Frugal Kitchens 101 - Electricity in the Kitchen

Early in 2009 Hyrdo One, the electricity provider for Ontario announced they would be switching to a Time of Use (TOU) pricing per kWh over the follow year. Some in Ontario are already on this pricing system and while our Smart Meter was installed in February 2009 it is not activated to TOU pricing. Currently our winter rates are 5.6¢ per kWh which is 44% of our total hydro bill. With service charges some of which are dependent on kWh used the real cost is more like 11¢ per kWh. The TOU pricing will see the cost per kWh go to 4.2¢ per kWh for off peak hours (9 pm - 7 am, weekends, holidays), 7.6¢ per kWh for mid-peak use, and 9.1¢ per kWh for high peak hours. The mid and peak hours actually reverse in the summer but the off peak hours remain the same. While the cost per kWh used is going up, the 56% of our bill that is the service charges isn't providing we don't increase the number of kWh used. Essentially how we use electricity between the hours of 7 am and 9 pm either has to change or will be more costly. This type of pricing has already been in effect in other countries and it is gaining favour so now is the time to cut back on the kWh you use. In addition to the TOU pricing the Ontario government courtesy of Dalton McGuinty (let's see him get re-elected) has introduced the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) that will see an increase in hydro bills of 8% in taxes. Without going into my views on the HST although I'm sure you can guess the bottom line is those living in Ontario are going to be seeing a substantial increase in hydro costs likely by July 1, 2010. Now is the time to a) if you are living in Ontario change your hydro use habits and b) if you are living outside of Ontario pay attention because this is the wave of the future.

For the most part little will change in my kitchen but that is because I'm already down to a low kWh usage. How can you reduce your kWh used in the kitchen? Here are a few of my tips:

• All major appliances should be EnergyStar® qualified. Keep them well cleaned inside and out to make sure they operate up to their potential. On older models keep those refrigerator coils vacuumed. Don't overload your fridge for any reason. Try to keep some empty space (yes I hear my kids snickering at this one) for good air circulation. Unplug and get rid of that old spare fridge that can be costing a lot of kWh per month even though you only use it once or twice a year.
• Eliminate all unnecessary electric small appliances. True that electric can opener is only used briefly not even enough to cost a penny per use. In the big picture it may only cost you 50¢ per year to use BUT it is still using hydro. If you go through and eliminate all unnecessary small electric appliances not only are you going to save money but you will have more storage space for other appliances and gadgets that will serve you better.
• Rethink your coffee maker. If you make a pot of coffee then leave the heat setting on to keep the coffee warm for a few hours then you are wasting kWh. Change your coffee maker out for one with a thermal carafe or pour your coffee into a thermos that will keep it hot enough to enjoy for a few hours without using any kWh.
  
• The oven can make or break you. If you use your oven to bake 2 baked potatoes for dinner you are wasting kWh. If you use your oven to cook a couple of roasts (one for slicing for that week's sandwiches), 6 baked potatoes (2 for dinner, 4 for baked potato soup the following day) and perhaps another side or dessert then you are using your oven effectively. You are using the same amount of kWh but getting so much more out of them. If you use your oven this way on Sunday night when the lowest price per kWh is in effect then you have a head start on the week's meals that will take a lot less energy usage to prepare.
• The slow cooker is not going to be your friend. For years the slow cooker (crockpot) has been tooted as being a frugal appliance. With these new changes it is not going to remain frugal because it will be constantly using hydro during mid and high peak hours meaning you are going to be paying a lot more to use your slow cooker. Use your slow cooker on Sunday to create a nice meal that can be warmed in the microwave for the first couple of nights of the week.
  
