Energy Saving Kitchen Tips

1. Use the right size pan for the job, and the right sized burner. It may sound silly but you can waste a lot of time and energy trying to boil a giant-size pot of potatoes on a tiny burner.  And you can waste a tremendous amount of energy warming up a small pan of sauce on a giant burner.  If you can see more than a half inch of overlap, either the pan overlapping the burner or the burner overlapping the pan, see if there’s a better fit.
2. Don’t preheat oven. Have you ever been pressed for time and just shoved that tray of chocolate chip cookies in an oven that hasn’t been preheated?  What happened?  Presumably you may have had to add one or two minutes to the cook time but it certainly didn’t add ten minutes or more to the cook time.  With many ovens it takes 10-15 minutes to warm up to 350 degrees, and that’s wasted energy.
3. Use smaller appliances for smaller jobs. If you’re making an open-faced sandwich, warming up leftovers or eating those frozen and ready-to-cook cookies, then skip the oven and use your toaster oven instead.  It uses less energy to heat up.  Additionally, your microwave can be used to steam, reheat and even to make eggs, melt chocolate and warm up canned foods in much less time and with much less energy.
4. Use a Slow Cooker. When you are making soups, stews and even roasts, consider using a slow cooker instead of cooking them for hours on top of the stove.  Slow cookers use less energy and you can cook your meals during low energy times in your home.

You can save TONS of energy focusing your attentions and habits on JUST your kitchen habits!

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