Every time I turn the news on or read something the cost of living screams out from my screen or the page…fuel prices are going up and up, water is becoming scarce, pharmacists are saying about medicine shortages, prices in the supermarkets are going up as well as there being shortages with some products…the warning bells are ringing…

“Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted”…idiom: to be so late in taking action to prevent something bad from happening that the bad event has already happened…We need to take steps to reduce our fuel bills before we have to cut down on our food bills although we could start taking steps before it becomes a necessity…

Did you know? 40% of the UK’s household energy is used in the kitchen…Most of the tips below will not cost anything if we are clever and multitask, embrace batch cooking, and plan ahead …it is NOW more important than ever that we reduce our energy bills however maybe the costs rising will focus our minds on what we should have been doing anyway for the environment and our pockets…Just saying!

Say goodbye to “standby” 3.3bn pounds is the Uk’s cost of appliances left on standby…so please pull out the plug!…in the industry it is known as “vampire appliances” in other words left plugged in all night…

Water: It seems plentiful here but I know in other countries or areas where it isn’t plentiful…so what can we do to help the environment and to preserve water in our kitchen?

Cover pots and pans unless you are reducing a sauce…quite simply the pot heats quicker…if you are making a cuppa just boil what you need…and of course use the kettle and not a pan to boil water where possible unless you are boiling eggs as the kettle uses less energy when cooking noodles cover the noodles with boiling water rather than simmering them…

Cooking potatoes/pasta then a steamer placed over whatever you are cooking cooks 2 in 1….

Not quite like that but you get the gist…every little helps and multiplied by us all …

Personally, I don’t own or use a microwave however they do use less energy than ovens and don’t need pre-heating…

But if you know you are using your oven …plan ahead!

Baking biscuits(cookies) and having a pasta bake for dinner then cook both at the same time…pasta bake is very forgiving and if you need a higher temp for your cookies which have a shorter cooking time then wack the oven up once the cookies are ready…

Make sure your oven is preheated before you put your food in as it will take longer to cook as the temperature will heat up slower…I have often made the comment about cooking times as many ovens run cooler or hotter than others…I use an oven thermometer for an accurate temperature )mine) runs hot therefore I set my oven to a lower temperature to compensate which means it uses less power…

Ovens also retain their heat which means as long as you don’t keep opening the door switch it off 5-10 mins before the end of cooking time and let the food cook in the residue heat…a little more energy is saved…

I love my slow cooker and it is a boon in the heat…it also has many uses… I  used to cook porridge overnight when my kids were at home…

No more burnt saucepans as porridge is notorious for burning the bottom of the pan as those who cook porridge will know plus slow cookers use an average of 0.7k watts of energy over 8 hours whereas a cooker/oven would use 2.2k watts…with the time of year coming Xmas puds can be cooked in the slow cooker rather than boiling on the stovetop…

Air fryers…Firstly I don’t own one…I have eaten chicken cooked in one and it was quicker and very nice plus it was healthier this link also has a short podcast but gives the low down on air fryers…

Now all of these little changes will save you money on your energy bills and will not cost you a penny to implement them …unless of course like me your slow cooker is 20-plus years old and started to show signs of wear inside so for safety’s sake I have thrown it out and will be buying a new one…just in time for the Xmas puddings…however my slow cooker has paid for itself over and over as I use it often a worthwhile investment…

I hope you found the few tips helpful in reducing your kitchen’s energy consumption please feel free to let us know of any money-saving tips you have for saving energy in the kitchen…Thank you for joining today as always I look forward to your comments and if you have any energy-saving hacks that you use then please share…I will of course with the aim of conserving energy be featuring more slow cooker recipes starting with my Tuesday Chicken posts where I will share my “slow cooker pulled turkey rolls”…well a turkey is just s big chook…isn’t it?

I hope to see you tomorrow for Saturday Snippets …Carol xx