• The pressure cooker is your friend. A pressure cooker will allow you to get a good, nutritious meal on your table in under an hour still coming in at lower kWh usage than a slow cooker.
• Think alternative cooking. If you have a woodstove, cook your soup or stew on that since it is already on in the winter. If you have multiple choices of cooking fuel supply (eg. electricity, natural gas, naphtha fuel, wood, propane, butane, solar) choose the method that works best for you that is the cheapest. In Ontario natural gas is still the cheapest cooking fuel although if you have a source for free wood it's even cheaper. Solar is also an option although not all that practical during the winter months in Ontario.
• Check the deli. Ok this is not what you are used to hearing from me on this blog that focuses on cooking from scratch. I cannot buy a whole chicken for under $8 here. Sobey's sells cooked rotisserie chickens for $7 or after 5 pm for $5. That's without me having to use any hydro to cook it so for me a rotisserie chicken is a frugal alternative.
• Canning and food preservation should be done during low peak usage. This only makes good sense to me and it is something I really don't have to change a lot. During the summer months I've always canned during the early morning hours and late evening hours. It's cooler then so was more comfortable as well. During the winter months I try to get any canning out of the way in the early morning hours just because there are a lot of other things I want to do but really if I had to run the canner at mid-peak hour prices I would. What becomes a consideration is the freezer. Recall from the moment you put food in a freezer you are paying for its storage. The freezer really needs to be EnergyStar® qualified. I keep my freezers as full as possible to help with energy efficiency yet with enough space to comfortable overturn the food and just enough space to add any bargains I might find.
• Nix the boiling. Use steaming rather than boiling for any vegetable. Steaming gives nicer results with more nutrition and less energy usage.
  

Frugal Kitchens 101 - Keeping the Heat Out of the Kitchen

With today's trying economic times more people are turning to cooking their meals at home. This time of year with higher temperatures and/or humidity presents the challenge of being able to cook without adding a lot of extra heat in the kitchen. If you have your air conditioning on, cooking adds both moisture and heat to the house so savings made by cooking the meal at home could be eaten up by increased air conditioning costs. If you don't have air conditioning adding any heat and moisture to the house can make it uncomfortable. Today's Frugal Kitchens 101 will highlight some effective ways to keep the heat out of the kitchen while still enjoying home cooked meals.

There are three main ways to keep the heat out of the kitchen during the hot summer months. The first method involves changing your cooking style. The second method involves changing your eating habits. The third method is to change the actual cooking method.

Cooking Style

Your cooking style is determined by both where, when and how you cook. Simply modifying one or more of the factors will help keep heat out of the kitchen.

1. where - During the summer months, cook outdoors as much as possible. A gas grill with a side burner will give you plenty of cooking possibilities. The grill can also be used as an oven or large surface griddle. If you have a sunporch, covered porch or balcony you can set up a temporary cooking station where foods could cook in a crockpot or countertop roaster or on an electric grill. If you have a basement, set up a summer kitchen. Basements are naturally cooler in the summer so are ideal for cooking. In fact my kitchen is located on the lower level of an earth bermed house so is essentially in a walk-out basement. This was a real buying feature for us.
   
2. when - Plan your cooking so you are not cooking during the heat of the day especially during the hottest part of the day. The best times to cook are early morning and late evening.
3. how - Plan ahead so that if you are making something like rice, pasta, potatoes or even meats that you will have enough for two or three meals. For example you are making a hot pasta dish for dinner make enough pasta that you can make a cold pasta side for the next night's dinner. Grill several boneless, skinless chicken breasts then cool and slice for salads and wraps. Package into convenient size freezer bags then use as needed. Brown 10 lb lean ground beef then divide it into thirds. Season three different ways then package into family sized packages and freeze. To use just re-heat in the microwave. These meal quick starts will help curb the urge to get take-out on hot, humid days.
   

Cooking Method

Choose the most efficient appliance and least heat producing method for the food you are cooking. During the hot summer months instead of using your oven use a countertop roaster or outside grill. Instead of boiling vegetables, steam them. This uses less water. Set the steaming water outside to cool for watering plants. My list of useful summer cooking appliances is:

• countertop roaster
• crockpot
• outdoor grill (gas preferably to double as an oven)
• rice maker
• electric fry pan or griddle

Other useful appliances for summer cooking: blender, toaster and coffee maker.

