lico:cooking [Knowledge Commons]

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This topic is part of [[gt:food|Food & drink]].
====== Low-impact cooking ======


![](https://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/wp-content/uploads/greencookery.jpg)

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> "Simply by starting to cook again, you declare your independence from the culture of fast food. As soon as you cook, you start thinking about ingredients. You start thinking about plants and animals and not the microwave. And you will find that your diet, just by that one simple act, is greatly improved." - Michael Pollan



=====  What is low-impact cooking? =====

It's about reducing the environmental footprint of food preparation by minimizing energy consumption, waste, and reliance on industrialised systems.

But first and foremost, it's about actually cooking, with real ingredients, rather than relying on processed ready-meals or fast food. It's about learning cooking skills that are central to all cultures, based on food that can be produced or foraged locally. Cooking connects us to nature, local food producers, community and culture. Skills have been lost, but interest is growing again, as evidenced by the number of food and cookery programmes on mainstream TV.

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![](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/wp-content/uploads/cooking-hand-processor.jpg)

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_Food processors don't have to use electricity. This one has a pull-string, and there are also rotating handles or push buttons._

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When it comes to the ingredients in your cooking, see the topics in our [food](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/categories/food/), [plants](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/categories/plants/) and [animals](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/categories/animals/) sections for information on seasonal, local and organic produce and growing/producing your own. Below are aspects of low-impact cooking.
==== Fuel ====

Renewable cooking fuels include wood ([wood stoves](/wdst/wood_stoves), [rocket stoves](/rock/rocket_stoves) and [earth ovens](/eaov/earth_ovens)), locally-produced [charcoal](/char/charcoal_making) grills, [biogas](/biog/biogas) and [the sun](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/categories/utilities/solar-cookers/). And of course [raw food](/rawl/raw_living_food) requires no fuel at all.

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{{url>https://www.youtube.com/embed/IdHDaBE6ElA 560,315}}

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_One of a series of videos on how not to waste food._

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==== Energy Efficiency ====

Sustainable cooking techniques and tools require less energy. This includes pressure cookers, slow cookers (crockpots), pot skirts and [thermal (retained-heat) cookers](/reth/retained-heat). Cooking in bulk, covering pots with lids, and turning off the heat early while letting food finish cooking with residual heat also help save energy.

==== Waste reduction ====

Low-impact cooking is about minimising food waste, repurposing leftovers, meal planning, portion control, creative use of scraps (such as vegetable peels for broth) and extending food life via [preserving](/pres/preserving_food).

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![compost container](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/wp-content/uploads/cooking-compost.jpg)

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_Keep a little compost container in your kitchen for food waste, and empty it into your garden compost bin when it’s full. Avoid waste and improve your soil._

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===== What are the benefits of low-impact cooking? =====

==== Personal ====

Reducing energy use and waste saves money; bulk cooking and meal planning prevent impulse spending and waste. Cooking local, seasonal, unprocessed food provides more nutrients and vitamins. And of course it's about pleasure and taste.

==== Decentralising power away from corporations ====

Fast food, supermarket and meal-delivery services want to convince people that they’re too busy to cook – that there’s something more important that they should be doing, so they’ve promoted ready-meals as a good thing. Money spent at these corporate outlets accumulates and concentrates, and entrenches the current damaging system. Cooking with local, renewable resources diverts money from them too.

Large agribusiness corporations dominate global food systems, pushing monoculture farming, synthetic fertilizers, and processed foods. Low-impact cooking breaks this cycle by supporting small-scale, local producers and minimizing dependency on industrial supply chains.

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![Cooking on a wood stove](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/wp-content/uploads/cooking-wood-stove.jpg)

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_[Cooking on a wood stove](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/posts/heat-your-home-feed-your-soul-cooking-on-a-wood-stove/)._

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==== Building community and preparing for any potential collapse scenarios ====

Knowing how to cook with renewables will be essential if large-scale energy grids fail. And in any kind of collapse scenario (broken supply chains, environmental destruction, financial crash, war, civil unrest etc.), we're going to have to look after ourselves in our communities, and so the more people with cooking / preserving skills the better. Low-impact cooking goes hand-in-hand with local, sustainable food supply – also essential in case of wider collapse.

==== Environmental ====

Reduction in energy use and waste are the biggest environmental contributions of low-impact cooking, along with associated food production systems, with their reduced food transport distances, pesticides, packaging etc.

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![Retained heat cooking](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/wp-content/uploads/cooking-retained-heat.jpg)

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_Retained heat cooking with an insulated basket._

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===== What can I do? =====

People will have different starting places. Many have lost the habit of cooking from real ingredients. Some of you are good cooks already, but want to be more sustainable / healthier / supportive of your local economy. But first and foremost, avoid corporate supermarkets and fast food outlets if possible. We're soaked in corporate food advertising that gets kids hooked on brands.

==== Learning to cook ====

It’s not about seeing recipes or cookery programmes, then going out and buying all the ingredients. It’s more about seeing what you’ve got in the fridge, freezer, [larder](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/posts/praise-domestic-larder/), garden, or what’s in season locally, and making something from that. It's a habit, and people are losing it, but you can gain confidence quickly. If you put really good ingredients together and don't burn them, it will taste fine. Learn through reading, watching cookery programmes, talking with experienced cooks, and tasting as you go. Teach your kids to cook too, so that they're not living on take-aways or tinned food when they leave home.

