Cooking over open fire is like burning money
Cooking over open fire is like burning money

People that live in undeveloped areas who have none or very little fuel, electricity, water, food, are highly creative. They struggle and try to get along with any means they can find for the day. Some of their smallest ideas - 'sometimes very simple tricks or methods that save water and/or energy' - could easily be transfered, applied to kitchens in developed nations. Even the tiniest of reduction of electricity, gas and water do make a visible change in the monthly/yearly utility bills, and can make the economy and lifestyle slightly better for individuals in all the developed nations.

There can be some people in industrialized nations in the north and west that sometimes can be taking for granted that the energy, electricity, water and food is abundant, available, relatively cheap and affordable to waste. As the prices on oil, diesel and gasoline rises, so will most likely the price on coal and electricity, and possibly the tax and fees for the utility companies and their emissions. So in order to prevent you from getting raised costs, here are some suggested, simple easy-to-use methods to help you cooking much more efficiently.

The short-term purpose of this project
  • start spreading information about possibilities with improved cooking methods.
  • attempt to create broader understanding about what we have that others might not have.
  • start to change minor routines and behavior among people to make them think more in terms of solidarity and about their own use and waste.
  • create understanding that many small amounts in many million homes will add up to a landslide.
  • make people realize that any little second of saving electricity will be of help and will become visible on the slightly lower bill from the power company. (promoting the Nega-watt-thinking)
The larger perspective
  • inspire many people to feel good about saving so they become eager to try to experiment to find many more energy-saving methods in their lives.
  • inspire others to start similar efficiency-projects within other areas.
  • influence a bigger change among many individuals.
  • make people stop wasting and to save more electricity, time, water, energy.
  • educate people how to shop smarter, cook more at home and to eat healthier.
  • reduce the amount of large and expensive appliances that is routinely installed into newly-built homes.



Illustration on how to turn old pot into heat-retentive gasket/collar How to apply gaskets/collars to modern stove

Illustrations on how you can build gaskets/collars to retain heat closest around the cooking pot. This works well over both open fire & modern electric stoves.

Appliances & Equipment

Most advice in this project concerns mostly regular standard electrical equipment that is frequent in most households. There will be no instructions or suggestions on methods that suggest you to build something or to purchase anything expensive. Primarily because these methods aim to be as easy/simple to use as possible, so that anyone can understand them and turn them into a habit and use them all year around. Secondly because some individuals could get inspiration from these efficient methods, and possibly discover other simple and clever methods in different areas around the house, that is a source of waste of electricity, water, paper, time or something else. The illustrative sketch above is only meant as an inspiration from undeveloped regions, on how you too can try to preserve the heat where you want it, and not let it slip away into thin air.

Every home have got some standard appliances like a fridge/freezer and an oven/stove with 3-4 hotplates on top. (if you have a gas stove some methods will not apply to your plates)

A microwave-oven and electric water kettle is very useful. You could even benefit from having 2 different sizes on kettles, one for occasions when you just want to have one or two cups of tea, and another one bigger for boiling larger amounts of water. The time and electricity needed to boil in a kettle depends on the ratio between how much water to air it is inside the kettle.

Never boil too much water than your current needs. However, if you have got a clean and empty thermos close by, you could fill it up with that extra water and it can stay hot for hours. If you normally would drink a cup of instant coffee later, you would not need to boil any new water for that.

You will need two or three different sized sauce pans with lids. The lid should fit tight around the top to avoid any heat and steam to leak out. Use as small pan as possible for your cooking needs. Small amount of water and large amount of air under the lid will be inefficient. (exactly the same as explained with the kettle) Never save and reuse water that you have boiled any type of food in, for health and safety reasons.

One or two different sized frying pans is also good to have. Some large frying pans come with lids, which can come in handy in other cooking, even if you normally use a frying pan for cooking stuff that don't need a lid. You could even hold a big lid in one hand as a shield, for example: if you are frying bacon or pouring out hot water in the sink

Use only pans that is perfectly flat bottomed and thickbottomed. You want as tight contact as possible between the pan and the hotplate. It is resulting in shorter time to heat up, shorter cooking times and less waste of heat. And the combined mass of the hotplate and the bottom of the pan retains larger amounts of heat, so you could normally turn off the plate at least 2 minutes before your cooking is done. (exceptions are : if you are going to cook something else on that hotplate right after)

Always try to match the size of the pan to the size of the hotplate, if you can see any part of the hotplate outside the edge of the pan you will waste a lot of heat and possibly burn your hands on the handle. If you use a much larger pan than the hotplate, you will only get efficient heat in the middle of the pan and slightly less around the edges which means longer cooking time. Some models of frying pans can get its bottom warped/curved so it stands and jiggles slightly on the hot plate, if so stop using it for cooking, it means you are wasting a lot of heat and money.

Maintenance

Try to keep all your appliances clean, both outside and inside. You are more likely to cook at home regularly if they look clean and fresh to use. The equipment will get a slightly longer life-span and you will not need to replace them as often. So you will save money.

