Thanksgiving rush is no reason to waste energy

When your house is full of dinner guests and overnight company, you’re bound to use more energy than you do on almost every other day of the year. To keep your electric bill from skyrocketing:

• Lower the heat a couple of degrees before company arrives. You’ll be using the stove and oven all day, so the house will be warmer than usual anyway. Plus, people generate heat, so a cooler house will feel more comfortable.
• Keep an eye on the refrigerator and freezer so you’ll know the doors are snugly closed. Doors that aren’t tightly sealed will send cold air into the kitchen.
• Wait until the leftovers cool off a bit before placing them in the refrigerator. The appliance has to work harder to cool hot food than to keep cool food cold
• Place lids on pots and pans as you use them for cooking. The lids keep heat in, so food cooks quicker.
• Heat up whatever you can in the microwave instead of on the stovetop or oven. Microwaves use about half the energy an oven would use to cook the same dish.
• Fill your oven with as many different dishes as you can fit, and cook them all at once. As long as the recipes don’t call for temperatures that vary by more than 25 degrees, everything should cook or bake evenly.