Saving electricity when cooking and baking: refrigerator to pressure cooker – Kitchen tips

Cooking and baking, everybody loves it! But in the end it also consumes electricity. The more expensive the electricity price becomes, the more worthwhile it is to pay attention to energy efficiency when cooking and baking. Because even small things can achieve extremely high savings over the days, weeks, months and years. Today we looked at all the small household tips to save electricity efficiently. Saving electricity means saving money and ultimately having more on your bank account for your new handbag, your new pair of shoes or your holiday!

3 Favourite tips from the editorial staff on saving electricity

Before we get into the big world of cooking and baking, here are our three favourite tips that can be easily integrated into everyday life as small life hacks.

Watch out for the filling quantity in the kettle

Each standardized kettle almost a quantity of 1.5 to 2 liters. They always fill their kettle completely. But the rule is that you prepare the water for a cup of tea. Of course it is often stressful in everyday life and you don’t necessarily think about the filling quantity of your own kettle. The heating of a quantity of water, e.g. 1.4 litres in relation to the filling quantity of a cup of 0.2 litres, takes a little more than seven times as long. The actual purpose of having boiling water for making tea for a small cup of 0.2 l was 7 times as much energy as we would have needed. Of course this doesn’t sound so much for a cup of tea, but if you extrapolate the cups to the year, you can already save a few euros. Another small step to be able to treat yourself to a nice holiday at the end of the year. Families who need the kettle more often or even offices where the kettle is constantly in use can save a lot of money by saving electricity through the filling quantity of the kettle.

Therefore, before filling the kettle, always be sure to think about the amount of water you really need. This not only saves you money but also time! Not only does it take 7 times as much energy to completely fill a kettle, it also takes 7 times as long. If you follow these energy-saving tips so consistently, you will not only have more money for your holiday at the end of the year, but also more time! Little tips make so much difference, if we all join in, we’ll make a difference!

Toaster instead of oven

One of my favorite tips for saving electricity, right to the beginning! Use the toaster instead of the oven, think about small alternative ideas. Let’s start with a simple one at Sperren, the bread roll for breakfast in the single household. No matter whether one roll or two rolls, many use the oven. You can warm up rolls from the baker, e.g. from the day before, perfectly with the toaster, so that it is like fresh from the oven! With the bread roll attachment, which is already integrated in most toasters and can be raised by simply pressing a button, you can not only make breakfast rolls but much more! Many, when we are in the single household, still have a piece of pizza left from the day before. Instead of eating it cold or throwing it in the oven, use the roll top. So the pizza is heated from below like in a stone oven, so that the pizza has almost the same flavour as from the oven. You also save on preheating the oven, our next tip for saving electricity!

Fragrance Shop | by FIV

Microwave for small dishes

My favorite tip number one is as simple as ingenious, microwave instead of oven and stove! Instead of turning on the oven or stove, you should always warm up small dishes in the microwave. This not only saves energy when cooking, but also when washing up!

Bake without preheating – cook with residual heat

Every pizza pack says, “Preheat the oven. Do you really have to? Preheating the oven has no real advantages. The only thing it brings with it is a higher electricity bill. Because if you put your oven 10 or 15 minutes in front of your neck, you could have already put all your energy into your pizza. As simple as that may sound, preheating the oven means that a lot of energy is lost.

This guy is as simple as he is short and practical. No matter what you want to prepare in the oven, put the dish in the oven as soon as it starts, the energy is transferred directly and you save time, electricity and money!

Electric or gas operation?

With the stove, gas operation is cheaper than electric operation. This is due to the favourable gas price. The stove is quite different, here the electric stove is much cheaper than a gas operated one still open. But there are also big differences in electrical appliances.

As you already know, if you have an integrated circulating air function, you will save up to 30% energy compared to the classic top / bottom heat oven.

After baking, we now come to cooking, our biggest everyday problem when it comes to wasting energy. From the open lid to the 5 litre pot for a single portion of spaghetti Bolognese.

