While most people enjoy a home-cooked meal, turning on the oven or stove is often the last thing you may want to do on a hot day. In addition to tried-and-true slow cookers and toaster ovens, electric pressure cookers and air fryers offer solutions for beating the heat and cooking up a great meal at home in no time!
Want a roast in less than two hours? Want to make chili for dinner, but it's already 5 o'clock? Electric pressure cookers shorten cooking time with less heat in the kitchen and less energy use than traditional stovetops. At about 1,000 watts, electric pressure cookers save energy and use about half as much as an oven. Ovens use about 2,400 watts on average. Here's a quick look at how much time (and energy) you could save.
Contrary to the name, air fryers aren't just for cooking fries or chicken strips. Making a pizza, nachos or a hot sandwich? Consider using an air fryer instead of the oven. These appliances use about one-third to one-half as much energy as a full-sized oven and often reduce cooking time as well.
If you really want to beat the heat, toaster ovens can be used outside to eliminate additional heat in your home. And don't forget, you can take the pressure cooker outside when you "release" the pressure to eliminate excess heat and humidity in your home. With shorter cooking times and no heat coming from your oven or stovetop, switching up your kitchen routine can help you save energy and stay cool this summer!
MGE can provide tips and answer your questions about saving energy at home any time of year! Email our Energy Experts at AskExperts@mge.com.
published: Aug-10-2020