Why do we pre-heat ovens is this not a waste of fuel.surely you should be able to cook from cold ?

Question

Why do we pre-heat ovens is this not a waste of fuel.surely you should be able to cook from cold ?

Answer 1

As suggested this is to cook the food more evenly, and thus at the end of the process not having an item raw in the middle and cooked on the outside, it happens to me all the time.

Conventional ovens are very unefficient compared to microwaves, using about 1.8kW/hr of electricity, compared to a microwave which uses about 0.7 - 1.2kW/hr, and often requires about 2/3 less cooking time. Each time you peak into your oven by opening the door loses about 20% of the heat.

So from an energy perspective, if the product has the option of microwaving, you should opt for that. However in the end quality will no doubt suffer as microwaves can't compare to ovens.

Energy Saver

http://howtosaveenergy.blogspot.com

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Answer 2

i never pre-heat! just turn it on and sling it in!!

Answer 3

you don't need to if you have a fan assisted oven.

Answer 4

just bung it in

Answer 5

I don't pre-heat. Don't see the point.

Answer 6

If you put food in a hot oven it will cook better.

Answer 7

The food will cook more evenly if you start at the temperature you're supposed to.  How much fuel could heating up an oven possibly use?