As I’m sure most of you do as well, I spend a lot of time in my kitchen - A LOT of time. It seems like at least half of my day is spent making breakfast, packing lunches, and preparing dinner - not to mention cleanup duty. I admit I am a total freak about lowering our energy bills by turning out lights, heating with our wood stove instead of the central heating unit and using fresh air and ceiling fans instead of the AC when we can, but I’ve not given much thought to the amount of energy it takes to cook a meal.
I’ve discovered some ways in which we can save energy in the kitchen, but was told that eating out and ordering in on a constant basis was a bad habit to get into. So….I found some other things that I can do to reduce the amount of electricity I use while preparing meals at home (sigh).
Keep yer top on. Foods cook more quickly on the stove when they have a lid on them and you also keep your kitchen a little cooler by not letting as much heat escape.
The heat is on. Unless you are baking something that requires careful timing, don’t bother preheating your oven. Just stick your dish in and set the temperature, your oven won’t need to be on quite as long this way - especially if you get busy doing other tasks while awaiting the set temp and you don’t get baking right away.
Under pressure? What a crock! Using specialty cooking items like the pressure cooker or the crock pot can use less energy to cook a meal than the oven. The pressure cooker will save on time and even though the crock pot will take longer, it uses less energy and can easily make a one-dish meal, keeping you from having to prepare other dishes on the stove or in the oven.
Wok on: Making stir-fry is a quick-cooking event. Most of your time will be spent in chopping the foods that will go into a stir-fry. Once you’re ready, turn the stove up high and fry the ingredients quickly, starting with the foods that will take the longest.
Nuke it: While microwaving meat dishes never turns out great, use your microwave for side dishes like steamed veggies, rice, or potatoes - less time cooking means less energy used.
Get out: Of course, you can always just completely ignore your kitchen and do your cooking on the grill - one of my favorites since grilling is Daddy-duty at my house. I can’t say whether charcoal grills or propane grills use less fuel than your kitchen appliances, but it definitely isn’t adding to your utility bills.
Now that I know how to cook more efficiently all that’s left to do really is decide what to cook. Of course, if I procrastinate that long enough someone around here will ultimately suggest I call for pizza (wink).