Check the doors on your fridge/freezer and oven at least once a year to make sure that the rubber/plastic insulation strips around the edges are clean, undamaged and closes air tight, any amount of air that is released out from any gaps is wasted energy. Fridge/freezers is a large portion of the energy costs in private homes.

Defrost your freezer at least once a year, because if it got big chunks of ice and frost on the interior walls and shelves it will need to run its compressor more and that is using lots more electricity than it needs to. If your fridge or freezer have got a manual defrost button, do not push it! That is just a built in heater that uses a lot of electricity to warm it up and then more electricity to cool it down again.

To defrost most efficiently: turn the fridge/freezer off, remove all groceries and place them in pick-nick-coolers or styrofoam-boxes with lids, or even outside if it is winter and there is snow in your backyard. Keep the doors to the fridge/freezer open and place a bucket with low rims on the floor in front of it. Try to pry away large chunks of ice, place those in plastic containers with lid. can be used later as a cheap way to cool down your fridge faster when you restart it and close the door.

When all frost and ice has cleared away from the walls and shelves, wipe all the walls and details inside meticulously until dry. Turn it back on and put your groceries back. If they are still cool or cold it will help with cooling down the fridge/freezer back to working temperature.

Examples on updated, improved cooking methods

Here you will be able to find some examples that you can study and use, to learn about some smarter cooking methods. Try to apply that knowledge in your kitchen and also try to make other recipes more efficient. And please feel free to contribute to this page if you come up with something good, that is: easy to do and will save either cooking time, electricity, water or cleaning-up-time (and will require no custombuilt, specialty or modified equipment)

A good rule of thumb of energy-efficient coking is to choose fresh ingredients in the shop. They will require least amount of preparation and cooking time compared to frozen food and ready-made-dinners.

Try to make a personal inventory over a trial period of 2-3 weeks or 1-2 months, so you can see how often you defrost and cook frozen food, how often you consume meat. And try to list what types of carbohydrates you eat and how often (potatoes, pasta, rice and so on). Noone will force you to stop eating what you like to eat. Noone will force you into being vegetarian or vegan. But it is wise to make an inventory to make it more clear about what you eat, in the same way as you can make an economic budget, to list everything in a simpler way how much and what types of food that you consume. And try to think of it all as an inventory over cooking-time and cleaning-up-time too.

Then you can perhaps consider starting to replace one day per month of the most time- and energy-consuming food into another type of food that is slightly faster to prepare and will cost little bit less in electricity. You can start slowly, pick one day per week when you replace the carbohydrate-type that demand the longest cooking time to a type that does not require as much time to make. Good examples of that is cous-cous and bulgur and they are explained below. After that you can perhaps pick one or two days per month to change your meat/beef into another type of meat like chicken, turkey or pork. Or take a chicken day and turn it into a salad day. Because when you notice that it is starting to reduce your electrical bill you will probably be interested in increasing the number of days per month that you cook and eat more efficiently. And there is a very high correlation between cooking-time, energy-use and healthier food.

Eggs, boiled

When you will boil eggs, think about how many eggs you want right away, and how many you might want for the next two days. Boiled eggs keep fresh in any normal fridge for at least 2-3 days. So by boiling a couple of extra eggs each time wont be any extra energy used, in fact it will keep you from having to boil eggs every day. This could reduce your energy use for boiling eggs with up to 50%.

Start with pouring cool water in the electric kettle and start it. Remember to use as exact amounts of water as needed, for anything you will boil. Filling a kettle or pan with any extra cold water will only make the cooking time longer and waste more electricity.

Pick out a size of saucepan that will fit the number of eggs you want to cook. Do not fill icecold water in this pan, because you will only cool it down. Pour little bit of cool water in the bottom and all your eggs in the pan, place it on a hotplate that is the same size of the bottom of the pan and turn on maximum heat.

Pour in the hot water slowly and carefully from the kettle. Sometimes it helps if you tilt the saucepan slightly towards you, so the eggs will roll to your side and you can pour the hot water at the other side of the pan without making the eggshells crack with the sudden heat.

Place the lid on the pan. Start a timer! Gradually lower the heat on the plate to keep an even boil, it should never need to boil too hard. If you have turned down a bit too much, and the boiling will reduce to a stop, you could turn it up one notch for a minute, to get it start bubbling evenly again.

There is a lot of heat getting stored in the combined mass of the hotplate and the bottom of the pan if the contact between them is as flat and perfect as possible. So turn off the stove 3 minutes before your eggs are ready. That means for those that prefer 6-minute-eggs, the total time you use electricity on the stove is only 3 + the time it took for the kettle)

Oatmeal porridge

Oats is a great source of carbohydrates and energy in the morning. It is traditionally quite fast to prepare. Normally there are recipes and instructions on the bag or box of oats, which recommend you to boil in a saucepan on the stove for at least 3 minutes up to 8! Here is a method that will eliminate the need to wash and clean the pan. It will boil your oats completely with the use of an electric kettle, and directly in the dish or bowl that you will eat it from.

Boil 2-3 small cups of water in the electric kettle. (if you will need hot water for boiling eggs or a cup of tea or instant coffe, boil that amount of water at the same time)

Take a ceramic deep dish or soup-plate that will contain at least one large serving of porridge. Place it onto a hotplate, without turning it on! Find a lid that fits nicely above the rim of the dish/bowl.

