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HOME-COOKED food like stews, casseroles and curries are all the more satisfying in winter. The seasonal delight of indulging in hearty foods does not mean that you have to spend hours in front of the stove and cause a spike in your electricity bill.

Electricity smart cooking, preparing quick and easy recipes and using appliances that use little or no electricity, will allow you to save time, effort and money even when you decide to prepare one of your winter favourites.

The 49M Cookbook is filled with electricity-saving recipes that are prepared using energy efficient methods such as one-pot cooking and electricity saving appliances like pressure cookers and Wonderbags.

One-pot meals are energy efficient because you cook all the ingredients in one pot and therefore use only one stove plate. Apart from the fact that it cuts preparation time and saves you electricity, it also takes a fraction of the time to clean up afterwards. The 49M Cookbook’s one-pot recipes include spicy chicken and beans and sweet and sour pork.

A pressure cooker’s much shorter cooking times makes it one of the simplest, easiest, most convenient and cost-effective ways to save energy in a winter kitchen. High-pressure cooking the 49M way includes recipes for Moroccan lamb shanks and quick and easy leek and potato soup, the shanks are ready in 50 minutes and the leek soup in 8 minutes. Conventionally, the shanks would need to simmer for 3 to 4 hours on an electric hob and the soup for 30 to 40 minutes.

The Wonderbag, on the other hand, is even more energy efficient. This simple heat retention cooker was developed in South Africa and saves up to 30 percent on the electricity you consume for cooking.

Once brought to the boil on a heat source such as a stove plate, the warm pot containing the food is placed in the Wonderbag and continues to cook slowly without using additional energy.

The cooker is made of two polycotton bags filled with either recycled polystyrene balls or foam chips, which provide the insulation needed to complete the cooking process and to keep the food warm.

The 49M Cookbook features a host of mouthwatering recipes prepared in a Wonderbag, including oxtail stew with dumplings and beef and beer casserole. Both dishes require only 20 minutes of stove time and a further 5 hours of slow-cooking in a Wonderbag.

In winter, stoves use more electricity and cooking accounts for up to 8 percent of the electricity used in an average household in South Africa. Electricity smart winter cooking in kitchens across the county, especially between 5pm and 9pm, the period of peak demand for electricity in the residential sector, helps to reduce pressure on the national power grid.

To download the book, click here