Eating Habits

Changing your eating habits to reflect the seasons is a natural thing to do. During the winter months we need a bit of extra fats and hot foods to help keep us warm but during hot summer months the opposite is true. Work as many raw foods into your summer diet as possible. Raw foods provide much needed hydration. Substitute beef dishes for those made with lighter chicken or fish. Change out that heavy and expensive soda for homemade ice tea, homemade iced coffees or water. Instead of a hot breakfast start your morning with yogurt and fresh fruit or a fruit smoothie. Instead of the heavier type deserts go for the sherbets and iced deserts. Power sandwiches (here), BLT's, wraps, dinner salads, pasta salads and stir fry are all wonder summery type meals. Unless you grill year round this is the time to get as much grilling in as possible!

Pan Fried Perch Revisited

One of the things I love about cooking is there is always the opportunity to learn how to cook using different methods. Shortly after buying our Jenn-Air JES9860AC I was already considering buying the radiant glass-ceramic cartridges but never acted on it. A couple of weeks ago I finally ordered them and waited anxiously for them to arrive. The cartridge system allows a plug and play system that is fully customizable. You can read more about my stove and the cartridges here if you are are interested.

Radiant Cartridge

I was so excited when I finally had both cartridges since one was slightly delayed due to back order. So I waited until I had both then decided to see what they could do. Nothing in my kitchen gets a free ride so it either performs to my expectations or it is out of the kitchen!

I quickly realized that cooking on these cartridges would mean changing my cooking style. Unlike coil element the radiant elements heat instantly and they retain residual heat for quite some time after being turned off. Both of these qualities make the radiant cartridges energy efficient. However this means the burner must be turned off before the food is fully cooked yet the food is left on the burner to finish cooking using the residual heat. The exception to this is when you are cooking something milk based or delicate.

Panfried Perch

I decided to test out the cartridges by steaming potatoes, warming homecanned green beans and pan frying perch. Adjusting how I used the elements was rather easy for the potatoes and beans. I was pleasantly surprised at how soon I could turn off the burner for both using the residual heat to finish the cooking. Rounding out the meal was panfried perch. Overall I was pleased with the performance of the radiant cartridges.

I have posted about panfried perch before. During the nicer weather I enjoy fishing so have several meals worth of perch, pickerel and bass in the freezers. Pan frying is a great way to prepare smaller fish fillets so it's something I know how to do quite well. However, pan frying on the radiant burner proved to be a bit more of a challenge so I will have to work on that a bit. As you can see the perch wasn't as quite as nicely browned as in the original post. I'm sure with a little tweaking I will be able to achieve the same results with panfried fish as I would achieve with the coil elements.

Frugal Kitchens 101 - Dishwashers

A dishwasher is almost an expected appliance in today's modern kitchens. They do save a lot of time but if they are not used in an eco-friendly manner they can be energy wasters. Dishwashers use electricity to operate, energy to heat the initial hot water, energy to boost water temperature to sanitize, energy to dry the dishes and water itself so there are three areas where you can save. In addition to that dishwashers use both dishwasher detergent and rinse agent giving you two further areas to save money.

Older dishwashers are not as energy efficient as newer models. If you are considering replacing your dishwasher look for the EnergyStar® qualified models such as Bosch. While these machines do boost the water temperature for sanitization via a flow though heater they save energy by not having a food grinder (quieter) and by not having a heating element for drying dishes (eco-friendly). Instead they dry by convection. To read more about our particular dishwasher and another article on dishwashers read here and here. Regardless whether you are using a high efficiency or older model dishwasher there are still ways to save more energy and money. Here's what I do:

1. detergent: When it comes to dishwasher detergents there are three concerns: environmental, cost, ease of use. Some dishwasher detergents contain more phosphates than others and there are now no phosphate detergents available (chart here). Use a non phosphate brand of dishwasher detergent if possible. It will cost more per load but as it becomes more popular, the price will come down. Always buy dishwasher detergent on sale in a quantity to last you 3 months. Avoid powdered detergents in humid areas. Do not buy over packaged, individually wrapped dishwasher tabs. If you want to use tabs, choose the kind packaged in a dissolvable coating. These are now available in non phosphate formulas. Look for the eco-green logo. Washing soda (20 Mule Team) can be effectively substituted for dishwasher detergent for an eco-friendly alternative.
   
