Cleaning Tips

ENERGY EFFICIENT KITCHEN TIPS

Major holidays mean heavy kitchen use in most households, as families prepare large meals for festive gatherings. High efficiency appliances have come a long way over the years to reduce their carbon footprint. You can also reduce the cost of kitchen energy during the holidays and all year round in simple ways:

• Try not to peek at what’s cooking. Every time you open a heated stove, it’s forced to work harder to restore its set temperature.
  
  
• Plan your fridge forays. Don’t open the door multiple times to retrieve multiple items. Instead, remove what you need for any given task at the same time.
  
  
• Use the right burner for the right pot. A small pot on a large burner is a waste of energy. A large pot on a small burner takes longer to heat food to the appropriate temperature.
  
  
• Rethink the freezer setting. If your ice cream is rock hard, the temperature is probably set too low, using unnecessary energy to freeze food.
  
  
• Use an energy-efficient small appliance like a toaster oven or crock pot when possible, rather than heating up the whole stove.
  
  
• Only preheat when the recipe calls for it. Time the preheating so you are ready to put the food in when the oven is ready.
  
  
• Water will boil faster if you put a lid on the pan.
  
  
• A self-cleaning oven will consume less energy if you start the cleaning process immediately after cooking something. The oven temperature will be that much closer to the high heat it must achieve to clean itself.