Six ways to save energy while cooking Christmas dinner
The most important person on Christmas Day is not Santa, but the person in charge of Christmas dinner. Not only must they curate the menu and get the cooking timings right, they also need to make sure there’s plenty of food to go around.
However, there is an extra worry that may be occupying this festive VIP’s mind this year. Energy costs remain high, and are set to rise further in January, as the energy regulator Ofgem has announced the price cap will increase by 1.2%.
In addition, the government’s restriction to the winter fuel allowance means that tens of thousands of pensioners are unable to claim the payment this year, which is worth up to £300.
As a result, many households will be looking for ways to reduce their energy consumption this festive season. You can even do this while cooking Christmas dinner by making a few changes, according to green energy supplier 100Green.
Here are six tips for saving energy when you’re cooking up a storm this Christmas.
Avoid opening the oven door
We’re all guilty of opening the oven door multiple times while cooking to check if things are done - but this is a huge waste of energy and time.
Keeping the oven door open for periods of time means that heat escapes and the internal temperature drops rapidly. It can take several minutes for the oven to get back up to the right temperature once the door is closed again - which means your food also takes longer to cook.
The experts at 100Green recommend giving your oven a thorough clean before the big day so you can see clearly through the oven door - reducing the need to open it quite as often.
Keep your oven in tip-top shape with this cleaning kit, complete with everything you need for a sparkling clean oven.
Skip the preheat
Contrary to popular belief, 100Green says we don’t actually always have to preheat the oven for everything we cook. "Waiting for the oven to reach the full temperature is essentially a waste of energy, and you can start cooking as soon as you turn your oven on," the experts say.
However, there are some foods that really do benefit from a preheated oven. Any recipe that requires the food to rise, such as bread and biscuits, will need to go into a fully preheated oven to ensure they cook properly.
But most other dishes that are popular during Christmas have a long and slow roasting time, and these are fine to get into the oven even before it’s started heating up. If you want to skip the oven altogether, there’s always an alternative…
Air fryers to the rescue
Air fryers have been all the rage across the UK and it’s not hard to see why. These clever devices cut can reduce cooking time and energy costs, making them more efficient than an oven.
100Green explains that using the oven to cook every part of Christmas dinner can be costly, as the average electric oven consumes between 2 and 2.2 kWh (kilowatts per hour) for every hour it’s being used on a medium-to-high heat.
"This would cost 49p per hour, meaning that to cook a 5kg turkey the recommended three hours, it would cost £1.47,"the supplier says. In comparison, a turkey roasted in the air fryer takes much less time to prepare than the oven.
"With average wattage between 1.4 and 1.7 kWh, this means it could cost you as little as 35p to roast your turkey in an air fryer."
Offering versatile cooking with the ability to cook two foods, two ways – both ready at the same time, this best-selling air fryer comes with six cooking functions which give you the flexibility to prepare a wide range of meals. Its 7.6L capacity can easily feed up to eight people, and each drawer can fit a 1.6kg chicken, making it perfect for family-sized meals.
This item has been tried and tested by the Yahoo UK team - read our full review here.
Eight cooking modes, synchronised drawers and a combined nine litre capacity, say hello to Philips first-ever dual zone air fryer.
This item has been tried and tested by the Yahoo UK team - read our full review here.
No-bake treats
Christmas desserts traditionally involve baked goods like Christmas pudding or chocolate cake. However, why not switch things up a bit this year and try a no-bake sweet treat? This way, you can reduce the amount of time the oven is on for, saving you energy.
Desserts like trifles and fruit salads, or the oft-popular cheese board are consistent no-bake after-dinner Christmas indulgences. You can even experiment with no-bake cheesecakes, such as this white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake by Mary Berry, or Jamie Oliver’s Mum’s Sherry Trifle, which we can see going down a treat!
The slow cooker is your friend
In the winter, slow cookers are one of the most useful and popular gadgets to have in the kitchen thanks to their ability to turn a few loose ingredients into delicious, warming stews.
They’re also energy efficient, going as low as 50 to 300 watts per hour, which costs as little as 8p an hour to run. While it may not be conventional at Christmas, it could be worth seeing how you can make use of your slow cooker to save on energy - we like the sound of this slow cooker gammon in cola.
Equally as good as Ninja's range of sought-after air fryers, this slow cooker has eight cooking functions and features what Ninja call a Triple Fusion Heat system, which combines side, base and steam heat for fast, even cooking. And comes with a removable, non-stick cooking pot that's oven-safe for up to 260C.
Complete with three heat settings and a generous 3.5-litre capacity, there's no wonder over 4,000 units of this best-selling, low-cost slow cooker from Morphy Richards have sold in the last month.
Maximum results with microwaved veggies
100Green suggests using your microwave to cook vegetables, as this is another great way to cut down energy costs for Christmas dinner. Most vegetables can be cooked in the microwave in just a couple of minutes, with 10 minutes usage costing an average of just 6p - around half the cost of using the hob.
Read more about saving energy:
Five energy-consuming habits to kick before the price cap rise in January (Yahoo Life UK, 4-min read)
10 Energy Saving Tips For Your Home (Woman & Home, 5-min read)
Save a fortune and keep house warm using simple home heating tip (WalesOnline, 2-min read)
