Changing a few habits can result in big energy savings in the household

Cooking:

• Cook according to the seasons. Save the soups and oven meals for winter to help warm up the kitchen. In summer, outdoor grilling keeps the house cooler.

• Convection ovens cook more quickly and at lower temperatures.

• Microwaves and small appliances, such as slow-cookers, are more energy-efficient than the stovetop and oven.

• When using the self-cleaning oven feature, turn it on just after you've cooked something to take advantage of the residual heat and use less energy bringing the oven up to the higher cleaning temperature.

• Don't peek while cooking. Every time you open the oven door, the temperature decreases by 25 degrees.

• Put lids on your pots and pans. They will heat faster and require less heat.

• Match the size of the pan to the burner so no heat is lost. Putting a 6-inch pan on an 8-inch burner will waste more than 40 percent of the energy.

• When using the oven or stove, turn off the heating element a few minutes before the food is finished cooking. The residual heat finishes cooking the food.

• Combine dishes in the oven whenever possible — bake potatoes or rolls while roasting meat, for example.

• Improvise your recipes. Do you really need to cook ingredients in separate pans on two different stove burners, then combine and bake in the oven? It might be just fine cooked as a one-skillet dinner.

• Buy locally grown foods. According to Whole Markets Inc., the average produce travels more than 1,500 miles from farm to plate. That's a lot of shipping fuel.

• Every so often, skip your usual grocery trip and just cook what's buried in your freezer and cupboards. You'll avoid wasting food and the drive to the store.

• Make meals in double batches and freeze. Then you just have to reheat the second meal in the microwave later on. When grilling, cook extra steak or chicken that can be used later in quick casseroles or to top a salad.

Refrigerator:

• To make sure cold air isn't leaking out of your refrigerator, close the door over a dollar bill so that it's half in, half out. If you can pull the bill out easily, replace the seal around the door.