Less stove, more money, more health.

[Rich M]

I realized recently that using the stove less, it not just saving energy (=money), it's healthier.

Eating more salads.

Eating more foods that don't require cooking.

We as a modern society seemed to have adopted heating up food as a pleasure thing.  Sure, cooking meat and stuff, kills the bugs and makes it healthier but we cook a lot of food just because we like warm food. 

But just like liking cold pizza, I find cold soup kinda fun.  Raw veggies like asparagus, peas, etc are awesome. 

I regularly east cold pinto beans--I know they had to be cooked at one point but I don't  necessarily heat them up again.  Talk about an energy expenditure.  Cook beans,  Chill them in a fridge, heat them again.

Gosh, this post sounds like a homeless person! :-O

[Gerard]

This also gets you used to living with less stove, and thus a smaller kitchen, which diversifies your options for housing (permanent or vacation).

I've only recently realized (another "tiny life-changer") that most of the things that recipes tell you to "soak for half an hour in hot/boiling water" are actually more delicious and better-textured if you soak them for a long time in cold water. Examples: dried Chinese mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, and (especially) apricots, which have an amazing perfumey smell/taste when you cold-soak them that completely disappears when you apply heat.

[nondualie]

Go one step further and add "less fridge" and you're on you way to some serious badassity!

I like the tenor of your thinking.  So much is done out of convenience and conformity.  Using a slow-cooker or pressure-cooker instead of a range top or oven saves you a ton of energy.  All it takes is a little foresight.

If I were designing my own place ground up, I'd have a tiny fridge w/ a separate freezer.  I'd make way for a root cellar.  I'd do a single indoor counter-top hot-plate...along with an electric tea-kettle.  And then I'd have an outdoor kitchen that looked like a Thai street-vendor's setup.  A grill top and a propane burner with some serious BTU's for fast and furious stir-frying.  That way my indoor space would stay cleaner and cooler and smaller...  I could even shrink to tiny-house kitchen size without much trouble.

[velocistar237]

I'm fine with cooking in the winter, because I heat the house anyway, and who wants to eat cold food in a drafty 63 degF house in the winter? It costs about a penny to reheat something in the microwave, so I'm not too worried about that. In the summer, though, we definitely cook less.

As for the health side, I think if the ingredients are healthy, and no deep-fat-frying occurs, the end product will also be healthy.

For sure, though, recipes with no cooking often take less time to make, unless there's a lot of chopping involved.

Using a slow-cooker or pressure-cooker instead of a range top or oven saves you a ton of energy.

A slow cooker is a great tool, and we use it all the time to make soups, Greek yogurt, etc., but I think it's less energy efficient than stove-top cooking.

Any ideas for a no-cook breakfast in summertime? Right now, we often eat homemade granola (requires pre-cooking), oatmeal, eggs, and/or pancakes, which all require cooking. I guess LMGTFmyself...

Cold oatmeal
http://www.katheats.com/?page_id=3889

[kaeldra]

I'm not raw, but I've been making some more raw meals lately. I recommend the cookbook 'Raw Energy' by Stephanie Tourles - lots of yummy no-cook snacks (not meals).

We also got a toaster oven that I can bake smaller dishes in, works great. I'm also playing around with dehydrating foods, don't know if that's a cost-savings over baking/cooking or not though...

Any ideas for a no-cook breakfast in summertime? Right now, we often eat homemade granola (requires pre-cooking), oatmeal, eggs, and/or pancakes, which all require cooking. I guess LMGTFmyself...

• Smoothies: yogurt + berries + milk + honey/agave nectar (or dates) + banana (fresh or frozen) - blend! Tons of smoothie recipes online. Try green smoothies if you're feeling wild.
• Parfait - yogurt or cottage cheese + sliced fruit. Add toast if you need more substance with minimal 'cooking'.
• A make-ahead breakfast - Banana Honey Granola Bars from the book above (google 'Banana Honey Granola Bars raw energy') are awesome, they're frozen instead of baked.

[James]

We have close friends who got rid of the full size fridge and just have a little office fridge in their kitchen.  They do have a big stove, but they eat everything fresh if possible.  They greatly enjoy the lack of clutter a small fridge produces, you know exactly what is in it.  I'm leaning more and more toward the idea that a simple life is the better life.