A Diet that Saves Gas

His diet doesn't even need gas.

My neighbourhood uses bottled gas for cooking over the stove. And some of my neighbours find this a nuisance as they have to get a replacement every two to four weeks. That surprised me completely as I’ve lived in the Novena area for more than a year and a half now, and have yet to empty the bottle I had put in when I first moved in.

But it soon became clear why there was such a huge disparity in gas usage: my neighbours choose to chow down on traditional Asian cuisine breakfast, lunch and dinner. And that means stir-fried, deep-fried, stewed, steamed and boiled dishes that often take a long cooking time.

Unlike them, I only use my trusty gas stove when I prepare my mains for dinner. And that is deliberately confined to recipes that need only a quick sauté or boiling of the meat, served with a raw salad on the side:  the tropical climate is just too hot and humid to induce me to serve every dish cooked.

And that is the only meal I use my stove. It’s definitely cereals, fruit or yoghurt with an orange juice for a quicky breakfast. Lunch finds me serving the equivalent of John West oysters on toast. Or the microwave will thaw out and heat up the generous slices of quiche lorraine, baked in the electric oven the week before. And my thirst is quenched with icy cold diet Coke or a refreshing home made lemonade – made by stirring the freshly squeezed lemon juice into hot water that was boiled in an electric kettle.

Given the rate I use my stove it’ll be another year or so before I need delivered a new bottle of gas for twenty-seven dollars.