A busy mum has shared her 'game changer' hack for cooking pasta to help other families cut down on their energy bills.
Amid the cost of living crisis, households are always looking for money-saving tips in a bid to save a few pennies where they can. Some are more useful than others, but one in particular has been a hit for reducing the cooking time of pasta.
Instead of cooking it on the hob for at least 10 minutes in boiling water, it can be soaked for a few hours before in water. While you need to be oragnised for this method, it then only requires a few minutes to cook as the pasta shapes are already soft.
It's a tip Sarah Hyland saw online and decided to give it a go herself, reports Manchester Evening News.
She was so impressed, the mum wanted to share it with others, and posted it in the Reduce Your Supermarket Spend Facebook group.
"Omg GAME CHANGER PASTA ALERT," she wrote. "I tried it. Soak pasta in cold water for a few hours. Yes it looks hideous grey and grim. Empty water. Add boiled water from kettle to cover pasta. Boiled for literally a minute. Pasta perfection."
She said the tip worked well with the cheapest Hearty Food Co pasta from Tesco costing from 20p for 500g, adding: "Hubby and kids said pasta was lovely, not so sticky."
Sarah spotted the cooking hack from social enterprise Reduce Waste Now. They shared a meme with a photo of a pan on the boil for 10 minutes captioned 'old me', next to the words 'new me' and a tub of pasta soaking in cold water.
While the post suggested soaking it in water overnight, Sarah did it for just a few hours and others have said it takes even less time, depending on how you want your pasta.
The tip comes after another money-saving hack went viral earlier this week, when shoppers were reminded of a 'centuries old tip' for reducing the cost of family meals.
Budget meal planner Lorna Cooper said that with meat often being the most expensive part of a meal, it's easy to cut back by using less of the stuff and bulking meals out with lentils, chickpeas, beans, barley and oats instead.
"It isn't a new phenomena," said Lorna, the brains behind the popular Facebook page Feed your family for about £20 a week.
"Yorkshire puddings are used to fill up people so they eat less meat, same with dumplings and stuffing. Breadcrumbs are used in sausages, meat balls and meat loaf to reduce the meat content. Lentils, chickpeas, beans, barley and oats are used for the same reasons.
"It is a tip that has been used for centuries. If you don't want to do it we won't force you. But if you are meat eaters who want to reduce the cost of your weekly shop then is a very quick and easy way to do it."
