Cooking Methods
Table of Contents
Carbon Footprint of Cooking
Here we talk about the actual energy use and pollution associated with cooking, not the emissions of specific food types, which you can learn more about on our livestock and plant-based diet pages.
As you can see in the graph to beneath, cooking accounts for only a small percentage of home energy use in countries like America, however cooking energy can account for the majority of a household's energy use and pollution in places like Africa where less clean fuels such as wood fires are often used.Â
Methane Footprint of Cooking
I Measured the Pollution From My Gas Stove. It Was Bad.Â
This 5:23 minute video explains the dangers of indoor pollution on our health, even from stoves that are turned off.Â
Gas stoves in homes cause similar rates of asthma when compared to rates of kids exposed to second hand smoke.
It then discusses climate impact and cleaner cooking alternatives.
Calculating Your Impact
Click the link below for access to multiple calculators based on different cooking methods, and different amounts of food.
Cool Food Prep
Avoid cooking techniques that will generate heat. Ovens and anything with flames including BBQs, gas stoves, or open fires will generate extra heat that might be nice in the cooler seasons, but negate cooling efforts in the hot seasons. Some cooler and more energy efficient food preparation options include:
Raw foods like salads, sandwiches, trail mix, dried foods, fruit, some soups, cereal bowls, and cool deserts, and more can often be made without cooking.
You can preserve herbs and fruit by hanging and air drying them, or by spreading them out in the sun to dry.
Store roots in cool, dry, dark locations. Some roots including onions and sweet potatoes can safely be eaten raw.Â
Warning: Potatoes and yucca should never be eaten raw!
Solar
Solar Ovens will work best in countries closer to the equator, on sunny days. They can't be used at night, and the efficiency is hard to control due to their reliance on natural direction and intensity of light.
Solar Dehydrators use ventilation and solar energy to dehydrate foods that might otherwise go to waste. This is a good method for herbs, chilis, tea leaves, mushroom, vegetables, and fruits.
Sun Drying Resources
Why Sun Dry Fruits & Vegetables Lists health benefits and a short list of appropriate foods for sun drying.
National Center for Home Food Preservation: Drying This resource page talks explains which foods can safely be dried outside, vs which should be preserved indoors with more a more easily controlled environment. It then explains methods and equipment including a diagram.
Solar Dehydrator Resources
Solar Oven Resources
Kitchen Appliances
Use an electric kettle or microwave to heat water or other liquids. These are much faster and more efficient than heating on a stove.
Microwaves are fast, energy efficient, and can save water. Microwaves are amazing for heating potatoes. You just take off any unhealthy looking parts on or under the skin, stab the potato with a fork or knife a few times, and heat on a microwave-safe plate for ~3 minutes on each side for large potatoes. Cook for longer if you have a large bowl of potatoes for roasting or mashing.
Electric stove tops don't leak dangerous gases while they are off, like gas stoves do. They are also more efficient, only heating the pot or pan on each circle, will less space for heat to escape then the earlier oven models.
Efficiency Tricks
By Food Type
Microwave Potatoes to save time and the environment. You can make potatoes saltier and tastier by boiling them (do this before roasting them in an oven), but if you just want potatoes for mashing, or are going to put the potatoes into something like a curry or stew, then this can save energy and water. Acidic sauces with ingredients like lemon juice or tomato sauce will stop certain foods like potatoes from cooking even after many hours of heating. Boiling in water usually takes around 30 minutes, but you can put 1-3 potatoes and microwave them for about 1:30 -3:30 on each side till they are soft when tested with a fork. Skin off any damaged skin or weird looking pieces of potatoes, and stab each potato a few times on each side to let the internal juices escape as steam.
Squeeze your raw potatoes (or other roots) before making hash browns as this not only ensures they are crunchier, but they seem to cook faster too.
Types of Equipment
Equipment with Doors
Keep oven or toaster oven doors shut as much as possible, otherwise you loose heat, and things will take longer to cook.
