How to Have a Low-Energy Thanksgiving Day Feast

Preparing a Thanksgiving dinner takes a lot of energy out of our bodies and our home. Throughout the day, ovens are blazing for hours, stovetops are filled with simmering vegetables, and microwaves are warming up the rich gravy that will top the feast off. As much as leftover turkey sandwiches with all the fixings are a great treat, no one wants cold turkey on Thanksgiving Day so how can we cut down on the energy we use to heat our food?

While researching ways to turn my lifestyle into a greener one, I often stumble upon Planet Green’s site. Since I’ve been looking forward to going home for Thanksgiving for some time, I thought it would be interesting to come up with a few ways to make the fall holiday more eco-friendly. Planet Green has come up with five ways to make our Thanksgiving as low-energy as possible:

1. Keep Your Oven Door Shut – Resist the temptation to get a sneak peek at how your bird is looking and smelling. Turn on the oven light to see the progress as it cooks throughout the day.
2. Stuff the Oven – Since there are a number of Thanksgiving Day items that need to be baked, such as the turkey, pies, potatoes, and vegetables, try to fit as many dishes in the oven as you can.
3. Use Your Microwave – Side dishes can be cooked or heated up easily and with less energy in the microwave. As long as the meal is hot, your guests won’t know the difference!
4. Choose Your Stove Burners Wisely – Match large stovetop burners with larger pots and pans and smaller burners for saucepans and small veggie steamers. Energy can be wasted when you place small pots on large burners.
5. Load Your Dishwasher Up – Once you have all of your dirty dishes scraped and rinsed, it’s more energy-efficient to have them cleaned in your dishwasher on energy-saving settings rather than running the faucet.