Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Challenge #4: For the Penguins

I’ve noticed that my husband puts the groceries away as he unpacks them: cereal to the pantry, a can to the island, juice into the fridge, spaghetti into the pantry, meat into the freezer, cheese into the fridge. You get where I am going? My new challenge to my family, and yours, is to sort the groceries out and then open the fridge and the freezer just once, each.

I am going to expand this to the daily ins and outs of the refrigerator, too. I am going to try to get all of my cooking ingredients out onto the counter with one trip into the fridge. After I’m done with each ingredient, I will stack everything up at the fridge and put them away when I am completely finished. Our house is air-conditioned, so I am not too worried about a perishable item being on the counter for maybe 10-20 minutes. My goal is to open the door just twice to prepare dinner.

This will go for cleanup after dinner too - put all the leftovers into their containers, pack our lunches- and stick it all in the fridge all at once.

I remember that this is what my parents used to have my sister and I do when we were kids. We always said we were saving the penguin a trip to the switch.

I am also putting a tablet on the door. My husband and I will mark how many times we open the fridge in a day. I think I maybe shocked…how about you?

Meeting this challenge will REDUCE my use of electricity, as the fridge will maintain its cool temperature.


I am going to try to organize my fridge so that I can get in and out more quickly!

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2 comments:

Michele said...

Folks just don't realize how much electricity we take for granted... I've been trying really hard to live a "greener lifestyle" - I use cloth shopping bags, buy a lot of things "used," and so much more.

I don't know how eco-friendly Plurk is but it brought me here so that must be a good thing, right? :-)

*smiles*
MicheleT

Anita K said...

I guess Plurk is green as long as you are doing *something* else on the computer at the same time! And, we're not sending mail by the postal service- and their gas guzzling cars!