up the cooking process. Because the heat energy is utilized more effectively, it also shortens the cooking time.

4. Maintain and service your gas burner and cylinder on a regular basis.
Your cooking gas will last longer if you practice excellent maintenance.

Your gas cooker should be thoroughly cleaned and inspected on a regular basis to identify any damage, obstructions, or leaks early on.

After using your gas regulator, be sure it is correctly switched off.

5. Use pots and pans made of metal.
Metals that are good heat conductors include stainless steel. Cooking requires that the heat from the flame reach the food, which is why well-made heat-conductive pans work better.

Thus, make sure the pots and pans you use for cooking are made of metal.

6. Obtain everything you need before you start cooking.
Cooking gas burns more quickly than when we use stoves. Before igniting your cooking gas, make sure you have everything you need for cooking. Do not light your cooking gas if you do not yet have everything you need for cooking in your kitchen. Doing so would be a waste of gas.

7. Ensure that the bottom of your cooking pot is covering the flame.
One of the main ways that cooking gas is wasted is when the flame extends past the bottom of the cooking pot.

Heat escapes the pot due to flames that extend beyond its bottom.

It is a waste of heat if it is not retained by the pot or its contents.

Therefore, watch out that the flame doesn’t extend over the pot’s bottom.

8. Purchase pressure cookers.
Pressure cookers cook food at around 125 degrees Celsius, as opposed to standard cooking pots, which only cook food at about 100 degrees.

Accordingly, pressure cookers aid in speeding up the cooking process and minimizing gas-burnt food.

Lastly, make sure that the color of your cooking gas is blue, not yellow or any other color, as this might indicate that the burner is clogged with food residue, oil, or soot, which is preventing it from burning evenly.

Consequently, this results in the waste of your cooking gas.