Efficient Cooking

I spend a lot of time talking about products you can buy to help you reduce your energy bills, but there are also plenty of other ways in which you can reduce your energy consumption without spending anything.  After all, when money is tight can we all really afford to be replacing light bulbs, adding insulation, and buying new appliances? (Check out the Free Savings category on this site for more tips to save energy without spending a dime).

Cooking is one area where a number of common sense and a few surprising tips can save you a couple of dollars each month. 

1. Use your stove more in the winter and less in the summer.   This is as common sense as it gets.  If you have to use your stove, try to use it more in the winter when the heat generated won't cause your air conditioner to run extra time.
2. Use a crock pot or indoor grill instead of your oven whenever possible.  Crock pots and indoor grills generally use less energy than an oven.
3. Don't open the oven door while cooking.  Why let all of the hot air escape?  If you need to check on your food use the oven light.  Keep notes on cooking duration for each recipe so that you can avoid excess checking to see if the food is done.
4. Cut some time corners.  You may not need to pre-heat the oven so long for dishes that take a while to cook, and you may be able to turn the oven off a couple of minutes early and rely on the residual heat to finish.  You could save 6-8 minutes of heating time.
5. Use the 'self-cleaning' feature sparingly.  Self-cleaning ovens clean largely by heating up to incredibly high temperatures for a long period of time.  Not only does this use a lot of energy, but it reduces the life of the heating elements.  A Department of Energy publication states an average ven uses 5.29 KwH per self- cleaning cycle.  That would be equivalent to running a 60 watt light bulb for 88 hours.  Of course, stated another way, 5.3 KwH is about 65 cents of electricity usage.  So if you are self cleaning often, you may wish to cut back or manually clean occasionally.

Of course, for most households energy expense from cooking is only a small fraction of overall energy expenditures, but it is one area in which you are in complete control.  And if you couple this with other energy saving behaviors, what seems like an insignificant savings each month really adds up over a lifetime.

If you've made it this far, you may also be interested to read How to Boil Water.  They discuss and test the most efficient way to boil a cup and a quart of water, comparing stove tops, microwaves, and electric kettles.  the results may surprise you!