Facts and Tips for Cooking Energy Efficiently
• Keep the stovetop clean and shiny. When your stove's surface around the heating element becomes blackened from heavy use, it can absorb a lot of heat, which reduces the heat element’s efficiency. Keeping your stovetop surface shiny reflects heat up to the cookware, and cooks the food faster.
• Turn off your oven shortly before the food is completely done. The oven’s heat should be adequate to finish things up.
• Don’t peek! Every time you open the oven door, the temperature drops by 25°F to 50°F, making it longer to cook the food, and uses more unnecessary energy.
• Try to make one-pot meals - stir-fries and stews save energy on cooking and washing-up!
• Cut food into smaller pieces to speed up cooking!
• Blitzing your frozen veggies in the microwave instead of waiting for them to boil on the hob not only saves time - it also cuts the energy used by a tasty 65%.
• Cook in batches: Cook as much as possible in the oven in one go to make sure all the space and heat is being used. You can always freeze portions of food to warm up at a later date.
• When possible, defrost frozen food in the fridge overnight before cooking as this typically halves the
cooking time.
• Glass or ceramic dishes are the most energy efficient to use in the oven and can reduce the temperature required for cooking.
• Put stainless steel skewers through baked potatoes and joints of meat to speed up the cooking process.
• Always use the right size pan for the amount of food you are cooking.
• Turn down the ring or burner once the cooking temperature or state is reached; simmer food rather than
boiling it.
• Using the dishwasher once will use the same amount of energy as boiling 7.5 full kettles.
• If everyone boiled only the water they needed to make a cup of tea instead of filling the kettle every time, we could save enough electricity in a year to run nearly half of the street lighting in the
country.
• Microwaves use up to two-thirds less electricity than conventional electric ovens and are useful for reheating meals.
• By cooking food at a higher temperature and pressure (i.e. in pressure cookers) cooking time is reduced and energy use is typically reduced by 50-75%.
• Using the toaster to make toast instead of the grill is 3.5 times more energy efficient.
• In one year, an American-style fridge freezer uses 30% more energy than a regular fridge freezer or the equivalent of running a small fan continuously for the entire year.
• Covering your pots and pans to keep heat in, will cook your food faster and keep your kitchen cooler.
• Using high-conductivity pots i.e. Copper-bottom and cast iron cookware, heat up faster than steel pans and will reduce your cooking time.
• Avoiding one dishwasher load saves enough energy to power a 100W light bulb for 11 hours.
• Too many cooks can spoil the climate, scientists say. Although cooking only accounts for about 3% of your home energy use, it adds up. In fact, all of our electric hobs, ovens, kettles and microwaves use as much electricity in a year as British street lighting does in six years.
• Keep the stovetop clean and shiny. When your stove's surface around the heating element becomes blackened from heavy use, it can absorb a lot of heat, which reduces the heat element’s efficiency. Keeping your stovetop surface shiny reflects heat up to the cookware, and cooks the food faster.
• Turn off your oven shortly before the food is completely done. The oven’s heat should be adequate to finish things up.
• Don’t peek! Every time you open the oven door, the temperature drops by 25°F to 50°F, making it longer to cook the food, and uses more unnecessary energy.
• Try to make one-pot meals - stir-fries and stews save energy on cooking and washing-up!
• Cut food into smaller pieces to speed up cooking!
• Blitzing your frozen veggies in the microwave instead of waiting for them to boil on the hob not only saves time - it also cuts the energy used by a tasty 65%.
• Cook in batches: Cook as much as possible in the oven in one go to make sure all the space and heat is being used. You can always freeze portions of food to warm up at a later date.
• When possible, defrost frozen food in the fridge overnight before cooking as this typically halves the
cooking time.
• Glass or ceramic dishes are the most energy efficient to use in the oven and can reduce the temperature required for cooking.
• Put stainless steel skewers through baked potatoes and joints of meat to speed up the cooking process.
• Always use the right size pan for the amount of food you are cooking.
• Turn down the ring or burner once the cooking temperature or state is reached; simmer food rather than
boiling it.
• Using the dishwasher once will use the same amount of energy as boiling 7.5 full kettles.
• If everyone boiled only the water they needed to make a cup of tea instead of filling the kettle every time, we could save enough electricity in a year to run nearly half of the street lighting in the
country.
• Microwaves use up to two-thirds less electricity than conventional electric ovens and are useful for reheating meals.
• By cooking food at a higher temperature and pressure (i.e. in pressure cookers) cooking time is reduced and energy use is typically reduced by 50-75%.
• Using the toaster to make toast instead of the grill is 3.5 times more energy efficient.
• In one year, an American-style fridge freezer uses 30% more energy than a regular fridge freezer or the equivalent of running a small fan continuously for the entire year.
• Covering your pots and pans to keep heat in, will cook your food faster and keep your kitchen cooler.
• Using high-conductivity pots i.e. Copper-bottom and cast iron cookware, heat up faster than steel pans and will reduce your cooking time.
• Avoiding one dishwasher load saves enough energy to power a 100W light bulb for 11 hours.
• Too many cooks can spoil the climate, scientists say. Although cooking only accounts for about 3% of your home energy use, it adds up. In fact, all of our electric hobs, ovens, kettles and microwaves use as much electricity in a year as British street lighting does in six years.