This is a great list! The climate change impact of food (growing, transporting, cooking...) is actually on par with driving and home energy use. Your post would be a perfect fit to do a little copy/paste into the Mastering the Art of Sustainable Cooking Contest over at brighterplanet.com. There's a conversation going on about ways to reduce your "foodprint." There are a number of different categories for submitting posts and pictures, prizes to be won with sustainable kitchen like the Amazon Kindle DX, and a judging panel including Alice Waters, Gary Hirshberg and Bill McKibben.

It'd be great to have you join in and help inspire others to make these changes in their kitchen. Here's the link to the Sustainable Cooking Contest.

Cheers!

...is by using a crock pot instead of an oven or stovetop. I use mine several times a week for things like soup, roasts, mashed potatoes, etc. Plus it saves me time standing over the stovetop!!!

Although I understand microwaves use less energy, I'm a bit surprised you're promoting using them. What about the energy that went into making them? Or the radiation and possible energy guzzling adverse affects?

I echo rtl88 on wondering why you promote microwave use. The long term effect of all that radiation is not worth the short term energy savings.

I'm thinking the biggest energy hog in the kitchen is the fridge. We could aim for using SMALLER fridges, using that space just for perishables like milk and veggies and short term leftovers. Condiments don't always require chilling. For large families consider a separate freezer for storage of bulk meats and frozen veggies.

When cooking on the stovetop always use lids over pots--even when boiling water for pastas--to conserve the energy generated and heat foods quicker.

I have gotten into the following habits mostly because they are easy and I like to take the easy route when cooking. I collect old etiquette and cook book, and one of the best tips I gleaned was that you only really need to have ONE part of your meal piping hot -- the rest can be room temp. I often host meals for as many as 40 people, and sometimes EVERYTHING is room temp, and sometimes only one part is hot. Those that really want it hot can use the Magic Box if they like. :) Enjoy!

PASTA
I only heat up enough water to cover the pasta by a couple of inches and after a minute I TURN OFF THE HEAT and just let the pasta cook in the water. I set the timer to the cooking time recommended by the pasta maker. When it goes off, I check pasta until I like it, maybe a minute or two more at most. No one has ever questioned how the pasta tastes, and I cook for a lot of foodies amongst our family and friends.

STEEL CUT OATMEAL/WHEAT BERRIES, BROWN RICE, ETC.
Soak them overnight, and cooking only takes a minutes in the morning. While it might seem obvious to some cooks, it wasn't to me until a friend pointed it out when I lamented about not starting the oatmeal early enough. Also, I make large quantities at a time, and nuke it in the morning (since my family does not avoid the Magic Box.) The time I leave Rice soaking will depend on the variety -- I usually soak it in the day so I can make sure it doesn't risk getting mushy/ I use it a couple times in the week, and freeze some for meals when I have even less time.

If my large oven is on -- I put anything I can into it at the same time -- roast veggies, roast garlic, bake potatoes, make quick bread. Small lasagnas in 8x8 pans. (oh, and I never cook the pasta for lasagna -- you just need to make sure you have sauce next to the noodle, and this isn't even so important on the bottom.)

I rarely cook every day. Grilled veggies and meat if we are having it, and rice, can be tex mex one day, chinese another, and w/o the rice lasagna the last!

While I do understand the logic behind wanting to conserve energy, it is not a good idea to leave out leftovers and wait for them to cool off before refrigerating them. Most foods need to be refrigerated in two hours or less of being cooked to avoid pathogens multiplying at a rate to make people sick.