Cooking up my energy savings
“How can I live with less than 4kW per day without it disrupting my routine and allowing me to do everything I need to do?” The beginning step was pretty intuitive: let’s start from the heart of my home, the kitchen. The modern kitchen is full with energy-hungry appliances, from refrigerators to microwaves, stoves, and lighting. It was evident that significant changes in my daily routines and behaviors within this space were essential to achieve my goal.
As I delved into research and experiments, I discovered a simple yet effective solution that would significantly reduce my energy consumption while also saving me precious time. Batch cooking.
Tupperware soon became my new best friend on this energy-saving journey. By cooking larger portions of food to consume throughout the week, I not only saved valuable minutes each day but also curbed energy expenditure significantly. The benefits were numerous: fewer refrigerator openings, reduced use of lights, and a decrease in stove usage, among others. I would prepare meals, store them in Tupperware containers, and have enough food to last for several days. This meant I didn’t have to worry about cooking on busy days or turn on a single kitchen appliance. It was the perfect energy-saving solution for my routine.
However, like any good story, my journey had its challenges. One such challenge was the time-span involved. While meal-prepping for a couple of days helped reduce stove and water usage, if I extended the meal-prep to cover an entire week, I’d have to resort to freezing some dishes. Reheating these frozen meals, though convenient, does consume additional energy. Nevertheless, this challenge opened up exciting opportunities to diversify my diet, eat more healthily, and save time in the long run. Especially since I tried some Korean dishes I have always wanted to try.
I feel like I have discovered a whole new world since I have been introduced to the world of marinated vegetables. It could sound silly but it really was eye-opening. Through marinating uncooked vegetables, not only do they get softer and much tastier without being cooked, but you can also use the left over marination to season rice. One last interesting point was the fact that when I had to cook the rice in the rice-cooker I would also start using its intermediate plates to cook other vegetables (I haven’t tried, but I can guess it could be used to cook even thin cuts of meat).
In conclusion, even though I am aware of the challenges and the constraints that this new life style poses, I welcome this new habit in my routine, as it can only be beneficial both to me and the environment.
