Finding the chase and cutting to it

It’s my week to shop and cook. So, I am trying something new today, cooking my lovely left-over pie in the combination microwave.

The average UK home spends 3-4% of its energy usage on cooking. It spends 80% on heating. Which doesn’t make cooking sound as if it’s causing much of an issue.

But, our evening meals contribute to the peak draw on a week day evening.

Given, our heating was 3,966.20 out of 9,594 kWh usage last year, or 41% of our energy bill. Our car was 2,000 out of 9,594 kWh, so 20%.

As we’re keen cooks, let’s say cooking took 5% of our bill, that’s 479.7 kWh.

So, without switching to sandwiches of an evening, how can we do better?

Well, it’s one of the reasons the microwave is being deployed for the left-over pie. Instead of using the hob for 15 minutes, I cooked the filling in the microwave for 6 minutes at 1kWh. That gives us a usage of 100 W compared to 600 W for the induction hob.

Normally, crisping the pie crust takes 28 minutes at 2kWh, or 933 W. Doing this in the microwave will take 15 minutes, even if it uses the 2 kWh, that’s 466 W.

It’s not much towards the 479.7 kWh, but hopefully it is a step in the right direction. And much quicker to boot.

OK, I give in, what do the numbers all look like, please?

Task	Induction hob or fan oven energy usage (kWh)	Time taken (minutes)	Microwave or Combination microwave enery usage (kWh)	Time taken (minutes)	Power saving as %
Vessel heating for filling	~0.15	1	~0.01	0	93%
Filling precook	~0.50	20	~0.10	6	80%
Finishing off pie	~0.90	30	~0.25	12	72%
Total	1.55	31	0.36	18	77%

The microwave uses 23% of the power. It takes just over half as much time (well 18/31 = 58%).

So what did it taste like?

Pretty much the same as normal, it’s something we look forward to having each week, almost as much as cooking the roast on the Sunday before hand.

The food was just cooked in a fraction of the time and energy. In fact, I was so impressed, I am using the same methodology for the pudding we often do with the pie, a tart tart. Using the remainder of the pastry means we get to use the residual heat from the oven, so the pud is really economic.

These are not new concepts. When ovens were powered by wood and coal, the Sunday lunch was often followed by cake or bread, soaking up the residual heat. It also made short work of food that went off in the cold store, like eggs, milk, and butter.

Of course, most working people do not have the time or energy to do that. But when everyone cooked their bread at home, a roast joint popped in the oven afterwards on a Sunday was basically free cooking. As was the scones or cake for a high tea…

Makes sense, so how did that experiment go?

The initial timings were a little off. Because the combination oven was pre-warmed, it didn’t need anything like the 12 minutes I cooked the pair of tarts for, but next time I will do better.

Taste-wise, it’s the same, energy-wise, it’s much quicker: so why don’t more people do this?

It’s a good question. 90% of UK and USA homes have a microwave.

There is a move towards combination microwave ovens, especially in smaller homes as they provide so much functionality in a smaller package. But cooking in a microwave is still seen as a bit niche.

For me, this is such as missed opportunity. Using 25% to 60% less energy for a cooking task means our 479.7 kWh pa on cooking goes down to a conservative 239.85 kWh. At £0.27888 per unit, that’s £66 pa. Or runing a tumble dryer for 80 hours.

Then there’s the washing up. The pudding comes for free as it uses the lid for the meat pie dish.

But usually, I would use a big pan to pre-cook the vegetables. This is no longer needed. I would have used oil to cook the veg in too, again another saving, and if I use the right knives, everything would fold into the dishwasher.

This is another reason I am making the effort. I am trying to start my own business, and until it is established, things are busy without bringing in any cash.

I need all the help I can get, and such differences do add up pretty quickly.

How are you making the move to using the microwave more?

Actually, Google’s Gemini is acting as my sous chef. Given an existing recipe, it’s quite good at making the conversion.

I give Gemini the link to my wiki recipes and ask it what the steps would be if I cooked it in the microwave. It was a little involved for this one as the recipe had the multistage cooking – going from the hob to the oven. First draft just gave me swapping the fan oven for the combination microwave: but a little coaxing meant I had everything being done in one pot and one device!

As per Zapping my way to the top, there are a few easy moves to make.

I do have some ground rules for sanity checking what Gemini says, but so far, it all seems to be positive steps forward. Good tasty food cooked quickly and cheaply: why not make that effort?