Save energy when cooking:

Use smallest possible pot

The first and easiest tip when cooking is to use the smallest possible pot. Especially with pasta water, many like to use a large pot, the pasta then floats right at the bottom and above it are 30 cm of water. This 30 cm of water is a complete waste, it would be enough if the noodles were covered with 2.3 cm of water. Anything extra in the pot wastes energy. Not only when cooking, but also when sauteing meat, for example, in a pot. The larger the pot, the more area there is on which the energy can be distributed. If the surface area is then only 20% covered with meat, the heat is lost to 80% of the surface area.

Our first tip about cooking is therefore to always grab the smallest possible pot in your kitchen!

Place pot on matching plate

Of course, most of the energy is only lost when it does not even reach the pot or the pan. This is because the pot is too small for the respective hob or because the pot slips on the hob. The energy then flies freely into space, it is neither given to our food nor to our pot. Calculated on the days, weeks, months and years, a very large energy factor, which simply and proverbially disappears in the air.

  • Make sure that the pot is well positioned so that no energy is lost
  • Make sure the pot is equal to or slightly larger than the hotplate

Switch off hotplate before

If your lunch menu takes 20 minutes to cook, you don’t have to leave the hob running for another 20 minutes. Because there is often so much residual heat and energy in the hotplate that you can easily switch it off a few minutes beforehand. The hotplate then transmits so much energy to the pot and pan that it can be loosely fried and cooked for a few more minutes. And again you save a lot of time at the same time! If you want to clean up quickly afterwards, you can do so much faster at the cooker and hotplates, because they shorten faster. Another advantage when it comes to saving electricity.

Cooking with lid

In everyday life, things often have to go quickly, including cooking, of course. While you’re putting on the pasta water, you don’t always think about using a lid. A lot of the heat energy is lost upwards if no lid is used. Heat always has the natural property of migrating in a colder environment. Due to the migration of heat, it doesn’t take any longer for a dish to boil, the current must be turned upwards accordingly. As with many energy saving tips, it is not only practical to save one or the other euro, you also save a lot of time over the long term.

glass lids save lifting during cooking

Like the open refrigerator door or the pot that is too small for the cooking surface, removing the lid during cooking is also a constant loss of energy. If you are about to buy a new lid for your pot and pan, you should make sure that it is a glass ceiling. On the one hand you save energy again and on the other hand, I can tell you from personal experience, cooking is easier! Even if your hands are dirty at times, e.g. when kneading dough or making the crispy breading around the fish, with a quick glance you immediately have pots and pans in view. I don’t have to lift the lid all the time and can also check a single pot every few seconds without having to open and close the lid all the time. A great invention and my absolute tip for cooking!

Tip! Pressure cooker save 50% energy

Have you ever heard of a pressure cooker? In a pressure cooker, the top and bottom of the pot are closed so tightly that excess pressure is created. This overpressure ensures that dishes cook even faster. So you can directly get a little more time and of course energy in the household.

Of course we have also tested here diligently at home and this is our test winner among the pressure cookers of the price-performance ratio.

WMF Perfect pressure cooker, 4.5 l – test winner

Incredible 245 customer reviews speak for themselves. The WMF (our test winner) Prefect is the absolute bestseller when it comes to fast food. Because with this pressure cooker you can not only reduce the cooking time, but also save a lot of money and energy. With the WMF Perfect, you can conjure up a thousand tasty recipes in the twinkling of an eye, for vegans, vegatarians but also for meat lovers. With stews, tasty roasts or steamed vegetables, as tasty as from the Asians around the corner. No matter whether Asian recipes or the good, old and traditional German cuisine, with the WMF every menu will simply succeed.

  • Rating: 4.4 / 5.0 stars at 245 ratings (Amazon)
  • Contents: 1x pressure cooker without basket insert (4.5 litre volume and diameter 22 cm; and height 13.5 cm) with lid and sealing ring
  • Material: Cromargan stainless steel 18/10, polished – dishwasher-safe
    Important: sealing ring and removable lid handle not dishwasher safe.
  • suitable for all types of stoves – also for induction
  • The manufacturer’s warranty: 3 years
  • Only 79,99 Euro
  • To the offer

Which is the best pressure cooker? Read here our big Test: Pressure cooker.

