It’s Earth Day.
We’ve all heard about the toxic emissions spewing from our gas-guzzling automobiles. But according to Kate Heyhoe, author of the new book “Cooking Green”, the average single-family home accounts for twice as much greenhouse gas per year as the average sedan. And the kitchen is a hot zone.
There are hosts of products out there to help you turn your kitchen into an eco-friendly entity: Super-insulated refrigerators, induction cooktops, in-home composters, organic cleaning products.
These are all good ideas — if you have the money to spend on them.
But it doesn’t have to cost you much time or effort — or any money at all — to reduce your cooking footprint (or as Heyhoe calls it, your “cookprint”) and your utility bill.
All it really takes is a little common sense and a touch of elbow grease.
Here are five cheap, easy ways to make your kitchen greener and save cash — today, Earth Day.
Tucker Shaw
1 — Turn off the oven
Hark back to junior-high science class and you’ll remember: Heat is energy. (Or at least, heat is one thermal expression of energy.) Use less heat, and you use less energy.
Blinded by the science? Think with your wallet: Heat costs money. Use less heat, and you’ll spend less money.
You know the easy methods for conserving heat. Roast your chicken and potatoes at the same time. Cook dinner for two in a toaster oven instead of a standard oven. Bake cookie bars instead of cookies, in less time and with less open-close of the oven door.
Here’s a new way to conserve: Cook with residual heat. Turn off the flame under your potatoes or pasta a few minutes before they’re done, and let them sit, covered, in the hot water to finish. Turn off the oven 10 minutes before the casserole is done, and let it sit in the still-hot oven to finish. Using this residual heat can reduce your heat expenditure by 20 percent or more. Ka-ching.
2 — Get fresh with water
There is no more precious resource than water, but traditional kitchen behavior is anything but respectful of the stuff. If anything, we’re trained to overuse it.
Conserving water is like conserving heat: simple. Don’t run tap water for 15 seconds to get a cold glass; instead, keep a jug of cool water in the fridge. Don’t rinse pasta after you cook it, and use some pasta water as a sauce binder rather than discarding it entirely. Don’t run water constantly while you’re scrubbing pots.
One more easy way to save gallons of water a day: Don’t rinse plates before they go in the dishwasher — instead, scrape them into the garbage can and load them dry. Even better if you have a yard: Scrape your plates into a compost-collection bin, which you’ll use to fertilize your victory garden.
3 — Cook unplugged
Many plugged-in electronics suck energy from the grid even if they aren’t switched on. This goes even for some kitchen appliances such as blenders, food processors and toasters. Err on the green side, and unplug everything you can, whenever you can.
Do we even need this stuff anyway? Blenders are easy to justify (hello, margaritas!), but do you really need an electric mixer to bake a cake? It takes just a few minutes of vigorous hand-beating. Same goes for whipping cream and beating egg whites: These are easy, three-minute by-hand tasks for most of us.
When you use your electric mixer, you double your footprint, not just in electricity but in more things to clean.
Besides, using a little old-fashioned elbow grease burns calories, which means you really earn that cake.
4 — Open/shut case
Your refrigerator is the biggest energy drain in your kitchen, and in most households it’s not running at maximum efficiency. The top culprit? Opening and closing the door too much. Every time you pop the seal, warm air floods in, and the cooling system goes into overdrive.
Reduce the energy suck by organizing your stock. Dairy in the back, drinks in the front, snacks in the middle, meat and vegetables in their appropriate drawers. If you know what you want and where it is before you open the door, you can get in and out in a couple of seconds, not minutes.
Take a short, two-minute spin through your refrigerator shelves once a week. Get rid of leftovers that you know you’re never going to eat. Those that are still in good shape can go into a week-in-review soup or, even better, pot pie.
5 — Speed it up
We all love a slow-cooked pork rib or an all-day pasta sauce, but the eco-print of these dishes is high. Save the slow food for special occasions, and speed up your cooking during the week: Stir-fries, quick sautes and broiled food all use energy for just a few minutes rather than a few hours.
The key is to choose quicker-cooking items. A lentil takes 10 to 15 minutes to boil; a dried bean at least 90 minutes (even if has been soaked overnight). A pork tenderloin takes 30 minutes to roast in the oven, but cut into medallions and pan-fried, it needs just 10 minutes of fire. Couscous takes no active heat once you’ve boiled the water. Many dishes don’t require any cooking at all.
One day a week, commit to making a no-heat or reduced-heat recipe. You’ll see the results in your utility bill.