   The recommended amount for a normal load of dishes is 1 tbsp. Add an extra teaspoon for extra soiled dishes. Using more is basically wasting money. In general powdered detergent is cheaper but if you live in an area with high humidity liquid or tablets may be a better choice. Do not be tempted to buy more detergent than you can use in a 3 month period as powdered detergent loses its effectiveness over time.
   


2. rinse agent: Dishwasher manufacturers usually recommend using a dishwasher rinse agent. This prevents spotting caused by small food particles redepositing on the dishes. Some manufacturers (Bosch) indicate the dishwasher should not be operated without a rinse agent even if you use a dishwasher detergent with a built in rinse agent. The brand name rinse agent was costing me 8¢ per load considerably more than the electricity cost to run the dishwasher. The noname® brand worked out to 3¢ per load. The dollar store had the same size bottle for $1 or 1¢ per load and it works just as well. So shop around especially for the rinse agent.


3. loading: Rinsing your dish ware is unnecessary but do scrap them. Under or over loading a dishwasher costs you money. An under loaded dishwasher wastes electricity, detergent and rinse agent. An overloaded dishwasher can result in improperly cleaning the dishes resulting in having to rewash, also another waste of energy. Load your dishwasher according to your manufacturer's recommendations. Most manual can be found online if you do not have one for your machine. When you are loading ensure nothing interferes with the sprayer arms. Smaller items need to be secured in either the cutlery baskets provided in the dishwasher or a similar removable basket meant to wash baby bottle nipples. These can be found in the baby section for about $5.
   
   Certain items do not belong in the dishwasher. Wash these items by hand. Your good knives should be hand washed as the blade may get nicked or bent in the dishwasher. Non-stick coated bake ware or pans can be damaged by the harsh chemical environment of the dishwasher. Any labels on jars you want to recycle should be removed before putting them in the dishwasher. The glue can cause problems by gunking up dishwasher parts and the label itself can breakdown plugging both filters and sprayer arms. Plastic water bottles or other plastics that may contain BPA should not be washed in the dishwasher as this can cause the BPA to leach out of the plastic. Do not wash disposable foil pans in the dishwasher and beware that aluminum pots washed in the dishwasher will discolour. Do not wash cast iron pans in the dishwasher as this will strip the seasoning that makes them non-stick as well as cause rusting. Some people have reported cooking food in their dishwasher and washing things like baseball hats. Don't do this!
   


4. operating: If you are in an area with tiered electric charges run the dishwasher when the rates are the lowest. In most cases quick wash or rinse are not necessary. Run on regular cycle only. Heavily soiled pots, pans or dishes can be soaked in the sink then washed in the next dishwasher run. If your dishwasher has a dry cycle, turn it off. Set the dishwasher to air dry. It will take a bit longer for the dishes to dry but won't use any electricity.
   


5. cleaning: It is imperative for proper cleaning that your dishwasher is cleaned on a regular basis. Spray arms should be checked for any blockages and the blockage removed using tweezers. Keep the door seals squeaky clean as failure could lead to costly water leakage. Do not use chlorine bleach in your dishwasher even if it is stained from washing tomato products. This applies to plastic interiors mainly. Chlorine bleach can cause premature failure of valves and seals on dishwashers. Your dishwasher should be run empty on regular wash using either a special dishwasher cleaner or 1 cup or vinegar or 2 tbsp citric acid every other month. If you have hard water, do this once a month.
   

