Whether your holiday menu includes a family recipe passed down for generations or a new dish from the latest Tasty video, food is typically the main attraction at festive gatherings.
Enoch Lenge (contributed photo)
— This article by Enoch Lenge, Eversource’s energy efficiency spokesman, is from his blog on the utility’s website.
To reduce the stress of cooking this holiday season, here is an essential appliance guide that can help you save time, money, and energy while also reducing your impact on the environment:
- Refrigerators – Preparing a variety of dishes the night before and storing them in an ENERGY STAR certified refrigerator will make it easier to keep everything cool and enjoy time with friends and family instead of minding the stove. It will also save you time, energy, and more than $300 over five years. If an energy-efficient refrigerator arrives in time for holiday celebrations, you can dispose of your current refrigerator responsibly. In Connecticut, most appliance retailers will take away and recycle your old fridge for a small fee.
- Multiuse Programmable Pressure Cookers – According to Direct Energy, home appliances account for 13 percent of an average consumer’s total energy use, which is why the way you cook matters. Consider putting your roast in a programmable pressure cooker instead of the oven. A programmable pressure cooker reduces the average cooking time by 70 percent and decreases energy use.
- Warming Drawers – When preparing a large meal, multitasking and maximizing space are critical. A warming drawer keeps side dishes or desserts at the right temperature, while saving space and energy.
- Dishwashers – After a long day of celebrating and eating with loved ones, people want to relax on the couch, not wash dishes. Luckily, ENERGY STAR® dishwashers save about $1,300 in energy and use nine times less water compared to handwashing.
Compared to handwashing, ENERGY STAR® certified dishwashers can save you nearly 230 hours of personal time per year – which is approximately 10 days! So, kick up your feet and spend more time with loved ones while your energy-efficient dishwasher does all the work.
Also consider these additional pro tips to maximize the benefits of your energy-efficient appliances:
- Connecting smart plugs to an app on your phone will allow you to turn on your coffee maker or multi-cooker without leaving your bed or missing a beat during a party, saving you even more time and stress during a busy holiday.
- If this is your first holiday meal, try a smart food thermometer to check on your food from your phone to take the guesswork out of cooking the perfect turkey.
If you’re interested to know how much energy your appliances use, and more importantly, how much money you could be saving, check out the U.S. Department of Energy’s appliance energy calculator to compare the operational costs of specific products. Also, visit Eversource.com for tips to make your home more energy efficient this holiday season with efficient lighting, appliances, heating, cooling, and more.