According to The California Energy Commission, microwave ovens use half the energy conventional ovens do, making the microwave a much more time efficient and energy efficient appliance for cooking smaller meals. You can save money and energy by adjusting your microwave's cooking power. In fact, you can still cook many of the foods you normally cook or defrost and not have to worry about overcooking food, just by lowering the cooking power on your microwave. By making this simple change, you can conserve energy and reduce the amount of energy expended by your microwave, which may make it last longer.
Use the keypad on your microwave to press the numbers that coincide with the amount of time you wish to cook your food for.
Locate the “Power” button on your microwave. This button is located on most microwaves among the other functions of the microwave, such as "defrost," "cook," "stop" and "start" buttons.
Press the “Power” button. Once you press the power button, a number will show up on the microwave display. Depending on what type of microwave you have, the number will differ; however, most microwaves display 100 percent as the default cooking power.
Delete the pre-set percentage by immediately pressing the corresponding numbers of the power percentage you want your microwave to cook at. If you want the microwave to cook at 50 percent of its power, press the numbers "5" and "0."
Press the “Start” button after you have entered the power percentage you want your microwave to cook at. The microwave will turn on and begin cooking your food.
Tip
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, eggs, cheese and solid meat, when cooked on high heat in the microwave, can become tough. To ensure that these food products do not become overcooked, try reducing the cooking power. The most beneficial cooking power for large cuts of meats is a reduced cooking power of 50 percent; however, you need to cook these meats for a longer length of time.
SavingElectricity.com states that the cheapest way to bake is to use a crockpot or microwave.
The California Energy Commission suggests using the microwave more often during the summer, since it reduces the amount of heat produced by the oven, which can save you money on you’re cooling bill.
References
Writer Bio
Victoria Ramirez has been writing professionally since 2009. She has a background in health and human services, and contributes her expertise to several online publications. Ramirez received her Bachelor of Arts in psychology from California State University, Bakersfield, where she graduated with honors in 2004.