The Holistic Care

1. Use ambient heat to warm up products. Prefab cutlets need 50 minutes cooking from frozen and only 35 from chilled. The saving is obvious. Either remove your cutlets from the freezer and place them in the refrigerator 12 hours before cooking or place them within a room temperature 2 hours before cooking. Want to heat up your milk? Pour it into the milk-pan and leave on the table for one hour before the heating. You will save 10 - 20% of energy.

2. Never defrost your food under a running tap. Check the previous tip.

3. Fill your kettle with as much water as you actually need. Pour in some water to cover the element and then measure the water in using a mug.

4. Better still, buy a stainless steel kettle with a hidden element (not the one with a visible spiral). It will require very little water to cover its heating element thus you won't be boiling too much unnecessary water.

5. Choose cast-iron cookware or pans with heavy steel bottoms. Those will keep the heat better and you will be able to turn the flame a little down and still cook with the same results.

6. Match your cookware with the size of the cooking ring. Too small a pan on a too big a ring will consume extra energy.

7. Always put a lid on your pan and reduce the heat. It will save energy.

8. A gas cooker will consume relatively less energy but if you have an open-plan layout or poor ventilation, go for an electric cooker because gas cookers produce direct emissions.

9. Unless cooking from frozen or baking from home-made dough, you don't need to pre-heat the oven.

10. Learn to operate your cooker. Adjust the heat in order to maintain steady and moderate cooking/boiling. Violent boiling will consume unnecessary energy and make the food less tasty.

11. Think twice before buying a kitchen extractor. You can ventilate your house by opening the windows. If you decide to install an extractor, switch it off one it has finished doing its job.

12. Wash your fruit and veg under running water but in a way that you catch the water in a bowl. You can use it to water plants or add it to your grey water recycling system

13. If washing dishes by hand run the tap only when you need water. Washing by hand is easier done in a double-sink. Pre-rinse the dishes in one part of the sink, take one by one, clean them using a sponge ad washing-up liquid and put them in the second part of the sink. Then open the tap and quickly rinse the foam.

14. Soak very dirty dishes before you wash them. Put a plug in and fill your sink with soapy water. After a half an hour soaking it will be much easier to wash them and will consume less water.

15. Use latex gloves when washing dishes or using cleaning liquids. They all damage the skin more or less.

16. Use recycled paper towels or limit the amount of paper towels you use. At least occasionally use reusable cloths for cleaning and dusting.

17. Avoid pans with teflon, molybdenum or synthetic coating. Making such cookware involves extra energy, coating particles can end up in your kidneys and it can also potentially give toxic emissions. There's nothing wrong with a simple stainless steel pan. How did your grandma cope? She didn't have a teflon pan.

18. Steam your vegetables instead of cooking. You'll keep more of the goodies inside, reduce the consumption of water and energy. If you still decide to boil the vegetables don't discard the stock. Use it to make a soup!

19. Use the so-called stack-up cookware (two or more pans on top of each other). By powering just one cooking ring you'll cook two or more meals.

20. Forget about the grill. Use an electric toaster to make toasts or even give up the habit of toasting. Burnt food may contain cancerogens.

21. Load your fridge/freezer as quickly as possible to avoid heat-exchange with the room.

22. Don't place hot and warm items in a fridge. Let the food cool down to the room temperature before placing it in the fridge.

23. Don't position your fridge in direct sunlight or near a cooker. It will significantly reduce its efficiency.

24. Check if your fridge doors have gaps. Put a sheet of paper on one edge and shut the door. If you can remove the paper, the door is not sealed properly.