Dining out is expensive. Even if it’s just a coffee and donut, those little spends turn into big money over the run of a year. If you’ve committed to less takeout and making more of your food and beverages at home to save money, there are kitchen devices, cooking tools and delivery services that will pay for themselves in no time and start saving you real money over whatever expensive alternative is lurking just outside the door.
As part of CNET’s ongoing We Do the Math series, we’ve analyzed several popular home appliances, including water filter pitchers, air fryers, rice cookers and coffee makers. And we’ve seen how much each one could save the average person through regular use. In some cases, the savings from one appliance compared with an expensive habit like coffee shop lattes or drinking bottled water was as much as $1,000 in a single year.
Ready to save? Below you’ll find the best kitchen tools, appliances and services for saving money, including the projected upfront cost and the potential savings for one year.
SodaStream sparkling water maker
An air fryer uses less than half the energy a large oven uses.
Even casual air fryer users know that these trendy cookers save time and hassle, and anything that inspires us to cook more and order less will save big bucks in the long run. But you might not have considered how these countertop convection ovens can also save money on your energy bill.
A typical air fryer uses far less energy than a big oven to operate, takes less time to preheat and cooks food faster. By my calculations using New York’s electricity prices, a standard four-quart air fryer costs 25 cents per hour to run. That’s 50% more energy-efficient than the average full-size electric oven and about 35% more efficient than a gas oven.
- Upfront cost: $30 to $80
- How much you could save: Up to $114 (based on 300 hours of cooking)
Rice cooker
Some meal kit services cost about the same or less than buying the groceries yourself. Plus, you won’t have to spend time or energy on shopping and planning meals.
Meal kits were once thought to be a costly dinnertime activity to be reserved for date night or a special occasion. Since the launch of Blue Apron over 10 years ago, meal kit prices have come way down with some budget-friendly operations costing as little as $5 a serving.
Meal kits alone might not save heaps of money from your bottom-line weekly food spend unless you replace takeout or delivery with them or tend to shop at really expensive supermarkets. That said, many of the meal kits I analyzed cost the same, and sometimes even less than it would to buy the ingredients needed to make the same meals from scratch. With cost being equal, the big bonus from meal kits comes in the form of convenience since you won’t have to spend time — which famously equals money — on meal planning, shopping and prepping.
- Upfront cost: $35 to $50 per week (three meals for two people)
- How much you could save: Time and energy
Instant Pot or slow cooker
If you’re still drinking bottled water, a filter pitcher and reusable water bottle will put money in your pocket.
If you’re still drinking single-use bottled water around the house, or even outside of the house, it’s time to kick that nasty habit. Saddle yourself with a reusable water bottle and a water filter pitcher and you’ll eliminate loads of plastic going into landfills and clogging up the recycling systems. You’ll also save yourself some serious dough and have great-tasting water, to boot.
We did the math, and those who drink three bottles of water a day could save more than $800 in a year if they switch to a home filter. While Brita is one of the cheapest models, even the top-performing pitcher in our test of more than 10, the Zero Water Filter, still costs less than $30.
- Upfront cost: $20
- How much you could save: Up to $830 (based on consumption of three 12-ounce bottles per day)
Coffee maker
A basic cocktail shaker is key for making budget-friendly cocktails at home.
Cocktail culture has exploded in the past few decades and with it the prices for vespers, sazeracs and sidecars on bar and restaurant menus. You can easily spend $15 to $20 per drink at a local watering hole or start making cocktails at home with a good shaker and save big money. Two $15 cocktails twice per week would cost you over $1,500 in a year. Those same cocktails cost closer to $3 or $4 to make at home, depending on the drink and necessary ingredients.
OK, so you’re going to need more than just a shaker to create bar-level cocktails, but almost nothing is as inflated as alcohol served in restaurants so, even with the cost of booze, mixers, bitters and glassware, you’ll still be saving major moolah making happy hour at home.
- Upfront cost: $20
- How much you could save: Up to $1,400 (based on consumption of two cocktails per week)