Select energy saving refrigerator

The old fridge is still doing it! Many think so, but forget how much money can be saved by an energy-saving refrigerator Refrigerators are one of the most energy-intensive appliances when it comes to private households. Because they run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Many kilowatt-hours, especially with older devices, go up in smoke. That’s why one of our most valuable tips on saving electricity and money is to always opt for an energy-efficient refrigerator. In the electronics market around the corner but also at online retailers like Amazon there are many good offers.

Right, your fridge needs disposal, too. Practically, you can return your old fridge directly to many electronics stores. In a constant you also have always a recycling yard nearby, which recycles the old material. Send a fridge when you are no longer of the latest generation, then the comparison and of course the change is worthwhile.

Quick close refrigerator door

While we are on the subject of the refrigerator – it is not only the energy efficiency of the refrigerator that is decisive for electricity consumption, the closing of the refrigerator door also makes a big difference when it comes to the annual billing of electricity. It happens to me every evening when I leave some fruit for muesli cutting and the door open, because I think I have to put something in and something out anyway. Wrong! The longer I leave the door open, the more power I lose. Some products are warmed up, depending on how long I leave the fridge open, this can make its on a pudding a little less appetizing. As a rule, however, the refrigerator door does not remain open for three or four minutes, but only for 30 or 40 seconds. A lot of energy is still lost, which must first be rebuilt.

A small step with a lot of effect!

defrost refrigerator and freezer

The thicker the ice layer, the more difficult it is for the cooling unit to draw energy from the inside of the refrigerator. This effect makes the refrigerator and freezer really cold.

Anyone who still has an older model at home or who opens and closes the door more often so that condensation can form, will sooner or later have to struggle with four ice creams in the refrigerator or freezer. The ice forms at the back of the refrigerator, where the heat is extracted in the refrigerator. A thick layer of ice gradually settles on the cooling unit. In the freezer the ice collects everywhere, left, right, up, down and of course also on the back wall. The more that has formed that you become more difficult for the cooling unit. Besides, you’ve got a lot less room!

The regular defrosting of the fridge is therefore always an intelligent idea, you save electricity and have more space in the fridge! It comes even better, because it also helps with nutrition. By defrosting the fridge, you will have to think a few days in advance about what food you still have to consume. Because defrosting the refrigerator takes time, so much time that frozen products, for example, Uptown. That’s why you have to empty the fridge, the freezer too. This makes it clear which food you have hoarded, but also which food has never been touched and what you can perhaps do without the next time you shop. Defrosting the fridge and freezer is therefore not only a practical tip for saving money, you are also more aware of your diet.

Half pressure water tap

When washing vegetables or dishes, you are quickly exposed to the danger of letting the tap run at full pressure for the entire time. This consumes a lot of energy, not only through the pump, which has to push the water upwards, but also through the provision of new water for the network, which means that the ecological CO2 footprint increases not only in the company’s own house, but also in the entire supply chain around the water balance. If you turn on the tap at half the pressure, you will save a lot of water, valuable resources and of course electricity.

Although the appearance of the faucet is only a relatively small step, it accompanies us through the entire everyday life. From brushing your teeth in the bathroom in the morning to washing dishes at breakfast. The day hasn’t even started yet. Later at work, it continues. The single fork is washed with the large water jet, as are the hands on the toilet. The water is always at full pressure and the pumps run with it. This costs a lot of energy, and in the end all co-owners pay for it through rent! The economy at the tap pays off in the end, however, also at the own purse. Not only electricity consumption is lower, but also water consumption and thus the final settlement of ancillary costs at the end of the year. Cash money that I can invest much better in a vacation!

Ventilation after cooking small lamp city flash lighting

At the end of our tips for saving electricity we want to come back to the cosiness of the kitchen! Imagine we are in a small restaurant in Bella Italia, with candles all around us. A few small light bulbs light up the room. Why not give up a little light when you’re cooking? It does not always have to be the full lighting, sometimes it is worthwhile to install economical LED lamps above the hob. Such LED lamps can also be activated by remote controls. So that, for example, you can activate the light immediately when you enter the kitchen. As a rule, cooking requires only a view of the hob and worktop anyway. The rest of the room plays no role at the moment of cooking, while one cuts, snips, flames and blanches, usually. That’s why it’s worth thinking about installing economical LED lamps above your own kitchenette. This way you can not only create a cozy cooking ambience but also save money!