January 25th, 2011 
Tushar Mathur Eco-friendly cooking in the modern kitchen, and what you can do to lessen the energy footprint of your kitchen
In these days of increasing energy consciousness, how do you bring that energy consciousness to your kitchen? Well, we all recycle, but a kitchen uses so much of the total energy quotient of the average home that it’s really necessary to do more if you really want to be eco-friendly. Because otherwise a non-eco-friendly kitchen could well cancel out and nullify all your efforts to be eco-friendly elsewhere. And after all, why shouldn’t you take that little extra effort to be ecologically conscious – after all, most people put a great deal of effort into the aesthetics of their kitchens, and it’s only right that a little effort should be put in on the behalf of the planet as well. Now, one thing that can really improve the energy efficiency of a modern kitchen is a solar oven.
These wonderful energy saving devices can be very interesting and even fun to use, and are certainly a viable option to using a power hungry conventional oven. It doesn’t even have to be too expensive if you (or someone in your family) is of a technical bent of mind. While you can buy ready-made solar ovens (of course), a cost-effective option to these would be to construct one using a do-it-yourself kit, of which there are so many on the market these days. After all, if people can build their own solar panels and solar heating systems, why shouldn’t your family own a solar powered oven that you’ve built together with your own hands. And it can be a fun project too!
As you can see, eco-friendly cooking starts with the device you cook in. But of course, you needn’t be as conspicuously eco-friendly when you cook as to purchase or build a solar oven. There are small ways to eco-friendly cooking that can still do their own little bit. It starts with where you shop. Farmer’s markets are great places to do your food shopping – not only do you support organically grown food, but the food that you buy is more fresh and tasty, and since it is locally grown, it contributes nothing to carbon emission on a global scale. Remember that any product transported over long distances contributes it’s share to global carbon emissions. Another way to save on energy as well as to reduce the effect we have on the planet, albeit in a small way is to heat water with the microwave instead of putting it on the stove.
Then there’s the technique of using residual heat to cook with. Here’s how it works. You simply put the food to boil and wait until it comes to a boil. Now perhaps the recipe recommends that you boil it for a few minutes. But you don’t do so. Instead you just turn the heat off, and cover the pot. The boiling water will stay hot for quite some time, and you’ll find that the dish cooks perfectly well in that time without necessarily needing any heat from your stove.
This method of cooking uses the residual heat in the water and can truly contribute a great deal to conserving fuel, as well as cutting down on extraneous carbon emissions as well. So what sort of dishes can you cook in this way? Well, there’s rice, of course, but also dishes like pasta and even potatoes. With a little experience you’ll know just how long to keep a dish on the boil so that the residual heat will cook it to a turn after you turn down the heat.
There’s a little addendum to the previous paragraph. You can save additional energy by using good lids on your pots when you cook. Remember that a good lid traps the heat, thereby making cooking more fuel efficient and eco-friendly.
But a good lid also raises atmospheric pressure inside the vessel, causing water to boil at a much higher temperature. And of course the most energy efficient device of all is the pressure cooker, which can reduce the amount of time a dish has to stay on the fire by nearly two-thirds. Invest in one and you’ll never regret it, as you use it to make your own contribution to an energy efficient world through a little eco-friendly cooking.
There are other ways to save energy with intelligent eco-friendly cooking, and one of these is by using an outdoor grill, which uses much less energy than a conventional stove or gas burner, and which has the added advantage of not heating up the home when you cook in the summer months.
Of course there are all sorts of other methods that you can use, but one of the best is to use organic waste from your kitchen to create a compost pit, and use it as fertilizer for your own little vegetable garden. Rather than rotting in some landfill, this waste can help provide fresh vegetables for your kitchen. And isn’t that a big step towards eco-friendly cooking?
Article provided courtesy of Best Cookware - a consumer guide to cookware, stainless steel cookware and nonstick cookware sets.
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