The false myth of oven energy use and tips to improve its efficiency

There are still people who think that it’s very expensive to cook at home using an electric oven, that to prepare a simple roast chicken you have to spend loads of money on electricity. This continues to be one of the great myths surrounding this domestic appliance: electric ovens are not the devices that use the most electricity in your home, not to mention that nowadays they are an indispensable help in the kitchen and that their use can be optimised by following some simple tips.

Let’s start with energy use. As we have mentioned before, the device that uses the most electricity in the home is the fridge: since it is always on, it accounts for 30% of the total energy used in a house. Next comes the television, which eats up around 12% of the bill, and the washing machine, with a very similar energy use. In contrast, the oven accounts for 8.3% of electricity used. Do you know how much money that is? Let’s use the example given at the start, roasting a chicken, which costs around 28 cents per hour at 180ºC: no more, no less. If this seems like a lot, we can also tell you that computers and dishwashers are not far behind. As you can see, the oven’s excessive use of electricity is a myth, especially in the case of ovens with the A energy label, like those made by BOJ.

However, that doesn’t mean that we can waste energy or not pay attention to its use. As with everything, just by following some simple tips you will be able to optimise the performance of your oven and increase its efficiency to make the most of its potential.

• Preheat the oven only when necessary. There are many times when it is not necessary to preheat the oven to a certain temperature to cook your food. Before starting to cook, check the cooking tables to confirm this.
• Don’t open the door during cooking. Each time you open the oven door to check the food the temperature falls by between 25 and 50º. So, it’s best to correctly calculate the cooking time so that you only have to open it once and can avoid heat loss.
• Make the most of residual heat. If you are going to cook fish for 13 minutes, turn the oven off two or three minutes before the end and make the most of the residual heat to finish off the cooking process. If you do this proportionally with foods that require a lengthy cooking time, you will end up saving a lot of energy.
• Don’t use it to defrost. When you are going to defrost food, do it properly: put it in the fridge a day earlier. If you have forgotten to do this, use the microwave as it is much more efficient in this task.
• Use the appropriate temperature. The temperature and time tables included in your BOJ oven instruction booklet are the most appropriate for cooking different foods. Most can be cooked at 180º, so don’t use the maximum power allowed by your oven, not even when heating it up.

With the excessive electricity use myth cleared up, we should highlight the benefits of cooking with an electric oven. There are many, but these are the main ones:

• It requires little work. Programmable ovens are a fantastic option for people who don’t have much time for cooking. Furthermore, BOJ’s multifunction oven will allow you to enjoy automated cooking with preselected and customisable recipes.
• It enhances the flavour and preserves the nutrients. The oven creates uniform heat and generates a layer on the surface of food which allows them to better preserve their juices and nutritional properties.
• It is healthier. Oven cooking makes the most of the natural fat in foods and allows you to cook with fewer additives.

If you still haven’t tried the benefits of cooking with an electric oven, explore the options that BOJ offers you and choose the one that best suits your needs.