I’ve talked about making changes in other parts of my house to conserve energy to reduce expenses and also wanted to mention the kitchen and the small changes that can be made there to conserve energy as well. The kitchen has the potential to create heat simply because of the appliances located there, mainly the stove when the oven is in use. While these small changes won’t make a huge difference in your energy consumption, they will at least help keep your house cooler and give your air conditioner a break for the summer.

Cook in the morning – This would make sense for things that take an hour or two to cook in the oven. Occasionally I like to cook sweet potatoes as a side dish for dinner and they require 1-2 hours in the oven depending on their size. If I do this in the morning since I’m here rather than in the afternoon right before dinner the air conditioner doesn’t have to work as hard to keep the house cool. This would also work well for any baking that needs to be done.

Boil water with the lid on – This one sounds a little silly but if you think about it, it makes sense. Placing the lid on a pot of water to boil allows the temperature to rise faster since the heat is not escaping, therefore causing the water to come to a boil faster.

Cook with a crock pot (also referred to as a slow cooker) – We normally cook with our crock pot when there is a time constraint which doesn’t allow us to cook dinner on the stove or in the oven. The great thing about a crock pot is the low energy use and the fact that it produces less heat than having the oven on. I’m sure my air conditioner will thank me for this.

Cook bulk meals – This one really is easier than it sounds. It seems that every time I make enchiladas, lasagna, or chicken tetrazzini I have tons of food left over. I have two options I can either cut the recipe to the size that our family would require, or even better, cook the dish the way it was intended and put the leftovers in the freezer for dinner on another evening. These three meals are incredibly easy to store in the freezer in gallon size freezer bags.

Cook on the grill – I enjoy food cooked on the grill, and it’s a great way to keep the house cool since all the cooking takes place outside. Most people think only of cooking the main course on the grill, but we’ve gotten creative and cooked many of our vegetables either directly on the grill or in a foil packet on top of the grill.