Cooking is not a large part of most people’s day. But
it is one of those things we can do to make a difference.
We can save energy simply by getting in the habit of cooking
with the most efficient appliance possible for the food being
prepared.
In general, the higher on the following list, the less energy
the appliance will cost:
 Microwave
Slow
Cookers ("crockpots")
Frying
Pan
Toaster
Oven
Gas
Oven
Electric
Convection Oven
Electric
Oven
Putting a lid on the pan when you’re cooking. If you
don’t need direct access to the food, having a lid on
the pan means it will cook faster. This is particularly evident
when you’re boiling water before adding your pasta.
The water boils much sooner with a lid on. Make sure your
pan covers the coil of your range. If you can see coil peeping
out from the sides of your pan, you are losing energy!
Another factor to consider is how long you preheat your oven,
or if you even really need to. Make an exception for anything
that is more sensitive to temperature, such as baking bread.
But meats and casseroles don’t need to start out at
that perfect temperature
A slow cooker, on the other hand, despite how long it spends
cooking, it can use less energy than the oven (depending on
the type of oven you have). It’s also very easy to have
just about the entire dinner in one pot. Throw in a roast
and put the potatoes alongside it.
The chopping takes extra time, but that means the meat cooks
very quickly. The fact that everything only needs a little
cook time really helps. If you need a little more intense
cooking time, throw a lid on for a little while and decrease
the heat so things don’t burn.
Meats generally don’t cook up too well in them, but
for reheating leftovers or giving vegetables a quick steam
they’re very efficient.
Thawing food in the fresh food compartment of the fridge befor
cooking might teke longer, but it is the healthies and most
economical way!
As you
build up your cooking habits to use energy more efficiently,
you may come to appreciate how fast many of these methods
are. There’s nothing like doing something that saves
you both money and time.
Cooking
in quantity saves cooking energy, cleaning resources, and
time. Succession cooking using an already heated burner will
save energy but, the real savings is succession cooking with
ovens from regular to toaster to convection; putting one item
in as soon as the previous is done. In the full sized oven,
sometimes you can maximize the energy use by baking more than
one item at once.
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