
At Caraway, we care a lot for the environment. We’ve designed our ceramic non stick pans to not only give you the best cooking experience possible but also make it that much easier for you to be eco-friendly in your cooking. It’s more important now than ever before to conserve energy in the kitchen. Today, we are here to give you five ideas for eco-friendly cooking, so if you’re interested in finding out how to best preserve your environment while also cooking up some healthy food for you and your loved ones, keep on reading.
1. Invest in High-Quality Cookware
This first idea is good for both the environment and your wallet: invest in high-quality cookware that will last you a long time. When you purchase well-engineered cookware made from solid, genuine materials, you’ll find that your cookware lasts much longer compared to cheap pots and pans. The less you have to buy things, the better it is for the environment. Buying more means that companies have to manufacture more, which means more energy and resources are wasted. This can all be avoided if you purchase high-quality cookware upfront.
A great example of high-quality cookware is Caraway’s ceramic nonstick pans. These pans are made with nonstick ceramic and contain an aluminum core. They are also free from dangerous materials, keeping your body safe and healthy. If you’re interested in getting some top-tier pans to help you be more eco-friendly in the kitchen, then Caraway ceramic nonstick pans are perfect for you.
2. Chop Your Food Into Small Pieces
The concept is quite simple: the smaller you chop your food, the less energy it takes to cook. You may or may not realize that you probably already understand this. If you’re cooking chicken breast in a ceramic nonstick pan, it takes a substantially longer period of time to cook when you put the full filet in the pan compared to when you slice the chicken breast or cube it into little chunks. The smaller your food is, the less time you will need to keep your stove or oven on, and the less gas and electricity you will expend cooking. It’s a win-win for everyone.
3. Find Little Changes That Make a Big Difference
When it comes to eco-friendly cooking, the little changes make the biggest difference. A few examples of these changes are:
- Keeping a lid on your pan when you are cooking
- Filling the entirety of your pan with food
- Keeping the oven door closed when it is on
- Cooking with residual heat
These seemingly little details can have a big impact on how eco-friendly you’re being in the kitchen. When you keep a lid on your pan, the food inside will cook much faster, and you’ll use much less energy to have it all perfectly sautéed. Filling the entirety of your pan with food also helps you make the most of the energy you use when your oven is on, so if your pan is only half or three-quarters full, try to add something to it to fill it up completely. As for keeping the oven door closed, a lot of energy is wasted if you even open up the door for a split second. When baking, heat is trapped within the oven, allowing for even and speedy baking, but when the door is opened, a lot of that energy is released and wasted. Make sure to keep the oven door shut next time you’re tempted to smell your homemade cookies in the oven. Lastly, don’t be afraid to shut off the heat a few minutes before your recipe is complete. Ovens and stoves still naturally generate heat right after they’re turned off, so your food will still be cooking even though they’re off. Save some energy and resources by cooking with the residual heat after you flip off the power or gas switch.
4. Try Going Vegetarian or Vegan
This idea for eco-friendly cooking actually goes far beyond your own kitchen and into the lives of farmers and people who raise animals for a living. Raising animals takes a whole lot of time, money, energy, and other resources, so a helpful way to save these resources is to cut meat out of your diet completely. We’d recommend trying out a vegetarian or even vegan diet for a few days to see if it’s right for you. It’s one of the biggest ways you can help preserve the environment.
5. Let Leftovers Sit Out Before Putting Them in the Fridge
This one is pretty self-explanatory: let leftovers sit out before putting them in the fridge. This must be done so that leftovers cool and get rid of all their heat before they go in the fridge. If you put hot or even warm leftovers in the fridge right away, you increase the temperature inside the fridge, causing your fridge to expend more energy trying to bring that temperature down again. If you’re cooking dinner, leave the leftovers out on the counter during your meal, and then put them in the fridge once you’re positive all the heat has left them.
Conclusion
We hope this article has inspired you to strive to be more eco-friendly in the kitchen. Whether it’s filling the entirety of your ceramic nonstick pan, going completely vegan, or anything in-between, we hope you make at least one small step to help the environment today. If we all make one small step, imagine how big of a difference that would make on our planet.