Tips for cost-effective cooking

● Use a microwave for small dishes and reheating. Microwaves use less energy and yield much lower green- house emissions than stovetops.

● Invest in a pressure cooker. It will cook the food in a third of the time required by a conventional stove- top, using one-third as much energy.

 

● To reduce the cooking time of frozen foods, thaw them thoroughly in the fridge before cooking.

● Match the size of your pan to the hotplate, and keep the flame as low as possible. If the flame extends beyond the edge of the saucepan base, you are wasting energy.

 

● Cooking one small dish in an oven is inefficient. If you are going to switch on the oven, make it worthwhile by cooking several dishes at once.

● Avoid opening the oven door as much as possible when cooking. The oven loses about 15°C of heat every time you do so.

 

Top tip
If you can cook something using a small appliance such as a toaster, slow cooker or electric frypan, do so. A toaster, for example, will generate one-quarter of the greenhouse gas emissions produced by an electric grill to do the same job.