Pour one cup of oats (or one and a half cup, or two if you are hungry) in the dish/plate, add a pinch of salt.

Pour the boiling water from the kettle onto the oats. You need little more than one and a half cup of water to each cup of oats. Cover the bowl quickly with the lid! Use whatever you got to cover, as long as it fits over the dish and retains the most of the steam inside, to cook and steam the oats.

After 2 minutes lift the lid, it might drop some water from the lid, so keep it above the porridge bowl to avoid a mess. Stir around a little in the porridge and quickly put the lid back on top. Wait for 2 more minutes and it should be ready to eat. put your favourite toppings on it and eat! (If it is not cooked properly you can add a spoonful of water and put the dish in the microwave and cook on low setting for 5-20 seconds)

Some examples on very tasty and healthy toppings are grated/shredded coconut, cinnamonpowder, applesauce, crushed hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts, dehydrated fruits like apricots or raisins. Experiment and mix! If you can come up with plenty of versions, you will not ever get bored with your efficient oats in the morning.

Cous-cous & Bulgur

These are two types of processed wheat, which are available in packages of different fine/large grains, and it is a healthy and energyefficient source of carbohydrates. The cooking time needed are extremely short, and a perfect substitute for any types of carbohydrates that require long cookingtime. It can be slight difference with some different manufacturers type and grainsize of the cous-cous and bulgur, but this is a general explanation of how to prepare it. You will have perfected the method and the exact amount of water needed after only 3-4 times of trying it.

Boil water in the electric kettle. You will need 2 cups of hot water for every cup of raw couscous you want to make.

Place a glass bowl, large ceramic deep dish or soup-plate onto a hotplate without turning it on! (make sure that the bowl is recommended for use in microwave-oven and similar)

Pour one cup of couscous or bulgur per person into the bowl, add one pinch of salt per serving. Pour the hot water into the bowl, two cups of water per cup of raw couscous. Cover the bowl with a lid and a towel. It should be airtight, and wrapping any textile towel around the rim of the bowl helps on retaining the heat.

Leave the bowl on the hotplate for 2-3 minutes, it will cook/steam evenly without any use of electricity from the oven. Remove the lid, stir around in it little with a fork and sprinkle in your choice of spices and/or some olive oil or salad oil and then quickly put the lid back on. For 2-3 more minutes cooking/steaming. Bulgur takes sometimes one or two extra minutes to become ready.

When all the water, steam and oil is soaked up, it is ready. Stir around in it little more, place the bowl on the dining table, remove the lid at the last minute. (tasty examples on spice combinations and recipes for different warm or cold couscous-salads will appear here later)

Tips and Tricks

Fridge & Freezer

Refrigerators & Deep freezers are a large amount of the total energy cost in private homes. You rely on them to keep your food cold 24 hours per day, every day of the year.

Every time you open the doors you will release some cool air into the room, and make the fridge/freezer little warmer inside, and its compressor will need to start working to cool it back down again. So avoid keeping the doors open. Start to figure out small habits to keep the doors closed as much as possible, even during the times that you are cooking.

To prevent you from standing and browse around on what you have got, with the doors open, try to start some kind of inventory list of what is inside, and you can combine this with a shopping list. If you have fridge-magnets, just take a blank sheet of paper and put at the center of the door. When you come home from grocery shopping just add and change on the list. Other simple methods: postit-notes, whiteboard, noticeboard or you can even write directly on the front of the door with whiteboard pens. (if the surface is slightly scratched or dented the ink from the pen can stick and the door becomes ugly)

Ice, Ice, Baby

If you can remove chunks of ice from the inside walls or shelves of the freezer, for instance when you are defrosting it. Put this ice in a small container and place it into the fridge. The stored cold energy in the ice will spread in the air inside the fridge, causing the temperature to remain cold without the use of the compressor, and your fridge will not need to use any electricity at all until the frost/ice is completely melted.

This effect is also conveniently applied to defrosting frozen food

If you are going to cook something tomorrow, that is in the deep freezer now, place it in the fridge on the afternoon/evening before, making it start to defrost slowly over the night or even up to 30 hours. The fridge will not need to use any energy at all during the time your frozen food is colder than the thermostat. And if you normally defrost frozen objects by putting them in the sink and pour hot water onto it or using the microwave, this electricity and hot water saved is Nega-watts.

If your existing fridge/freezer breaks down and it will be to expensive to repair, start to look for the most energy-efficient models. There can exist a couple of types of labelling in the shops for energy-use. Remember that a small difference in purchase price is not very important, it is more important that your electricity bill is going to be slightly smaller every day of the life-span if you choose model depending on lowest energy-use.

Freezer

If you are starting to change your eating habits so much that you primarily shop and eat fresh products and tinned goods, the need for having a freezer is gradually reduced. Some people can even get to the point where they can turn it off completely, and get to use that space for storing pans and other kitchen utensils.

Info about project moved to the discussion page

Go to the top of this page, look at the links just next to the Appropedia logo, just click on the "discussion" (between the "page"-link and the "edit"-link)

See Also

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