LPG at Rs600 a kg? 10 kitchen habits that make your cylinder last longer

On paper, LPG in Pakistan costs Rs279.34 a kilo this month. That is OGRA’s official rate for October, which put a domestic cylinder at Rs3,296.23, according to ARY News.

In real life, many families are paying far more. The Express Tribune reported on Thursday that LPG is selling for Rs550 to Rs600 a kilo in several areas, about Rs600 in Peshawar and up to Rs750 in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Officials linked the supply squeeze to the closure of the Taftan border amid Iran-US tensions. OGRA’s spokesperson told the paper work was under way to fix it.

You cannot control the price. You can control how fast your cylinder empties.

1. Use the pressure cooker for daal and rice too

This is the biggest saving. Tests by India’s Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA), quoted by ETV Bharat, found pressure cooking used 20% less fuel for rice, 46% less for soaked daal and 41.5% less for meat than an ordinary pot. Chana, rajma, lobia and nihari-style meat all benefit.

2. Always cover the pot

A lid keeps the heat in, so food cooks faster and water boils sooner. Open-pot cooking is one of the easiest ways to waste gas.

3. Soak daal, chana and rice first

Soaking overnight, or even for an hour, shortens cooking time. Less time on the flame means less gas.

4. Match the pot to the burner

If flames are licking up the sides of a small pot, that heat is going into the air, not the food. Use the small burner for chai and small pans and save the big burner for the big degchi.

5. Turn the flame down once it boils

Once something is boiling, a high flame only makes it boil harder. Lower it and the food cooks at the same temperature.

6. Don’t add extra water

Every extra glass of water in the pot has to be heated. Use only as much as the recipe needs.

7. Chop first, light later

Cut the onions, wash the rice and line up the masalas before you switch on the stove, not while the pan heats.

8. Keep pots and burners clean

Black soot under a pot acts like insulation and slows down heating. A clogged burner also burns badly: you want a steady blue flame, not a yellow one.

9. Boil water once

If you drink a lot of chai or green tea, boil water once and keep it in a thermos instead of reheating every hour.

10. Switch off a minute early

Rice, daal and sabzi keep cooking in a covered pot after the flame is off. Use that heat.

Winter safety: please don’t skip this

Winter is when gas accidents peak. SNGPL Rawalpindi general manager Umar Hayat, in advice carried by APP, said families should:

• check for leaks with soapy water, never a matchstick
• never use rubber pipes with gas heaters
• keep rooms with gas heaters ventilated
• turn off the stove, geyser and heater, and close the main valve, before sleeping
• if you smell gas, don’t touch electric switches. Close the valve and open the doors and windows.

The SNGPL helpline is 1199. And if a shop is charging far above OGRA’s rate, OGRA takes complaints, though the paper reports it has not yet launched its planned crackdown on overcharging.