Kitchen recipes for less energy

Marathon meals and holiday parties can yield higher electrical bills. But it's possible to save money and power with energy-efficient recipes, according to industry experts. Here are tips for preserving cash and electricity while cooking.

Baked savings - Not every recipe requires a pre-heated oven, according to Florida Power & Light Co. Preheating is necessary for some baked goods, such as breads and desserts, but preheating is unnecessary for turkeys and other meat dishes, according to Florida Power & Light. Save power by keeping the oven door closed and using the oven window for progress checks. Wasteful leaks of heat and energy occur when oven doors are repeatedly opened. Scan your menu for items that can be baked at the same time.

Alternative tools - Crock pots, toaster ovens and microwaves are energy-efficient appliances that can be used to prepare smaller meals, snacks and side dishes. For baking in conventional ovens, select ceramic or glass pans, which heat faster than metal pans. With the faster heating time, you can set the oven 25 degrees cooler than the recipe recommendation.

Stovetop strategies - Save energy and money by covering pans and pots. Covered pots cook faster and retain heat, thereby enabling you to turn down the heat. Size matters and you can save energy by matching the size of pans to burners. For example, more than 40 percent of the heat generated by an eight-inch burner is wasted when a 6-inch pot is placed on that burner. Measure water carefully and don't add extra fluid to the pot. Excess water requires more heat and cooking time.

Safety features - Cooking fires are the leading cause of household fires, according to the National Fire Protection Association. To reduce risk, avoid multi-tasking.

"Trying to do too many things at once while cooking can potentially lead to accidental cooking fires and related injuries," said John Drengenberg, director of Consumer Safety at Underwriters Laboratories.

Don't hold children while cooking and eliminate trips to other parts of the home while a pan or pot is simmering on the stove. Avoid hazardous spills and sparks by reducing kitchen clutter and limiting the number of pots on a stovetop to the number of available burners. And finally, make sure kitchen smoke detectors are connected and keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen.

Sharon Harvey Rosenberg, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

Shop site: Grubby Girl (grubbygirl.com)

Good clean fun. That's the motto behind the hand-crafted soaps, salts, body scrubs and bath oils at grubbygirl.com. Don't let the site name fool you though; the botanicals, herbs and all-natural ingredients used in Grubby Girl bath products are all grown locally on the Meeting House Farm herb patch in Virginia's Louisa County. From the loofa beds to the vegetable patches, it's all about the grub.

Grubbygirl.com boasts a unique line of soothing oils, gently hand-milled soaps, and bath salts to ease away tension after a long day. The City Slicker Scrub, one of Grubby Girl's newest products, claims to draw out toxins and infuse the skin with nourishing nutrients. Its detoxifying power comes from the coffee, cloves and orange-flavored scent to give your skin a rejuvenating boost. If honey is your ingredient of choice, check out the vitamin E-infused Flower Child bath salt that moisturizes skin and soothes aching muscles.

Coming up with original product names isn't the only leap creator Amanda Welch took when she launched her site. Welch also raises her own bees to produce Grubby Girl's beeswax lip balm and honey-infused products. Sunflower and grapeseed oils also are popular ingredients, and with soap samplers and gift sets starting at just $15, you'll want to stock up on these luxurious beauty products while they last.

McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

Deal of the Week

There's a new website called CouponMap.com. The site includes more than 200,000 deals and coupons across the country, primarily featuring local restaurants. This resource allows you to browse coupons by entering your city or ZIP code to find savings close to home. While the majority of these deals include local restaurants, you can also find grocery stores and other local retail discounts. CouponMap also includes updated local gas prices.

For a great deal every day, visit our Steals & Deals blog at stltoday.com/steals

Splurge-worthy

If you're looking to add one piece of quality furniture to your home décor, consider this look from the McAlpine Home Collection. The Webbed Back chair is available in a variety of fabric or leathers (zebra-striped cowhide shown in this photo) and features a wood frame.

To buy • Prices start at $1,534 at leeindustries.com or 1-800-892-7150

High-Low

High • Animal print, black and red hair bows ($7.25 for a pack of three) at Icing

Low • Polka-dotted hair bows ($1 for a pack of three) at Deals

QUOTABLE

"Everyone's jumping on the bargainista bandwagon, but some of the efforts are pretty lame. The Los Angeles Times compared a Gap T-shirt to a similar Jil Sander number priced at a whopping $205. That price is outrageous! I would NEVER spend $14.99 on a T-shirt."

Ann Korzen in her book, "Bargain Junkie" ($12.99, Andrews McMeel Publishing, 225 pages)