We love spending time in the kitchen (to cook, not just hang out) as much as the next person. But do you know what we don’t like? Using too much time and/or energy!
Handy, then, that some inventory-types have dreamed up a whole host of kitchen appliances that get the job done without using more power than they need. And that’s good both for our wallet and for the planet. And you can’t very well argue with that.
Here are some of our favourites.
Why oven when you can countertop?
Starting in the obvious aisle: a microwave exists because it heats food faster and more evenly than an oven – using 80% less energy in the process. So if we heated all of our meals in a microwave instead of the oven, imagine the impact that’d have on our energy usage over the course of a year. Obviously not every type of meal is going to work in a microwave, but it’s certainly food for thought.
Air fryers are also more energy efficient than ovens. Same goes for slow cookers – even when they’re left on for hours. Who knew!? We didn’t. But now we do.
A rice cooker is the best cooker (of rice)
Cooking rice is an absolute nightmare. Unless you have the absorption method down pat – which is basically a martial art at this point – then you’re probably all too familiar with burnt rice, gluggy rice, and generally sub-par rice.
Enter, the rice cooker. Not only does this thing cook rice perfectly every time, it also runs on electricity – so you no longer need to waste gas while rustling up your bad rice. Winner-winner, fluffy rice for dinner.
Energy-efficient fridge
This isn’t a very sexy suggestion (unlike the rice cooker suggestion, which is very sexy), BUT you know how all fridges have those big ‘Energy Rating’ stickers on the front? Turns out, if you buy a fridge with a 5-star energy rating, you’ll save a bunch of cash and energy on your electricity bill each year. Who knew!?!
Compost caddy
OK, this one isn’t really ‘smart’. Nor is it really going to save you time. Or energy, for that matter. But did you know that Australians send some 7.6 million tonnes of food waste to landfill each and every year? And when that food hits landfill, and just sits there and releases a catastrophic amount of methane (one of the most harmful greenhouse gases) into the atmosphere? So if you start chucking your food scraps in a caddy and composting them, you’ll be saving a whole bunch of food-waste-related methane, which is a VERY COOL thing indeed.
Energy-efficient dishwasher
Did you know that modern dishwashers use heaps less water and energy than older models? And did you know that some modern dishwashers have a ‘soil detection’ setting, which means it can sense how dirty your dishes are and will wash them accordingly, therefore saving you from power-housing dishes that don’t need it. That’s some seriously Jedi behaviour.
Power your new kitchen habits with Dodo’s range of energy plans.
