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Can you offer any advice towards money saving tips for my new kitchen?
These days, due to rising costs, concern for the environment and the general ethos of conservation, we're all trying to save energy and money where we can. There are a number of ways to reduce personal energy use, including riding a bike instead of driving, turning the thermostat down a degree or two and vanquishing those energy vampires (appliances that continue to suck electricity, even when not in active use). However, when it comes to meal preparation, food storage and general kitchen tasks, energy conservation isn't typically as much of a consideration. Generally, the kitchen accounts for 15% of energy used in the home, making it a great place to save. Luckily, there are a number of steps you can take to make your kitchen one of the most energy efficient zones in your home.
1.Use your microwave. Microwaves use almost 50% less energy than ovens. If you haven't gotten into the habit of relying on your microwave to cook and defrost foods, you're missing an opportunity to save on energy. Read the manual that came with your microwave for instructions on how to perform simple cooking tasks. Once you become familiar with a few basic principles, you'll appreciate the fact that microwaves cook food fast and produce less heat in your kitchen.
2.Invest in a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers can cook food more efficiently than even microwave ovens. They also have the advantage of retaining most of the natural juices and many of the vitamins in the foods you prepare. Modern pressure cookers have safety features that make them much safer to use than the pressure cookers of the past.
3.Evaluate your cooking tasks. For smaller jobs, use a toaster oven. Toaster ovens heat up faster and use less energy than conventional ovens. For small jobs these ovens are a more efficient and economical choice.
4.Clean the surface of your hob to keep it running efficiently. Clean your oven. Heat is distributed throughout a clean oven more efficiently than in a dirty one.
5.Check your oven for tears or cracks in door seals. These gaps will allow heat to escape. Repair or replace any faulty seals promptly.
6.Calibrate your oven-using, an inexpensive oven thermometer to determine the proper temperature setting. Cooking at the right temperature will save you money.
7.Conserve hot water, which is expensive to heat, by doling it out carefully. Use cold or warm water when you can.
8.Clean your refrigerator's condenser coils every couple of months. Dirty condenser coils make your refrigerator work harder. This wastes energy and makes your kitchen hotter than it has to be. Making this change will improve the efficiency of your refrigerator by thirty percent.
9.Close the refrigerator door promptly. Instead of standing in front of the open refrigerator deciding what you want to remove, decide beforehand what you will be removing, and try to group trips.
10.Organize your cooking tasks to take advantage of layered trays that will allow you to microwave things together, or group items in the oven at the same time. Bake chips and fish fillets in the oven in a single batch. Steam rice and asparagus in the microwave together.
11.Replace the light bulbs in your kitchen with energy efficient fluorescent bulbs.
12.Use your heat wisely. If you are almost done cooking those noodles, turn the hob off a few minutes early to save on energy. The noodles will finish cooking and you will have saved a few cents. Use a timer. If something is supposed to bake for 15 minutes, turn the oven off after 10 minutes and allow the item to continue baking a few more minutes.
13.Use the same size pans as the ring on your hob. A smaller pan and you will be wasting heat. A larger pan and your hob will be working overtime to heat the contents of your pan.
14.Use glass or ceramic baking dishes as they hold the heat longer.
15.When purchasing new appliances consider Energy Guides and Energy Star appliances to help reduce energy.
16.Remember that if a coffee pot, cooker and microwave all have LED clocks, they are using energy at all times when plugged in. Consider eliminating or unplugging those least used.
17.Keep drinking water in a large jug in the refrigerator so that you do not have to run the kitchen tap every time you need a glass of water. Water tastes best chilled so it's a great way to have cold water on hand all the time without having to run the water tap.
18.If you have children, ask them to take part in conserving energy around the house. Ask them to think of ideas and make conserving energy and saving money a family effort. Soon you will reduce the costs of your electricity considerably!
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