If you want to be more energy-efficient in your kitchen, your appliances are the place to start. But if you can’t afford new appliances just yet, or if you’ve already replaced yours, there are other simple ways you can make your cooking routine more efficient.
First, think about fundamentally changing your cooking habits.
Most people use the stove for the majority of their cooking. But stoves use a lot of energy, and if you are preparing a small meal it’s often a big waste of energy to heat up your whole stove or rangetop. Microwaves are usually more efficient, but they can sometimes sacrifice taste. Try matching your meal to the cooking method, like using a crockpot to prepare chili or stew and a rice-cooker for any rice dishes or a toaster oven to heat small meals. Toaster ovens use a third to one half as much energy as a full-sized oven, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
If you are going to use the cooktop, make sure you choose the right pan for the job you are trying to do, too. If you use an electric cooktop, you can waste a good deal of energy using a pan smaller than the burner. Using a 6-inch pan on an 8-inch burner wastes more than 40 percent of the burner’s heat, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
Materials are also important. Some materials – like copper – heat up faster than pans made of other materials. When using dark baking pans or cookie sheets, you can also turn down the temperature in your oven by around 25 degrees, which will both save energy and prevent your foods from burning. Darker-colored pans absorb the heat more quickly than transparent ones will.
If you have an electric stove, you also need to get out of the habit of buying pans with a rounded bottom, like woks. Also check on older pans to make sure their bottoms are still flat, and that the shape has not warped. Boiling water for pasta can use 50 percent more energy on a warped-bottom pan than it would in a flat-bottom pan.
Once you get the right pot on your stove, try to keep a lid on it – even if you are just boiling water. That keeps the heat inside your pots, making your food cook faster and your energy last longer.
Source: BecauseAction.com
