There is no need to break the bank when preparing your holiday meal, and MidAmerican Energy wants to offer up a few ways to cook up some savings in the kitchen this Thanksgiving. Before guests arrive, take a few minutes to switch out to LED bulbs that consume up to 20 percent less energy and last up to 40 times longer than incandescent bulbs. Check your refrigerator and freezer settings and set the fridge at 36 to 38 degrees and the freezer between zero and five degrees. A simple step that generates up to 25 percent in energy savings. When it comes time to get down to the cooking, instead of overloading the oven, use the microwave to cook side dishes and smaller servings. And when the menu calls for home-baked goodies, do it all at one time to save energy. Use a timer and keep the door closed as much as possible, checking progress through the window. On the stove top, match up your pans to burner sizes as a six inch pot on an eight inch burner wastes over 40 percent of that burner’s heat. After all that cooking and eating, save energy and water when cleaning up by only running the dishwasher with a full load and use the air dry setting to curb energy use up to 20 percent.
