Cooking up ways to save energy

by Amy Leong | Sept. 27, 2022

Electricity plays a huge part in our everyday lives, especially when it comes to preparing meals in the kitchen. From the first meal of the day to the last before we hit the pillow at night, our meals are heavily dependent on electricity. Today, we take all these luxuries for granted: At the flick of a switch, push of a button, or turn of a knob, we have power in an instant.

With the recent rise in oil prices, our electricity bills also have gone up, though electric usage remains the same. While we may not have control over inflation and the rising cost of oil, we do control our energy use. Here are some of the small, easy steps I follow to reduce energy use while preparing meals in the kitchen:

1. Preparation before cooking — Be sure to chop all your vegetables and have your cooking essentials handy before turning on your appliances.
2. Proper cookware — Use the proper cooking tools for food you’re preparing. Toaster ovens, slow cookers, pressure cookers and electric kettles may be the better choice than your oven or stove.
3. Defrost food first — Defrost frozen items in the refrigerator before cooking them in your oven or stove.
4. Put a lid on it — Develop a habit of keeping the lids on your pans while cooking. This will allow you to set a lower temperature on your stove while cooking and help decrease the stove’s energy use by up to 66%.
5. Match burner and pot sizes — Match the burner and pot size to help reduce heat loss and maximize energy-efficient cooking.
6. Choose optimal bakeware — Use glass or ceramic pans when appropriate. They enable you to decrease your oven’s temperature by 25 degrees and your meals will still cook just as quickly.
7. Self-cleaning options — Start the oven’s self-cleaning function immediately after baking something so that you don’t have to heat up a cold oven.
8. Cook multiple dishes — If possible, cook multiple dishes in your oven at the same time. Reheating food in the microwave or toaster oven is more efficient than heating your oven multiple times.
9. Don’t peek — Your oven’s temperature drops about 25 degrees every time you open the door while cooking. Save energy on oven heating — and also air conditioning — by not peeking.
10. Energy-efficient appliances — Appliances that are marked with the Energy Star® label earn a seal of approval for their energy efficiency by meeting a set of requirements
11. Save water and save energy — Only use as much water as you need. Boiling extra burns more time and energy.
12. Keep your stove burners bright — Keep your burners’ grease plates bright and clean, or line them with aluminum foil. This helps to increase energy efficiency by reflecting heat upward.
13. Cut cooking time early — Turn off the oven or stove heat a few minutes before the designated time. Your cooking appliance will retain the same temperature without investing more energy into heating itself, and food will continue to cook until the unit cools down.

While these are small, easy steps, they really do add up. The less you use, the more you save. By reducing the overall demand for electricity, we also reduce our dependence on imported oil.

Enjoy my simple Instant Pot Hawaiian Shoyu Chicken recipe! The normal cooking time with a conventional stove top is 1 hour but it can take as little as 20 minutes with an Instant Pot. This is a great example of using a proper cookware to prepare a meal.

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 1½ cups soy sauce
• 1½ cups water
• 1½ cups white sugar
• 1½ tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2-inch piece fresh ginger, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

For Da Sauce:

• ¼ cup soy sauce
• ¼ cup water
• ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons sugar

Instructions:

1. Combine the soy sauce, water, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, red pepper flakes, ginger and garlic in the Instant Pot. Place the chicken in the sauce and spoon some sauce over the top of the chicken.
2. Lock Instant Pot lid in place, making sure the venting valve is sealed.
3. Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes.
4. While chicken is cooking, combine the ingredients for the sauce and set aside.
5. When the cooking time is up, allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, then do a quick pressure release and when the pin drops remove the lid.
6. Serve the chicken and sauce over the top of steamed white rice alongside some macaroni salad.

Amy Leong is a digital communications administrator at Hawaiian Electric Company.