LPG Cylinder Shortage? 5 easy and smart ways to cook food at home without cooking gas

Reports of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) supply disruptions across various Indian cities have left many homes anxious on how to prepare daily meals if they experience difficulties obtaining gas cylinders. As the main cooking fuel in almost every Indian household, a short-term stoppage in supply can cause significant inconvenience for families that rely on it for daily cooking. Aside from experiencing long queues outside many gas stations, reports regarding delays in receiving deliveries in certain regions have prompted many people to search for practical alternatives to continue cooking at home during gas shortages. For this reason, alternative options to utilize while cooking at home exist. Although LPG has been and continues to be used by millions of people because of convenience and efficiency, several alternative cooking options exist that many households may use to prepare food whilst experiencing temporary shortages of LPG, therefore allowing families to continue using their kitchens without significant disruption. From induction cooktops and electric kettles to traditional methods of preparing food, each of these options would be easy to use for preparing food at home for families enduring temporary shortages of LPG. Listed below are six different methods of cooking food at home should LPG become unavailable.

Induction Cooktops — Image credit:

Induction Cooktops

The induction stove is very popular compared with other LPG methods of cooking. The induction stove uses electromagnetic energy to heat pots and pans directly, allowing for faster cooking time and energy efficiency. Induction cooking works well for basic items such as rice, vegetables (dal), omelettes and pancakes. However, they work only with induction-compatible utensils, usually those made of iron or magnetic stainless steel, which is an important requirement for proper functioning.

Electric Hot plates — Image credit:

Electric Hot plates

Electric hotplates are nearly identical in operation to gas stove tops. Electric hotplates can be used to easily cook simple meals. They are great for boiling water, cooking pasta, heating up curry, and making tea if there is no LPG available.

Microwave Ovens — Image credit:

Microwave Ovens

Microwave ovens can additionally be used to both cook and reheat food. Microwave ovens are primarily utilized for reheating leftovers but can, alternatively, be utilized to quickly and easily prepare multiple dishes such as steamed vegetables, baked potatoes, oatmeals and mug meal dishes.

Electric Rice Cookers — Image credit:

Electric Rice Cookers

When there is a shortage of LPG, electric rice cookers are incredibly functional. Modern rice cookers can not only cook rice but also make khichdi (a type of lentil stew), soup, noodles and vegetables using the steaming method. Using an electric rice cooker is very easy to do so it only requires minimal assistance when being used.

Solar cookers — Image credit:

Solar cookers

Solar Cooker uses sunlight as its primary energy source, making it an eco-friendly and cost-effective alternative for cooking when Liquefied Petroleum Gas is unavailable. Although solar cooking will take longer than gas or electric cooking, it is good for cooking rice and lentils.