Frugal Kitchens 101 - Energy Use of Small Kitchen Appliances

Most modern homes have numerous small electric appliances but few home cooks consider the cost of operation of these appliance. The cost of cooking does add to the overall cost of the meal so should be included when calculating your food costs to give you a good idea of how much your food actually costs. Choosing the right electric appliance can save you money. For example one of my slow cookers (an appliance often recommended for saving time) is 325 W (4¢ per hour) while my large burner is 2000 W (24¢ per hour) so on the surface it looks like the slow cooker is the better deal. However, the slow cooker would cost 24 - 32¢ to use for 6 to 8 hrs, quite common with slow cooked meals. The pressure cooker can cook the same meal in under 45 minutes using the big burner for a total cost of 18¢. If you use a slow cooker 3 times a week you could save $9.36 per year or 77,922 kW. It's not a large savings but it is a savings and with today's rising energy costs combined with a greater environmental awareness every kW counts! Where am I getting these figures?

I'm so glad you asked because it's time to do a little math. Don't worry, this simple equation for calculating the cost of operation for appliances is quite painless to master. This math will help you choose the right appliance for the desired results and may even help you weed out some of those high costing appliances while saving you money on your food prep.

To calculate the cost per hour for electrical appliances you will need: your electric bill and the wattage of the appliance. On your electric bill there will be the cost per kWh (ours is currently 5.6¢ per kWh). There may be a cost adjustment (CA) to account for electricity lost as it travels through the lines to your house (ours is 1.092). Finally there will be service charges. Ours are about 56% of the bill and electric use affects all the service charges so in reality our cost per kWh is 11¢. Next look for a label on your appliance that gives the specs. On that label there will be the wattage usually expressed as a number followed by W. What you need to do is convert W to kW so you divide this number by 1000. Now you have to multiply the kW by the CA by the cost per kWh by hours used so the equation looks like this:

W/1000 x CA x cost x hours used = cost per hour

Example 1: My large burner is 2000 W and I have it on for 1 hour.

2000/1000 x 1.092 x .11 x 1 = 24¢ per hour

Example 2: My large burner is 2000 W and I have it on for 15 minutes.

There are 60 minutes in an hour so 15/60 = .25

2000/1000 x 1.092 x .11 x .25 = 6¢ per 15 minutes

Frugal Kitchens 101 - The Refrigerator

A week ago I decided to tackle the refrigerator. We have a newer Whirlpool® ED2FHGXS EnergyStar® qualified refrigerator bought in 2006. Over the holiday season and entertaining during January the refrigerator saw a lot of extra use. I kept things in order by cleaning and washing shelves one at a time as they were temporarily cleared but with spring just around the corner I decided to do a large scale, top to bottom cleaning. Why?

Refrigerators in General
First before I talk about why it is important to keep your refrigerator clean I want to make a couple of comments about refrigerators in general. From the time you put a food into the refrigerator you are essentially paying to store that food. That increases the overall cost of that food. Keeping foods in your refrigerator beyond their expiry dates or as science experiments is costing you money! It is also a waste of energy usage to keep things like soda in your refrigerator as these can bee cooled using ice cubes something you are paying to make whether you have an ice maker or not.

Depending on the age of your refrigerator, you are spending a considerable amount of money annually simply to store your food in the refrigerator. If you have a refrigerator that is over 10 years old, replace it if at all possible with and EnergyStar® qualified refrigerator. The payback in energy savings alone is 3 to 4 years or less. However, do not make the mistake of keeping that old refrigerator for a bar fridge or to take the pressure of your main fridge when entertaining. If you need extra refrigerator space for entertaining or beverages you are further off buying a small, energy efficient bar (under the counter) refrigerator. Leave it plugged in only when needed. Alternatives to this is using a large cooler or in cold climates use a protected outdoor space or unheated sunporch.

If you are not in the position to replace your refrigerator or are renting and cannot replace the appliance make sure the seal is tight. Do the dollar bill test. Take a dollar bill and place between the door opening frame and the seal. Shut the door. If you can easily pull the dollar bill out the refrigerator seal needs to be replaced. Two more ways to save on the costs of operating a refrigerator are to set the temperature properly between 3ºC (37ºF) and 4ºC (40ºF). Do not rely on the graded fridge settings but rather use a refrigerator thermometer. Do not keep your fridge colder as that wastes electricity and warmer can cause food spoilage.

