Energy saving cooking tips?

[stngymama]

How do you try to save energy when you cook??
Here are two ideas:
Best Poached Chicken (fair to lousy broth):
Fill a 12 quart kettle almost full of water and bring it to a boil. Place 1 whole chicken, about 3 pounds, in the boiling water. The water will STOP boiling in just a moment or so. Using wooden spoons so that you do not tear the skin, remove the chicken from the water and place it on a tray. Cover the pot and bring the water back to a boil. Put the chicken back into the pot, cover and turn off the heat. Leave the chicken in the pot and the pot on the burner, but you will need no more heat. The water will be hot enough to cook the bird. After 1 hour the chicken is done. Remove, cool, and debone it.
Putting Your Rice to Bed (from Living More With Less, pg.155)
Bring your rice (in this story it was rice and milk) to a boil, then put the pot on a thick layer of newspaper on your bed, cover with more newspaper, then tuck it in for an hour or so. Alternatively, just wrap in a thick towel, etc. and go about your chores for an hour or so.

Anyone else want to post some hints to save energy while cooking?

[markio26]

no, i have not looked into this type of cooking.. several years ago my son was into solar cooking because he is a scuba diver and they used to go on rallys... you can make homemade solar cookers... i know they used alot of foil... tea can be made outside using the sun.. i have a glass tea container for that, jake gave us...you can fry eggs on a hot day.. my spouse sets his soup, coffee on his dashboard while he is at work and it keeps it warm or hot..

[PrincessPerky]

My ex step mother used to maek 'sun teah' said it was better than regular iced tea..I dunno about that.

I know some peole cook in a hole in the ground in the summer, but I think you have to start wiht a hot stone at the bottom, (beans usually)

[mciangel]

Wow these tips look great... adventurous!
We just try to use the microwave more in the summer and not boling things too long, not longer than it needs. Like, for example. My mom, and most of my family boil potatoes for-ev-er... they only need to be fork tender.... and corn on the cob (a summer staple for us) needs only like 10-13 mins once the water is at a boil. Some say even less time than that... so those are my basic tips

[naturallyadiva]

I just have a toaster over, george foreman and a crock pot.

[emmiedahl]

If you pour boiling water over pasta and wrap the container with a towel, it will cook by itself.

[tinapbeana]

beans the old fashioned way: soak your beans overnight, drain and cook in fresh water. most folks go the 'quick' cook method which requires more stove time. alternatively, put the pot on a woodstove, the original 'set it & forget it!'

i've debated about 'cooking' rice/barley by letting it soak over night, draining & then heating it up. dunno if it'll work.

[scfr]

Pressure cookers are great! You can cook things in just a fraction of the time. And the food turns out beautiful. My sister is the gourmet cook in the family, and she turned me on to the joys of pressure cookers.

For data on the ton of money you can save:
http://fastcooking.ca/energy_savings...ure_cooker.htm

If you're interested in how the things work:
http://fastcooking.ca/pressure_cooke...okers_work.htm

[Judi Dial]

If you're cooking rice (not converted, the old fashioned kind) you can heat the liquid to boiling, add the rice, boil for 5 minutes, put a lid on it, and turn off the stove. It will cook by itself.

Also, try making meals where you use one oven tempurature/time for everything. One of my favorite cooking booklets is by the Mohawk Power people and has menus like this. I also believe the New Better Homes & Gardens Cookbooks had some of these too.

If you're steaming vegetables in a double boiler, why not boil an egg in the water at the same time? Or, if you're not interested in doing that, use the hot water for tea, washing dishes, cleaning a counter, whatever.

If you're baking bread, throw a potato or two in on the bottom rack, you'll get baked potatoes for potato salad or stuffed skins, or.... btw, that's the only time I oven bake potatoes, mostly I scrub 'em, take the eyes/faults off and nuke 'em in the microwave. I do this for baked potatoes and mashed.

We didn't have a hot water heater for a while, and I learned how to wash/rinse dishes with the least amount of hot water. I still use this when we lose power, once or twice a year here in rural NH.

Fill a stew pot with water, set it on a med high burner to heat. While it's heating, rinse in cold water all the food off the dishes. Discard that water, then wash all the dishes with cold water by using a soapy sponge and adding water as needed. Stack the soapy dishes on the counters (can be dirty, but not gross). By now the water should have boiled.

Put the hot water into a clean plastic dish pan. Using tongs, your fingers, etc. dip the dishes into the hot water, pull them out and put them on the dish drainer. Repeat until all the dishes are done. If you need to do a second batch of dishes, use the soapy, tepid water to wash the new batch of dishes with the first time. The soapy water on your counters can be used to clean up your counters, no extra hot water or soap is usually necessary. If i know I'm only doing one dish drainer load, I'll dip the dishes directly in the stew pot, then pour the soapy water into the dish pan for whatever other cleaning I need to do.

Judi

[mom-from-missouri]

I try to do all my oven baking for at least 2-3 days at a time.
And, I quit preheating the oven. I can't tell any difference in food cooking any longer since I did.

[ezme]

When boiling a pan, make sure the flame is not too big. Otherwise most of the heat will just escape.

[Brendan39]

The cost of cooking accounts for about 4% of the average gas and electricity bill - it might not seem like a lot, but when you're trying to cut your energy usage, every little helps.

Changing the way you cook as well as using energy-efficient cooking appliances can reduce the amount of energy you use and cut your energy bills in the process.

Read on for lots of ways to save energy in the kitchen, plus our top twenty tips for energy-efficient cooking.

Choose the most energy-efficient cooking method
If you have an energy monitor, you're bound to have noticed that your oven uses far more electricity than almost any other appliance in your home. Fuel consumption for cooking in general is high compared to other household activities, so that's why it's worth knowing how to reduce the amount of energy you use to prepare food.

As an overview: a microwave oven is the most energy-efficient, followed by a hob and lastly an oven. Therefore, to keep your energy bills down, it's a good idea to purchase a microwave oven if you don't already have one, and to use it for as much cooking as possible. But, remember to switch off your microwave at the wall when you're not using it, so it isn't left using electricity to power its clock.

You can also implement a couple of simple ideas to save on your bills, such as making sure you only fill your kettle with the amount of water you need, and always using the kettle and not the hob to boil water. Likewise, always make toast in your toaster, and not on a grill.

Slow cookers can also be an energy-efficient option - they use just a little more energy than a traditional light bulb, and you can leave your food to cook slowly while you get on with other things.

When you're not using your microwave, follow our top 10 tips to make sure your cooking is as efficient as possible.