Martin Lewis issues 'batch cooking' warning aimed at 'most people'

Martin Lewis has issued a warning over "batch cooking" as people try to avoid using their hobs and ovens at "peak times". The BBC Sounds podcast presenter spoke out on Twitter, now X, in the wake of the first General Election debate.

A woman claimed in the studio she was being forced to spend weekends batch cooking to keep costs down. On social media, ITV star Martin wrote: "Just a little note on "batch cooking at weekends so its not at peak times." Most people are not on time of use tariffs, you pay the same rate whenever you use energy.

"#ITVdebate The exceptions are Eco7, a smart tariff (like Octopus's) or the British Gas Peak save scheme on Sundays." He added: "Yet you'll know if you're on one of these, so don't feel you need do this to save, unless you are #ITVdebate."

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He later said: "PS the aim of this tweet isn't to question what was asked, but just i often read people confused about whether their prices vary and didnt want people to think that this was a standard thing." A fan replied: "The lady batch cooks at weekends because that's the only time she has, Martin. It's cheaper to batch cook whatever tarrif you're on."

"She said "so its not at peak times"," Mr Lewis said. "That’s not at all how it came across to me so it’s worth Martin clarifying for anyone unsure," said a follower. Another said: "You can still batch cook by using the space in the oven to cook multiple meals at the same time. Which would then only need shorter reheat times when you’re ready to eat them."

"I think she meant she only wanted to turn on the oven once a week and the only time she had the opportunity to do this was the weekend," another reasoned. Another said: "Scottish Power (my supplier) emailed this week to ask me to move to half hour smart meter readings. They said this would allow them to offer me tarrifs that would reward me for using energy at certain times."

"It still have an older style meter that has night and day tariffs. Night is SO much cheaper. But new smart meters don’t seem to do that. Am I wrong?" another asked.