Good food, good company, a day away from clogged drains and decrepit furnaces — Thanksgiving is one of our favorite holidays. However, the typical Thanksgiving meal prep takes hours in the kitchen and uses about 700 different appliances. Save some energy and make Turkey Day a little more enjoyable — and economical — with these tips.

Create a menu. We know, this sounds over-the-top — what are you, a Michelin-rated restaurant?! But seriously, having a clear idea of what you’re cooking can help you to plan ahead and be efficient with your appliances. For example, you can often cook sides and that all-important turkey at the same time. This will save you time and rescue you from having to run your A/C just to combat the unbearable heat in the kitchen. (Okay, that’s probably an exaggeration, but you’re stacking what we’re splitting, right?) All of that will also reduce your Thanksgiving Day energy consumption.
Keep that oven door closed. (And the front door, too.) The more that oven door is open, the more heat is being released into the room. The more exterior doors are open, the more heat escapes. Either one can really mess with your room temperature.
Adjust your thermostat. Because of all that bonus baking heat, you can get away with lowering your thermostat — each degree you knock off can save you up to 1% over the course of eight hours.
Have your HVAC system inspected. If you do this now, before the holiday madness ensues, you can make sure that your system is running as it should and you won’t have to worry about keeping the house warm on top of worrying about whether Santa will be able to find that toy your kid asked for. (What was it called again?)
Replace your air filter! This is always a good idea, but since we’re all going to be spending a lot more time inside in the coming months, you may as well start reaping the benefits of a brand new HEPA air filter as you dig into that epic cranberry sauce!

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