LPG prices hiked by P7/kg; second straight month of increased prices

As announced by liquefied petroleum gas companies, LPG prices increased by at least P7 per kilogram on Tuesday.

According to Cedric Castillo's report on 24 Oras, this brought the price of an 11-kilogram cylinder of LPG anywhere from P900 to over P1000.

GMA News Research data found that March was the second straight month that LPG prices had risen.

While there was a P2.55/kg rollback last January, February's price increase of P4/kg resulted in a P1.45/kg net increase in prices.

Given these prices, here are some tips that may help stretch the most out of a cylinder of LPG.

Make sure the LPG tank is the correct weight: an LPG tank with a tare weight of 12.1 kg should weigh 23.1 kg if there is exactly 11 kg of LPG in it.

Prepare the ingredients before you turn on your burner: make sure ingredients are chopped, peeled, and ready to be used; frozen ingredients should be defrosted before you start so these would cook quickly.

Make sure you have the right cookware, and that these and the stove are clean: it takes longer to warm up cookware that is wet and dirty.

Use cookware that fits your burner: flames that go up the side of your pot or pan is just wasted heat.

When cooking, try and put a lid on your cookware to trap some of the heat.

Also, a clean gas burner puts out a clean blue flame. A red and orange flame is cooler than a blue flame and indicates that the burner is either dirty or clogged. — DVM, GMA News