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save mother earth
Be kitchen smart. Here are useful energy saving tips while preparing sumptuous meals.
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Saving Energy in the Kitchen
Cooking food accounts for about 5% of the energy we use in our homes, so
make sure your culinary skills aren’t draining resources unnecessarily.
Liquid petroleum gas is generally
cleaner than electricity if
the power is generated by coalfired
plants. But cooking with
electricity is still cleaner than
cooking with charcoal.
Cook in batches. If you’re
cooking from scratch, prepare
enough for several meals, and
freeze or refrigerate the remaining
portions. It will take
much less energy and time and
effort to reheat the leftovers
than to cook new meals.
Use the smallest pan possible,
because smaller pans require
less energy.
Work on a number of levels.
Cook several items on top of
each other in a stacked steamer
to get the most out of each
burner’s energy.
Match the pan to the burner
if the pan doesn’t completely
cover the burner, heat will be
escaping around the sides.
Use residual heat in the rice
cooker to warm leftovers. Just
put in clean bowl on top of the
steamed rice.
Cook stir-fry instead of a
prepackaged meal. It will
take a quarter of the time and
energy and that’s not including
the energy required to produce
the prepackaged meal.
Don’t pre-heat the oven, unless
you’re making pastry or bread.
It should get hot quickly enough
not to affect cooking times or
quality.
Resist the temptation to open
the oven door to check the
progress. Every time you do so,
up to 25% of the heat escapes.
Turn off the heat a few minutes
before food’s cooked—it’ll continue
cooking in the residual
heat.
All under one lid, cook whole
meals in one pot. Delicious
one-pot paellas, stews and
casseroles use about a third of
the energy of meals cooked in
separate pans.
Source: How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint:
365 Simple Ways to Save Energy, Resources
and Money by Joanna Yarrow
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