Making Your Kitchen Energy Efficient

Buy Kitchenware that lasts:

By choosing cookware and utensils that last more than a couple years you're reducing your carbon footprint because you'll never need to buy any more. That means that all of your teflon pans need to go! Teflon pans last at best 3 years and it has been shown that cooking with them really isn't that good for you. Basically you're eating the teflon because it gets into your food when you cook. I recommend getting everything in stainless steel or cast iron. I really like the stainless steel cookware- especially the ones with a big hunk of copper in the bottom. They work very well and they'll last forever. Do make sure not to buy plastic or wooden utensils as at one point in their lifetime they will rot or melt.

Gas vs. Electric Stoves

My stance on this is to go electric. Natural gas or propane is a fossil fuel and thus it emits carbon dioxide... never mind the fact that it will run out in the future. This poses a problem for an off grid household as you'll need more power generated to power it. There is good news though. A new type of stove uses induction to heat you pans; however, it only works with steel pans (aluminum and teflon will not work). These types of stoves have energy savings of 50%-60% over conventional stoves. This is a relatively new technology and thus means that they are still quite expensive. Expect the prices to go down in a year or two though. Lastly, we come to the burners. Make sure to always use a burner that is smaller than the pot you're using. If you don't you could be wasting heat (up to 40%) and this translates into wasted energy.

Do It Yourself

By preparing food from scratch you eliminate the need to freeze them (which saves energy). In addition, by preparing it yourself you are also cutting down the amount of energy that is used to prepare your food as it doesn't have to be pre-cooked, frozen, thawed, and than cooked. It's just cooked fresh. If you have the space you could also grow a garden... although this solution may not be available to everybody.

Buy Food Locally

I love farmers markets. Especially if I can find a couple farmers who are growing organic. I simply can't grow every single different type of food that we eat, but I can be greener by buying locally. This cuts down the distance that the food travels from where it's grown to your table.

I'll be getting into more energy efficient tips in the coming weeks so keep checking back.