Discover how to use the oven efficiently and avoid wasting expensive electricity
There are many foods that we consume that must be cooked in the oven. There are also many others that can be baked in the oven to give us a healthier version of recipes that traditionally are fried or sautéed. The taste of baked foods is unmistakable and often truly irresistible, including savory dishes and sweet delicacies of many, many kinds.
In general, however, cooking in the oven means turning it on well in advance so that it heats up to the right point and then keeping it at a constant temperature for variable intervals of time, but on average cooking times are quite long. This means that this large appliance ends up consuming a lot of electricity. So if we want to control consumption and keeps costs down, how can we achieve this without stopping to use the oven altogether?
Always keep the oven inside very clean: if there is dirt, the heat spreads less evenly and therefore the dishes are cooked earlier in all the wrong places, without causing further energy consumption.
Avoid opening the door as much as possible during cooking: every time we do this we lower the internal temperature, and the oven must compensate by spending more energy. It is therefore necessary to take care to always keep the interior lights working well and the door glass perfectly clean. Sometimes it will be necessary to disassemble it to eliminate the dirt that is between the two pieces of glass of which it is composed, but it will make its use much more comfortable.
- Always favour the convection oven cooking methods (i.e. ovens with fans): if the recipe does not expressly require a static oven, the ventilated mode will ensure that the heat is distributed evenly and will cook the food faster.
- Always keep the door open at the end of cooking, so the fans do not have to remain in operation to lower the internal temperature.
- Do not use it to defrost: always try to defrost food by leaving it in the fridge from the day before. If you want to hurry, even out of the fridge but only if they manage to defrost in a few hours. Otherwise use the same function in a microwave oven, which is less energy-intensive.
- Unplug the oven from the power when you go on vacation. Like all electrical devices, it continues to consume a little while plugged in.
- For all the chores where you can use the microwave, go for this instead. And the same is the case for heating the dishes!
- Check the resistance coil: sometimes this breaks or gets damaged and the oven takes much longer to heat up, consuming a lot more energy.
- If you ever change your oven, then, always favour those of the highest energy class, which require a greater investment for the initial purchase but then save later on the bills.
These are small precautions that at the end of the year can make a big difference in electricity consumption!
