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Tips for Carving Up Some Energy Savings This Thanksgiving

As you’re cooking this year's Thanksgiving feast, your kitchen appliances will most likely be working overtime. To help ensure that your electric bill on Thursday looks as good as your turkey, Edison Electric Institute offers you its top 10 tips for saving electricity in the kitchen:

  • When preheating a regular oven, time the preheat period carefully. Five to eight minutes should be sufficient. You don’t need to preheat if you’re broiling or roasting.
  • Always use the “lids-on” approach to cooking. Tightly fitted lids help keep heat within pots and pans. This enables you to lower the temperature setting and shorten the cooking time.
  • When boiling liquids, start at the highest heat setting to reach the boiling point, and then lower the setting and allow the food to simmer until fully cooked.
  • Use the microwave oven instead of your regular oven whenever possible. Microwave ovens draw less than half the power of a regular oven, and they cook for a much shorter period. For example, an item that needs an hour in a full-sized oven at 350 degrees will take 15 minutes to cook in a microwave on the “high” setting.
  • When using an electric oven, cook as much of the meal in it at one time as possible, especially foods that only require a variation of 25 degrees in either direction. You’ll still get good results, and you’ll save energy. 
  • Check the refrigerator’s door gaskets to be sure that they seal tightly. This will keep the cold air in and the warm air out. To check the condition of the gasket, place a dollar bill against the frame and close the door. If you can pull the bill out with a very gentle tug or, worse, it simply drops out on its own, the door requires adjustment, or the gasket needs replacing.
  • Allow hot foods or liquids to cool off before placing them in the refrigerator. The cooling off will reduce the load on the refrigerator.
  • If you're expecting a large group of people for the dinner, lower the house’s thermostat a degree or two before the guests arrive. This will keep the house comfortable and save electricity.
  • After the feast, never put leftovers in a second refrigerator in the garage. In the winter months, frozen foods may melt (as the temperature sensor in the refrigerator will not activate the compressor if the temperature in the garage is 32 degrees or lower). In the summer months, the temperature in the garage can easily exceed 100 degrees, and the refrigerator has to work extra hard to keep food cold. If you have a second refrigerator, consider placing it in the basement or other insulated area of your home.
  • Finally, when all the cooking is done, don’t use the oven’s self-cleaning cycle unless a major cleaning job is needed.  When the oven’s self-clean feature is used, start the cycle right after cooking, while the oven is still hot, or wait until late evening hours when use of electricity is lowest.

Plus, check out these tips to save electricity all-year round.
 

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