Pots & Pans
Keep lids on pots and pans to reduce energy needs and speed up the cooking process. If you are trying to "reduce" your food, then leave the lid off, and you may want to leave the lid off or to the side to allow steam escape if you want something like a pudding to set instead of going watery as it cools.
Pick the right burner size for your pot or pan. If you have a big pan, you want a bigger burner to allow for more even cooking, instead of a small patch that may burn your food, if your pot or pan is tiny, you want to pick the smallest burner, to ensure all the energy cooks your food instead of wasting most of it to the surrounding air and potentially burning the cook.
Solar Dehydrators & Ovens
Install or use a nearby fan for increased air flow if your food is not drying reasonably well or evenly. Alternatively you may be able to simply move the dehydrator to a location with better air flow, perhaps away from a wall or bushes, and into a more open area or the edge of a balcony.
Make sure your solar cooker or dehydrator is angled towards the sun. As the sun moves across the sky, the device may become more shaded or catch less direct light as the sun's angle changes.
Warming Baskets
These go by many names but most of the information we have found on these suggests that they save between 70-80% on cooking fuel (such as wood or gas), since the food only needs to be brought to a boil before being taken off the heat and placed inside the device where it cooks via retained heat for 30 minutes or a certain number of hours depending on the food being cooked.
In the old days, people also made these out of wood or metal. The main principal being that heat from warmed food or water would remain inside, continuing the cooking process even without applied heat. Modern examples are woven baskets or other insulative items, lined with newspaper, then insulated with a fiber such as cotton or wool, then re-lined with a black material. This material is sewn down to create a space for a cooking pot. An insulated, cloth lid it created to help keep warmth inside.Â
Projects
This section is for projects designed to help others. You can help fund them, or even join as an educator for example.
Africa
Kenya
Unterstützung von Warmhaltekorb-Präsentationen in Afrika "Förderung von Warmhaltekorb-Workshops und -Präsentationen zur Unterstützung der Verbreitung von Solarkochern und zur Minderung der Entwaldung in Kenia."
(translated to ->) Supporting Warming Basket Presentations in Africa  "Promote warming basket workshops and presentations to support the spread of solar cookers and reduce deforestation in Kenya."
Tools & Calculators
North America
USA
Rewiring America: Track Your Local Pace of Progress "These projections from Rewiring America worked backwards from the emissions targets for 2050, and forward from current sales of machines for cooking, water heating, space heating, transportation, and rooftop solar to set a number of new clean electric machines that must be sold each year to reduce emissions from fossil-fueled machines. Type your city, county, or state into the search bar to get those numbers broken down for your area, by each machine category.
While creating this tool, one of things we found is that some individual communities and states are leading the way: their goals are bolder than the rest of the country and so don’t match the path laid out in our data. That’s a great problem to have. So our tool should not be considered the only source of its kind -- but one that reflects only one of the possible paths to decarbonization."
Organizations
Africa
Uganda
A Rocha Uganda "Training women to make briquettes & fireless cookers: saving money & trees"
Grants & Funding
North America
USA
Power Forward Communities "is a coalition of some of the country’s most trusted housing, climate, and community investment groups dedicated to decarbonizing and transforming American housing. We’re saving homeowners and renters money, reinvesting in communities, and tackling the climate crisis."
New York
Adopt A House "is a 501(c)3 nonprofit agency and is dedicated to help re-build our local communities by bringing valuable information, solutions and financial assistance to Long Island residents affected by Super Storm Sandy and other emergency situations. Run entirely by volunteers, Adopt A House's simple mission is to support recovery for Long Island's SouthShore by preparing and administering a comprehensive disaster aid and long term recovery program to individuals, families and the community. Adopt A House also contributes assistance to individuals in unfortunate emergency circumstances by easing financial burdens and offering help and guidance. We achieve this mission through multiple avenues including, but not limited to: educational workshops, community outreach, programs for financial assistance, community service, and acting as liaison between elected officials and registered families. We are constantly striving to improve our ability to assess housing needs, improve community services and raise funds that go directly to registered families and our programs."