Super-cooking

Here’s how to save:

• Cook many things together – in the oven or in a big pot
  Say you’re having a pie with potatoes and vegetables for your dinner. You could put the pie in the oven, boil some potatoes up in one pan and some veg in another. But to super-cook it, simply put everything in together.
   
  Just warm the pie up as normal, and instead of boiling, put some potato wedges and a few veggies in to bake with it. They will then all share the oven’s heat and use much less energy. (Plus, there’s less washing up too.)
   
  Another alternative is the slow cooker. In these you put in all the ingredients and let it cook away on very low power for several hours. Again, less energy, less washing up, and great flavours.
   
• Steamers
  Steamers are a great way to keep the goodness in vegetables, and cook them with a fraction of the energy of boiling. If you have a stackable steamer you can do rice or pasta in the bottom, then the vegetables in the upper layers. Loads of energy saving.
   
• Warming plates
  If you like your food on warm plates, don’t put the oven on especially to warm them up. Instead use a little bit of hot water and you will save a lot of energy. Best of all, if you have been boiling or steaming, make use of that heat to warm the plates, rather than throwing it down the drain.