Home & Garden...

Ever since reading this article Microwave Ovens: the Curse of Convenience from Natural News.com, I swore off using the microwave. I'd only been using the microwave for reheating leftovers (and never nuking food when it's in plastic), but no more: I moved the toaster oven down from the top of the fridge and onto the counter, and I've been surprised to find myself using it every day since. It wasn't only for leftovers, though: I started firing up the toaster oven many other times when I would normally use the full-size oven. I realized this is a super-easy energy saver.

The U.S. Department of Energy confirms this hypothesis, saying: "A toaster oven uses a third to half as much energy as a fullsized oven." (Many other energy-saving tips from the DOE are available here.)

Cooking in the toaster oven also goes much faster. Obviously you won't be cooking any full-family lasagnes in there, but any time you need to, say, bake a marinade into your tofu or meat, or roast potato chunks for brunch, throw it in the Pyrex and pop it into the toaster oven.

Image: Home Depot