Free I Quit Sugar for Life by Sarah Wilson

extracts so much flavour from any meat used, you can use less of it, ‘fleshing’ things out with
cheap veggies and starches.
    Why an electric slow cooker? First, it’s the ultimate one-step, one-pot wonder. You just chuck everything in and press a button.
Second, it uses about the same amount of electricity as a light bulb and about one-third the CO 2 of an oven. And, since you leave it on during the day, it’s using power from the
grid at a low-demand time.
    If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can use a heavy-based casserole pot instead. Or a cast-iron casserole on the stovetop or in the oven. You’ll
need to add extra liquid (about double) if you do, and reduce the cooking time from 8 hours (on low) or 4 hours (on high) to 1–2 hours.

CUT STAGES AND POTS
    The recipes in this book are designed to be one-pot wonders with three steps or less in as many cases as possible. I actively encourage you to cheat further:
    ▶ Use your blender as a mixing bowl. Do any grating, whipping or pureeing first, then add the remaining ingredients directly
into the blender to stir with a spoon or lightly blend.
    ▶ Cook pasta and rice in your sauce to save pots. I realise this is hardly elegant, but for midweek meals, why not? A 1:1
pasta-to-sauce ratio is best (1:2 rice-to-sauce). Add more if your sauce is particularly chunky. Cook for the same time as you would normally.
    ▶ Use an overproof pan. Sometimes dishes require sautéing on the stovetop
then
placing in a new dish
then
placing under a grill or in the oven for browning. Streamline things by cooking in an ovenproof pan or casserole dish and transferring the one dish around the kitchen.
    ▶ Use a double steamer. Or a steaming colander over a saucepan, and boil your starchy vegetables, or even your casserole or
soup, on the bottom while steaming your greens up top. Just watch it doesn’t boil over.

USE YOUR LEFTOVERS
    The average Australian tosses out 20% of their weekly shop. The waste kills me. The claim that many of us can’t afford good food also kills me when the painfully obvious
thing to do is to cut costs by cutting waste. Catch my simple drift? For leftover ideas, flick to Brilliant Leftovers, page 187.
    LET’S TRY THIS
    COOKING WITH A SLOW COOKER
    A few things to bear in mind:
    ▶ Cook in bulk. Slow cookers work best when filled to two-thirds of capacity. If that’s more than you need, freeze the
leftovers.
    ▶ The order matters. Put your densest veggies on the bottom. Place your meat on top of the veggies. Sauces over the top of that.
Soft veg, like courgettes and peas, should be added in the last 30 minutes. Ditto dairy and seafood.
    ▶ Don’t check on the pot once it’s started cooking. You’ll only extend the cooking time if you lift the lid and
let moisture and heat escape. If you have to open it (to add ingredients), whack it on high for 20 minutes.
    ▶ And if the final product is too runny, just add a tablespoon or two of arrowroot, cornflour or chia seeds to thicken it out. Or
reserve some of the juices and use as a lovely, rich stock in other dishes.
    ▶ Skip the pre-brown step when slow-cooking. It does add extra caramelisation, but I find enough flavour is drawn from the
slow-cooking itself.

HONESTLY, MY GO-TO ADVICE WHEN ANYONE ASKS ME TO SHARE THE SMARTEST THING I DO: BULK-BUY ’N’ FREEZE.
    I buy up when a product is in season (when it’s cheap and abundant), prepare it in bulk (saving time) and then freeze it ready to use later. Besides the obvious
environmental and economic savings, there’s this:
    A FULL FREEZER IS MORE ENERGY EFFICIENT THAN AN EMPTY ONE.
    Why? Because solids freeze at a lower temperature than air, requiring less electricity.
    LET’S TRY THIS
    FRIDGE SURPRISE
    Open your fridge and see what’s in there. Create a meal around what you find. The ultimate challenge: not to buy anything extra. Use substitutes if you have to. Draw on
your freezer stash. If you happen to love the result, feel free to