As ecological sustainability ‘turns on waterworks’ with ever increasing distress, people have been searching high and low for saving their pennies on monthly utility bills. If some knuckle down to light bulbs or thermostat settings to trim down energy costs, then others switch over to energy efficient household equipments. But, not many would realize that people can also save energy whilst whipping up their meals. There are some significant ways that can help you save energy when you are cooking everyday meals.
Choose cooking method as per the meal
Foremost, make sure your cooking method considerably matches the meal you are planning to prepare. Irrespective of whether the procedure comprises a toaster oven, oven, microwave, stovetop or some other solution, ensure your cooking method has been chosen as per the requirement of the meal. Preferably, cook large meals with large cookware and small meals with small appliances. This will unremittingly enable you to save on energy when cooking a meal.
Invest in good, sturdy, flat bottomed cookware
It might not seem significant, but investing in a good, flat bottomed cookware is rather essential. If you have a stovetop, then purchase a cookware with sturdy and high quality components. However, the shape of a cookware’s bottom plays a less critical role if it the user has a gas range. Thus in a nutshell, always use proper cookware to save energy but also bear in mind that utilizing a cheap appliance with a warped bottom rather wastes energy.
For electric ranges, match the size of cookware to the heating elements
If you do not use right sized cookware on your heating elements, then you are simply wasting energy. In fact, according to the ACEEE, people who use a 6 inch pan on their 8 inch heating element, tend to waste nearly 40 percent of the heat generated by the element. Therefore, ascertain to use heating elements as per the cookware’s size for thorough energy conservation.
Keep burner pans clean
For maximum energy efficiency, try to keep those silver foil pans or gas burner pans as clean as possible. Since burners function by reflecting heat from heating elements, you need to ensure that they have been cleaned thoroughly. This will ensure the burner does not absorb a lot of heat and also preserve energy whilst cooking meals.
Reduce your cooking time
Focus on trimming down the time it requires you to prepare a dish. For this, you can seamlessly defrost foods in the fridge ahead of time and maintain over pre-heating at minimal. Also, while your meal is getting ready, you can try to avoid peeping into the pan over and over again. This may help save a lot of energy. You may not realize the significance of these trivial precautions, but they can hugely contribute in reducing overall energy consumption.
