Kitchen Tips for an Energy-Wise Thanksgiving

As you prepare for the holidays and celebrate with family and friends, remember that extra cooking, activities and people in your home can cause your electric bill to go up.

Kissimmee, Fla. (PRWEB) November 22, 2005 -- As you prepare for the holidays and celebrate with family and friends, remember that extra cooking, activities and people in your home can cause your electric bill to go up.

Kissimmee Utility Authority (KUA) offers these simple tips to help you keep your energy costs down during the holidays:

• Use your microwave oven as much as possible when cooking holiday meals. It uses up to 75 percent less energy than a conventional oven.
• Use your slow cooker to cook meals. It can cook a whole meal for less than 10 cents worth of electricity.
• When using a conventional oven, don't open the door to peek at what's cooking inside. Instead, turn on the oven light and check the cooking status through the window. Opening the oven door lowers the temperature inside by as much as 25 degrees, which increases cooking time and wastes energy.
• In an electric oven, you can turn the heat off several minutes before your food is fully cooked. As long as the oven door remains closed, enough heat will be stored inside to finish cooking your meal.
• If you use glass or ceramic pans, you can turn your oven temperature down 25 degrees and foods will cook just as quickly.
• When cooking on top of your range, match the size of the pan to the heating element. More heat will get to the pan and less will be lost to the surrounding air. A six-inch pan on an eight-inch burner will waste over 40 percent of the energy.
• Use lids on pots and pans on the stove to prevent heat loss.
• Keep your refrigerator and freezer well stocked. A full refrigerator or freezer saves energy by reducing the recovery time when the door is opened.

Founded in 1901, KUA (www.kua.com) is Florida's sixth largest community-owned utility providing electric and telecommunication services to 170,000 residents in five Central Florida counties.

# # #