Do you and your family spend a lot of time in the kitchen? If you’re anything like us, then the answer to that is probably yes! The kitchen is often the heart of the family home, and it also happens to house a lot of energy hungry appliances – we’re talking the fridge/freezer, your oven, the dishwasher and yes you guessed it…the kettle which seems to go on a bajillion times a day! With that said, today I wanted to share with you my top tips for saving energy in the kitchen:
Polly put the kettle on
As a total tea fiend, the kettle is probably the appliance that gets used the most in our kitchen. If you’re the same, be careful to boil only the water that you need. It takes roughly 4.5 minutes to boil a full (2 litre) kettle with a power rating of 3kW (kilowatts) – imagine if you were doing that several times a day only to use one or two cups worth!
Skip the tumble dryer
Now the weather is improving, there’s no reason to put clothes in the tumble dryer apart from the fact that often it seems like the easier option. Instead, try to plan your washing days for good weather and put it out on a clothes line or clothes horse (I find the latter a lot quicker). Remember to put it on a spin cycle first to help it dry quicker before hanging it out. If you must use your tumble dryer, filling your dryer to capacity uses a lot less energy.
Cook savvy
There are lots of small things you can do conserve energy when cooking. Some of my favourites include:
- Use the correct size pan for whatever you’re cooking so you only use energy heating up that which you need
- Select the right size ring for stove top cooking so you don’t use more energy than necessary
- Favour a multi-level steamer which allows you to cook more than one thing at a time on the same ring – think pasta in the main pot with layers of veggies on top
- Cook in batches – cooking as much as you can in one go so that you’re being efficient with your energy use. Also great for being more organised and building up a stash of food in the freezer for later use
Be dishwasher smart
To reduce your dishwasher use and energy consumption, be sure to load your dishwasher as efficiently as possible. You should aim for a full load but that said, be careful not to overload. An overloaded dishwasher often leads to dishes, glasses and even cutlery not being washed properly – which defeats the purpose!
So while you can also look to switch your energy to save, there are lots of smaller things you can do in and around the kitchen to help save both energy and the amount of money you spend on it.
Do you have any tips for saving energy in the kitchen or being more energy efficient at home to share? Do leave a comment. And if you found this useful why not check out this quick guide to waxd9 ter conservation in your home.
I like to think we are pretty good when it comes to energy saving in the kitchen. Especially with the dishwasher which I won’t put on until it’s at least 95% full!
We don’t own a tumble dryer or a dishwasher, so we’ve doing good on those counts, haha. Definitely guilty of overboiling the kettle too often though.
Great tips! So lovely to have the right weather for drying clothes outside again. Oh, I definitely boil the kettle about five times before I remember to make coffee. Any energy saving tips for my memory?! Xx
Until reading this I thought I was pretty energy efficient in the kitchen, but now I realise I’m actually pretty poor! Especially guilty of the kettle being on boil all the time and overusing the tumble dryer >_<
I remember my mum having a tumble dryer when we were growing up and her saying it cost a fortune so I never got one
I am guilty of using the tumble dryer a lot, I sometimes shove the clothes in even when I could hang them out, just because its easier. Just try harder!
I’m terrible for wasting energy in the kitchen. I own every single appliance known to man and probably boil the kettle about 50 times a day! I really need to make some changes but it is just convenience! x
These days anything to reduce waster and save energy are my top priorities so this is fab to read xx
Great tips here. I have got a lot better at only filling the kettle with what I need.