Eating out is expensive. Even if it's just coffee and donuts, those small expenses can add up to a lot of money over the course of a year.If you promise Takeout has decreased and Get more out of your food Buy drinks and beverages at home to save money, and there are also kitchen appliances, cooking utensils, and delivery services that quickly pay for themselves, so you can essentially save money over more expensive alternatives on your doorstep. You can save money.
As part of CNET's ongoing efforts we do the calculations In our series, we have analyzed some popular home appliances such as water purifier pitchers, air fryers, and rice cookers. coffee maker. And we've seen how much the average person can save on each product with regular use. In some cases, the savings from one appliance could have been as much as $1,000 for him in one year, compared to expensive habits like drinking coffee shop lattes and bottled water. .
Ready to save? Below are the best kitchen tools, appliances, and services to save you money, including estimated initial costs and potential savings over a year.
soda stream carbonated water maker
Making your own bubbly with SodaStream costs a lot less than buying a can of seltzer.
I drink a lot of carbonated drinks, so this analysis really hit home for me. I thought it would be nearly impossible to stop crushing LaCroix and Polar cans, but once I calculated the amount of money I would save by using cans, the decision became easier. soda stream Rather than buying a 12 pack normally.
We did the math and found that people who drink two cans of seltzer a day could save more than $300 a year if they had the urge. $70 Soda Stream Make what you have at home. After the first year, you can deduct the cost of the device, making your savings even greater. Basically, you'll need about two CO2 cartridges ($15 each if you use the exchange program) to get you through the year drinking one 12-ounce glass of bubbly water every day. If you are a person who drinks 2 cans (24 ounces), he will spend about $60 a year on the 4 CO2 canisters needed to make that amount.
I drink 3-4 cans a day, so my savings per year is about $600. This all proved to be enough reason for me to kick the can.
- Upfront investment cost: $70
- How much you can save: Up to $600 per year
air fryer
Air fryers use less than half the energy of large ovens.
Even casual air fryer user Know that these trendy cookers will save you time and effort, and what motivates you to cook more and order less will save you big money in the long run. But you may have never thought about how these countertop convection ovens work. save on energy bills.
A typical air fryer uses much less energy to operate than a large oven, takes less time to preheat, and can cook food faster. Using New York electricity rates, a standard 4-quart air fryer costs 25 cents per hour to run. This is 50% more energy efficient than the average full-size electric oven and about 35% more efficient than a gas oven.
- Upfront investment cost: $30 ~ $80
- how much can you save: Up to $114 (based on 300 hours of cooking)
rice cooker
For people who eat frugal meals on a daily basis, a rice cooker is a must-have item.
Rice is as versatile as food. Top a basmati or brown bowl with vegetables and meat, or add a fried egg with chili oil for a budget-friendly meal.
Former CNET editor David Priest caught the rice cooker bug during quarantine and looked into the breakdown of how much it costs to make a single meal of rice at home. On average, four home-cooked meals cost about $1, or 25 cents per serving, but buying rice for four people costs about $3 or $4. This means that if you start with rice and don't mess around too much with the rest of the ingredients, you can feed a family or group fairly inexpensively.
Best of all, a decent rice cooker will cost you less than $25. And if you already have it, instant potIt almost certainly has a rice cooking function.
- Upfront investment cost: $25
- how much can you save: up to $547.50 (based on 2 cups of rice per day)
meal kit service
Some meal kit services cost about the same or less than buying the groceries yourself. Plus, you don't have to spend time or energy shopping or planning meals.
meal kit Once upon a time, dinnertime activities were considered expensive activities reserved for date nights or special occasions. Since the release of blue apron More than a decade ago, meal kit prices dropped significantly due to budget-friendly operations. Only $5 per serving.
Meal kits alone may not save you a lot of money from your final food bill for the week unless you use takeout or delivery instead, or you tend to shop really frequently. expensive supermarket.That being said, many Meal kits I analyzed It costs just as much, and sometimes less, than buying the ingredients needed to make the same meal from scratch. For the same cost, the big advantage of meal kits comes in the form of convenience, meaning you don't have to spend time planning, shopping, and preparing meals, which equals money.
- Upfront investment cost: $35 to $50 per week (3 meals for 2 people)
- how much can you save: time and energy
Instant pot or slow cooker
The slow cooker is an easy way to turn cheap cuts of meat into delicious bites.
These hybrid pressure cookers have been around for decades, and for good reason. The multicooker is easy to use and turns tough, inexpensive meats into meals that can be cut with a butter knife.
Beyond the Instant Pot's great ability to turn affordable ingredients into delicious meals, these small cookers use less energy than wall ovens. We calculated how much you can save by using your Instant Pot in a larger oven. The average large oven costs more than $0.50 per hour to run, while a slow cooker costs just $0.05. Using pressure cooker mode is a little more expensive at $0.17, but it's still about a third of the cost of running a large oven.
- Upfront investment cost: $40 (slow cooker) or $90 (instant pot)
- how much can you save: Up to $135 in energy only (based on 300 hours of cooking)
water filter pitcher
If you're still drinking bottled water, it pays to buy a filter pitcher and a reusable water bottle.
If you're still drinking water from disposable bottles around the house or even outside the house, it's time to kick that bad habit.saddle yourself with reusable water bottle and water filter pitcher That way, we can eliminate tons of plastic from ending up in landfills and clogging recycling systems. As a bonus, you'll save some serious dough and get some delicious water.
We did the math and found that people who drink three bottles of water a day could save more than $800 a year by switching to a home filter. The Brita is one of his cheapest models, but even the Zero Water Filter, the best pitcher in over 10 different tests, costs less than $30.
- Upfront investment cost: $20
- how much can you save: Up to $830 (based on consumption of 3 12 oz bottles per day)
coffee maker
Coffee is a big expense for many people. You can save hundreds or thousands of dollars a year by making them at home.
If you were to buy coffee from Starbucks or another coffee shop even once a day, your total spending for the year would be astronomical. Luckily, coffee can be made at home for a fraction of the cost at a chain store, and all you need is a good coffee maker and coffee equipment. Stable supply of beans To make that happen.
We've calculated exactly how much you can save in a year by making your own coffee at home. Depending on what you order, even a modest drinker of one drink a day can save as much as $700 a year. Anyone who drinks more than two drinks a day could save nearly $1,000.
- Upfront investment cost: $30 ~ $100
- how much can you save: Up to $1,000 (based on consumption of 2 cups per day)
cocktail shaker
A basic cocktail shaker is key to making budget-friendly cocktails at home.
Cocktail culture has exploded over the past few decades, and with it so have the prices of Vespers, Sazeracs, and Sidecars on bar and restaurant menus. You can easily spend $15 to $20 per drink at your local watering hole, or you can save big money by starting making cocktails at home with a good shaker. Drinking $15 cocktails twice a week can cost you more than $1,500 a year. Making the same cocktail at home will cost you closer to $3 or $4, depending on the drink and the ingredients needed.
OK, you'll need more than that just Shakers are meant for making bar-quality cocktails, but few are as expansive as the alcohol served in restaurants. So even with the cost of booze, mixers, bitters, and glasses, you can save major moolah making happy hour at home.
- Upfront investment cost: $20
- How much you can save: Up to $1,400 (based on consumption of 2 cocktails per week)