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![A slow cooker](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/wp-content/uploads/cooking-slow-cooker.jpg)

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_A slow cooker will simmer your meal slowly overnight or when you're out, but use very little electricity._

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==== Sharing ====

Sharing recipes is social, and sharing meals is traditional, social and fun. We can also share produce, equipment, recipes, fuel, or cook different parts of a shared meal, then come together to eat it. Local (commons?) restaurants are a good idea. They can save fuel through bulk cooking, and money via bulk buying. Baking bread is better suited to the community scale too, so that many loaves can be baked at the same time.

==== Equipment ====

Have a good set of knives and keep them sharp, a mortar and pestle, wooden chopping board and bowls for mixing, and then you won't need so many electrical gadgets (charity shops are full of this stuff).

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![Cooking charity shop](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/wp-content/uploads/cooking-charity-shop.jpg)

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_Charity shops are full of all the kit you need in your kitchen._

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==== Fuel ====

[Cooking on a wood stove](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/posts/heat-your-home-feed-your-soul-cooking-on-a-wood-stove/) means that you'll be heating your home as well. [Rocket stoves](/rock/rocket_stoves) use the least fuel (actually, [storm kettles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Kettle), aka kelly kettles use just a few twigs to boil water). Using rocket stoves, [retained heat cookers](/reth/retained-heat) and [solar cookers](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/categories/food/solar-cookers/) together is called 'integrated cooking'. This combination enables you to cook at any time, rain or shine, without fossil fuels. If it’s sunny, use the solar cooker. If not, use the rocket stove. To keep your food hot (from the rocket or solar stove) for up to five hours, or reduce the wood you need for the rocket stove, or free up the solar cooker for another dish, use the retained heat cooker.

However, the modern world makes it difficult to cook with wood. Most people don't have a stove or a source of wood / storage space, and wood stove cooking takes a long time. And the family / work logistics are more difficult, so it will be marginal until and unless things start to break down. It's not hard to imagine that gas and electricity supply might be threatened, so the more people who have these skills if they do, the better.

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{{url>https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ve-HYaavqvQ 560,315}}

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_Baking little pies on a wood stove._

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==== Reducing energy use ====

You can reduce energy use with little tweaks, like:

- using the right sized pan for the hob ring and for the amount of food you need to cook.

- putting a lid on the pan - can reduce energy use by up to 75%.

- using your oven efficiently by cooking multiple dishes at once and opening the oven door only when necessary.

- switching your oven off 10 minutes before the food is cooked - it will retain heat for a while and cook food without using any energy.

- cutting vegetables into smaller chunks to reduce cooking time.

- introducing more [raw food](/rawl/raw_living_food) options into your diet.

- batch-cooking and then freezing.

- stackable steamers to steam vegetables above boiling potatoes.

- using pressure cookers and slow cookers – you can get them cheap second-hand.

- using cast iron pans for better heat retention - slower to heat up, but better for slow cooking.

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![a pantry](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/wp-content/uploads/cooking-pantry.jpg)

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_Houses used to have a pantry / larder on the north side of the kitchen, to keep food fresh without using electricity._

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==== Minimising waste ====

- Here are some [recipes using leftovers](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/ways-use-up-leftovers), and [here's a site](https://myfridgefood.com/) that asks you what you have in your fridge/pantry and gives you recipes.

- Use fresh ingredients quickly and freeze things which you might not get round to eating.

- Have a box or shelf in your fridge where all the 'use me first' items are put, so everyone knows they need to be eaten in a day or two.

- When storing dry or canned foods, make sure the new items are placed at the back and the older things at the front.

- Measure portions, especially things like pasta and rice, so you don't cook too much.

- Keeping [chickens](/chic/chickens) can turn leftover food and vegetable peelings into eggs and meat.

- [Compost](/cpst/composting) food scraps to divert organic waste from landfill and feed your garden.

- Plan meals and portions to prevent over-purchasing and food spoilage.

- Food [preserving](/pres/preserving_food) and [pantries](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/posts/praise-domestic-larder/).

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![_A range of solar cookers._](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/wp-content/uploads/cooking-solar.jpg)

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_A range of solar cookers._

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===== Forum =====

This topic belongs to the section [[gt:food|Food & drink]]. You can ask questions or add information on the corresponding [Forum section](https://forum.growingthecommons.org/t/food).

===== Further resources =====

- [Food Print](https://foodprint.org/cooking-sustainably/): cooking sustainably.
- [Love Food Hate Waste](https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/)
- [My Fridge Food](https://myfridgefood.com/): gives you recipes for what you've got.
- [Slow Food](https://www.slowfood.org.uk/)



===== Related topics =====

- [Biogas](biog:biogas)
- [Composting](cpst:composting)
- [Earth ovens](eaov:earth_ovens)
- [Energy saving](ensa:energy_saving)
- [Farmers' markets](farm:farmers_markets)
- [Low-impact food & drink](lifo:food)
- [Preserving food](pres:preserving_food)
- [Raw food](rawl:raw_living_food)
- [Retained heat cooking](reth:retained-heat)
- [Rocket stoves](rock:rocket_stoves)
- [Solar cooking](solr:solar_cookers)
- [Veganism](vega:veganism)
- [Vegetarianism](vegt:vegetarianism)
- [Wood stoves](wdst:wood_stoves)

===== Specialist curators of this topic =====

  * [[user:adamsj|Julia Adams]]