Why You Should Keep Your Refrigerator Clean
The obvious answer to why you should keep your refrigerator clean is of course it is storing foods that will go in your body. For that reason alone molds and spoilage should be avoided because let's face it these things can make us quite ill and in some cases even be fatal. But there are other reasons to keep your refrigerator clean, organized and decluttered with the many reason being saving money in electrical costs. Air circulation is critical for proper refrigerator operation and that applies to both outside and inside. Outside keep those coils squeaky clean, dusting often as a layer of dust reduces energy efficiency. In warmer climates consider installing a solar operated refrigerator fan to help cool the coils like those used for RV's and travel trailers. This type of set-up is an easy DIY project that will cost about $40 but will save you a considerable amount more than that by improving the energy efficiency of your refrigerator. Using solar means this cooling boost will not cost you anything in terms of electricity.

An over stuffed refrigerator costs more to operate because air circulation within the cooling compartment is restricted. This results in warm spots in the refrigerator that can cause food spoilage without you realizing it even if your refrigerator thermometer reads correctly. An over stuffed, cluttered fridge costs you much more though. It can greatly increase food wastage as smaller bits and pieces of left-overs get shoved to the back hidden out of sight until they start growing and you have to toss them.

Ideally your refrigerator should be cleaned top to bottom weekly the day before you do your major grocery shopping or before adding a large influx of food for entertaining. Realistically doing a complete cleaning once per month is sufficient while wiping down shelves as spills happen. At least twice a year but preferably quarterly go through all sauces and bottled goods in the refrigerator getting rid of any that are expired. Recycle the bottles and compost the contents. Keeping your fridge decluttered will minimize any waste but be brutal. It is better not to take chances with possible illness or worse!

How to Effectively Clean Your Fridge The Low Cost Effective Way
Vacuum or use a Swiffer® dust cloth to clean the coils. Pull out the drip tray and wash out with soap and water. Replace any water filter cartridges if necessary, usually every 6 months. Turn off your refrigerator. Start with the top shelf and remove everything. Wash the shelf with hot, soapy water and the sides of the fridge. Remove any marking or stains with a Magic Eraser®. Rinse with a mixture of hot water and baking soda. Dry the shelf and sides. Go through everything that was on that shelf removing anything that is past it's expiry date or shows sighs of spoilage. Replace the rest on that shelf and move onto the next shelf. When you get to the cheese drawer and crispers remove and wash. Rinse with the baking soda mixture and dry. Once you have gone through the entire fridge in this manner re-organize if desired. Try to keep one empty shelf. My kids get a real laugh out of this one but seriously during the week this can be used as the left-over shelf and when entertaining for any dishes that need to be refrigerated until serving.

Effective Refrigerator Storage
It is very important that left-overs not be left on this shelf for more than 3 days. Either use them within 3 days, freeze or toss/compost. This will keep the refrigerator clutter under control. It is also very important to store foods properly. Vacuum seal produce in canisters for short term storage and always vacuum seal cheeses to maximize the storage times. Set the humidity settings for your crisper to higher for leafy greens and produce without thick skins. Set it to lower for citrus and thicker skinned fruits and vegetables. Don't store foods that do not require refrigeration in the fridge (eg. bread). Use well sealed, lidded containers such as Tupperware®, Gladware®, Ziploc® reusable containers or casserole pan lids. Avoid using tinfoil, plastic wrap, plastic storage bags and wax paper as these are single use, disposable. All of these ultimately add to your overall cost of food storage. For example, Ziploc® storage bags cost me about 19¢ for the large size and 24¢ for the freezer bags so every time I use one of these bags I have added that cost to the food being stored along with the electricity to store that food until being used. Recycled sour cream or cottage cheese containers work well too just be sure to label. Vacuum sealed mason jars or any jar that a standard mason jar lid will fit (eg. Renee's, mayo, some store bought pasta sauces) can be used and re-used for refrigerated food storage at no cost for the container. Keep those lids as well for sauces and dips you want to store in the fridge until using.

Enjoy!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2009