Oven meals aid energy conscious homemakers
By SALLY BAIR
Feature Writer
LEBANON - With the
approach of colder weather,
energy conservation is on
everyone’s mind.
Homemakers may face the
biggest challenge of all as
they try to be energy con
scious in their work
throughout the home.
Mrs. Alletta Schadler,
Lebanon County home
economist, suggests that one
excellent way to conserve
energy is to always have the
oven filled when preparing
food in the oven. Talking to a
group of homemakers this
week she said, “When you
heat up the oven to use it,
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really use it. It is a lot more
economical to do everything
in the oven than to do one
thing in the oven and have
three burners going. Once
the oven is heated it doesn’t
cost that much to operate
it.” She said that once pre
heated, an oven is on only
about 25 per cent of the time.
Letie advised, “You can
put together many things in
an oven you may not have
thought possible. Most foods
are not as sensitive as you
think they are.”
She said there are a few
things - very few - which
cannot be put into an oven
with a variety of other food
items. A delicate cake, for
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instance, should be baked
alone because texture is
important. If there are
extras in the oven, a delicate
cake might get more
moisture than it should and
the oven door will probably
be opened more often than
is good for the cake.
Her advice to the
homemakers was to choose
carefully, but not to be
afraid to combine elements
of a whole meal. The meal
she prepared for the group
included a meat loaf, a nut
bread, and acorn squash all
done in the same oven -
successfully.
Letie said that 350 degrees
F. is the temperature at
which most meats,
vegetables, and fruit dessert
will do best. She said this can
be varied to 325 degrees if
you need to slow up a meal or
to 375 degrees to speed up the
process.
Many things will help to
determine the question of
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how long such a complete
oven meal will take. Letie
says the size of the pieces
being baked is the biggest
determinant, and one which
can be controlled by the
homemaker. Obviously,
thick slices of carrots and
large meat loaves will take
longer than shredded
vegetables or individual
meat loaves.
The temperature at the
start of the cooking process
will also affect the time,
along with the cooking
utensil material and its
shape. For instance, Letie
reminded the group that a
shiny pan will reflect heat,
and, therefore, take a little
longer to cook. She en
couraged the women to use
whichever size utensils suits
the meal and to change the
temperature accordingly.
Letie also said that
aluminum foil can be used as
a cooking utensil, and that it
is especially successful with
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frozen vegetables. When
enclosed in aluminum foil
with a small amount of
water, they will cook very
well in the oven with other
food items.
If all items are thoroughly
chilled before going into the
oven, the cooking time will
be a little longer.
In an electric oven, Letie
said that frozen foods can be
safely left for eight hours
before the automatic oven
comes on. However, she
cautioned the homemakers
against putting warm food m
an oven and allowing it to set
for several hours before the
oven comes on. Likewise, the
pilot light in a gas oven
produces enough heat that
frozen foods cannot be left
safely for a long period of
tune before the oven comes
on.
Other interesting tidbits
Letie passed along included
how to prepare potatoes for
baking. She said potatoes
can be combined suc
cessfully with a larger oven
meal and can be prepared in
advance with no darkening if
they are peeled and dipped
in water to which some
lemon juice has been added.
She also noted that a blue
agate roasting pan can be
used to make an excellent
pot roast without any pre
browning of the meat on the
top of the range. She said the
raw meat and a small
amount of water roasted for
one hour per pound will yield
a beautiful roast and nice
brown drippings for gravy.
If you’ve been heating
your oven just to bake one or
two potatoes, Letties says
you are wasting a lot of
energy. She suggests using,
instead, an electric frying
pan or a crock pot to do the
job. If using an electric
frying fold heavy duty
aluminum foil on the bottom
of the pan to keep the
potatoes from sticking, then
just cook. She said the type
of potato and the amount of
moisture in the potato will
affect the cooking time, but
potatoes can be done in a
frying pan in 1-1% hours.
She suggested that women
try all of the small ap
pliances they now have in
the kitchen which may not
receive much use. “There
are a lot of things which can
be done with the appliances
we alread have.” Letie
added tha' if a utensil or
appliance doesn’t suit your
needs, it’s probably wisest to
dispose of it
Slow cookers and pressure
cookers are both energy
savers, Letie explained, and
in terms of the current used,
they probably consume
about the same amount.
She encouraged the
women to find out how much
energy their oven and other
appliances are using by
checking the kilowatt rating
on the item and clocking the
actual tune the indicator
light is on. In this way,
homemakers can figure out
which appliance is the most
efficient for the job to be
done.
In conserving enerv. Letie
said, “Use as few sources of
energy as possible. Any
piece of equipment which is
thermostatically controlled
is more efficient than one
which heats constantly.”
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