Right now, people are worried about rising costs and the amount of money they’re spending on basic things. And energy costs are part of that for many people. If you want to negate those rising costs, you could try to simply reduce your energy consumption in the home.
One of the areas in which lots of people use energy is when they’re cooking. If you think you might be consuming a little too much energy in the kitchen, now is the perfect time to change that. We’re going to talk about some of the steps you can start doing today to make that happen. So read on now and find out more.
Defrost in the Fridge Overnight
Defrosting your food in the refrigerator the night before is definitely a good idea. It doesn’t use any energy to put a frozen item in the fridge when you’re planning on cooking it the next day. But if you defrost that item in the microwave or the oven when you’re cooking the next evening, you certainly will use a significant amount of energy. It’s one of the simply habitual changes that you can make very easily, there’s nothing difficult about it.
Use a Lid
Using a lid when you’re cooking in a pan is a must. It might not seem like a big change, but it matters for a few reasons. First of all, it’ll help you to cook your food faster. And that’s the case because you’ll be keeping all of that heat in the pan and not letting it escape into the air. That means you have to use less energy to complete the cooking process, enabling you to reduce the amount of energy you consume compared to not using a lid when cooking. So definitely think about making this change as soon as possible.
Use Manual Appliances
If you’re someone who’s gotten into the habit of using a lot of electronics and gadgets in the kitchen, these might be causing your overall energy consumption to rise. Instead, you might want to go back to basics and try to do things the manual way instead. Sure, it means doing a little more work in the kitchen, but it just might be for the best if it allows you to save money on the amount of energy you’re using in the kitchen each evening.
Don’t Keep Your Hob On for Longer Than Necessary
Lots of people make the mistake of leaving the hob running for longer than necessary. If you have an electric hob that shuts down when there’s no pan on it, this is easier to avoid. But if you have a gas hob instead that might be a little more difficult. You might also find that you’re cooking food for longer than you need to; that’s something that people often do when they’re cooking things like pasta or rice on the hob, for example.
Use a Slow Cooker
It might seem counterintuitive to use a slow cooker as a way of consuming less energy in the kitchen. After all, you do have to leave them on during the day as they slowly cook your meals. Nevertheless, they actually are very energy efficient and more so than most ovens, for example. So it might be a good idea to start using yours more often. When you do so, make sure you try this slow cooker bourbon chicken recipe; there are so many great ways of cooking with a slow cooker.
Stop Opening the Oven Door
When you open the door of the oven to check on the food you’re cooking, you actually let a lot of the heat out of the oven, and that means that the oven will have to use more power to reach the correct temperature when you close it again. So, of course, when you do that repeatedly, it can become a big problem. So try to stop opening the oven so often.
Use a Smart Meter
Finally, you should think about installing a smart meter in your home if you haven’t got one already. This might not be specific to the kitchen, but it does allow you to see how much you’re spending on energy in the home each day of the week.
As you can see, there are lots of ways to reduce the amount of energy you use in the kitchen. Right now, as we’re all looking to cut our spending and reduce our impact on the planet too, it definitely makes sense to start making the most of the ideas above. And none of them are particularly difficult to implement.