In the face of rising costs, foodies might have to make sacrifices in the kitchen every so often. Cooking without power may sound apocalyptic, but there are plenty of ways to flex your culinary creativity while keeping use of gas and electricity to a minimum. Here are some ideas.

1. Eat raw

Instead of powering up the oven, hotplate or grill, eating raw food is always an option, even if it might not be quite as warming as a hot dish. Still, current trends extol the virtues of a no-cook diet to preserve a maximum of nutrients, making this a money-saving as well as healthy alternative.

In addition to grated carrots and other salads, you can craft more elaborate recipes such as steak tartare or sea-bream ceviche, a kind of carpaccio of Peruvian origin seasoned with onions, citrus fruits and chili peppers. This seafood dish can be adapted to work with a wide variety of fish.

2. No-cook cakes

For dessert, how about a cake that doesn’t need to go in the oven? This is a challenge that can readily be met when you look to recipes based on creams, soft cheeses and cookie crumbs.

The art of the no-bake cake lies in the dense texture of a whipped cream and/or a creamy substance such as mascarpone or Philadelphia that can then be flavoured with lemon or red berries, for example.

As a base for the cake, simply crush cookies in the bottom of a pastry ring. Choose whatever’s in the pantry: shortbread cookies, Oreos, Biscoff… then, spread it with the cream preparation and finish with jam or jelly if needed.

Refrigerate the cake overnight to set the whole thing in place, and then unmould it the next day. If the unmoulding process stresses you out, simply build the cakes directly in individual portions in large glasses.

If you have access to a microwave, then you can follow the lead of chefs like Cyril Lignac or Thierry Marx by trying a simple chocolate cake recipe. The idea is to melt squares of chocolate and add butter and some optional whipped cream.

Then, pour the mixture into a cake tin lined with cling film and keep it in the fridge overnight before unmoulding.

3. Very verrine

Verrines – or hors d’oeuvres in a shot glass – were once all the rage, at home parties or catered events. Anyone can make them no matter their level of kitchen expertise, and they can be adapted to all tastes and dietary requirements, using a whole host of ingredients that do not need to be cooked or heated.

Raw vegetables, cold proteins such as smoked salmon or pre-cooked prawns, or crushed or puréed preparations can be combined with cream cheese seasoned with chives. You can also prepare verrines based on salads by using beets, oranges, red cabbage and carrots, among many others.

For an added layer of creativity, compose successive layers of ingredients so the eater’s spoon has to dive through various delicious textures.