Like most people around the country, we at PMP are concerned about the rise in energy prices and we wanted to provide our members with some tips for saving energy during a time of day/ an essential activity which can use a lot of it – cooking!

Cooking can really push up those energy bills and this increase is dependent on what you cook and/or how you cook it. Some of these tips you may already be aware of and some may be new to you.

🥘 Put a lid on it

Put a lid on a pan when cooking or when boiling water. You will use less energy to cook the food and water will boil faster

🍳 Size it up

Use the right sized pan for your hob, don’t use a pan that is too small either for what you are cooking or for the ring of your hob. Also, don’t overfill your pan.

🔥 Put the kettle on

Heat or boil water in a kettle, rather than on the stove/hob. You can transfer it into a pan once it’s already boiled. Kettles are becoming more energy efficient over time and using the kettle is often more efficient than the heat from the gas flame or the coil in an electric hob. The energy efficiency of a kettle is higher than a coil stove or gas stove.

🍝 Double boiler

When cooking pasta, utilise the steam to cook other items by placing a bowl above it. (This is known as a bain-marie or double boiler)

☕ Tea for two

Only use as much water as you need. If you have a kettle whose minimum boil amount is two cups worth of water, not one, store the remaining water in a thermos so that you don’t have to re-boil your kettle for your next cuppa.

🍚 Absorption method

Use the absorption method to cook rice and pasta, it uses a minimal amount of water, it is faster and some find that it produces nicer results. For example, when cooking rice for four people, add a mug of rice and 2 mugs of boiling water to a pan with a pinch of salt and pepper, then cook with the lid on over a high heat for about 8 to 10 minutes, until all the liquid has been completely absorbed.

🥮 Twice baked

As ovens are very energy heavy, make sure you fill your oven when using it. Do some batches of food or prepare something for tomorrow’s lunch for example or perhaps a pudding for another day.

🥘 Residual heat

Turn off the heat a couple of minutes before your food is fully cooked, particularly if you have an electric hob because they take time to cool down and will continue to cook your food. This tip can work for ovens too! For dishes that are not delicate bakes, you can turn the oven off 5 minutes before the dish is ready but leave the dish in there for a further 10 (5 minutes longer than the time on the instructions) and the residue heat will finish it off.

🙅‍♀️ Leave it alone

Don’t open the oven door to check your food. This wastes energy as it lets the heat out. If you can, look through the glass door instead.

🤗 Keep warm

When you are finished with the oven and have switched it off, leave the door open so that the residual heat will heat your kitchen.

We hope that these tips are useful to some of you.

Please comment below if you have any other energy saving tips that you use while cooking!