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  • 6 Winter Cooking Tips For Better Indoor Air Quality

    Whip up your favorite seasonal dishes while minimizing indoor air pollutants.

    A Father holding his son up in the air smiling. Celebrate National Indoor Air Quality Awareness Month with a 7-day challenge and more.

    Winter calls for cozy meals, baked treats and quality time spent in the kitchen. The downside of frequent cooking is that it produces excess heat, moisture and pollutants — a recipe for poor air quality.

    Fortunately, you can reduce the effects of kitchen air pollution in a few easy steps. As you whip up your favorite wintertime dishes, use these tips to help maintain good indoor air quality.

    Always ventilate

    Good ventilation is the best way to improve kitchen air quality. Exhaust fans not only suck up unwanted smells, but they also help to decrease common cooking emissions like carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter.¹

    If you have a range hood above your stove:
     

    • Use it every time you cook.
    • Cook on the back burners whenever possible (the range hood ventilates this area most effectively).

    If you don’t have a range hood, try these tips for better ventilation:
     

    • Use a wall or ceiling fan while cooking to circulate the air.
    • Briefly open a window or exterior door to improve airflow through the kitchen.
    • Run the exhaust fan in a nearby bathroom or other area of the house — it can help!
    • Get an air purifier to filter out unwanted particles.

    Monitor air quality

    Set timers and keep a close eye on dishes so you can adjust cooking temps, and check smoke detectors are in good working order. If you have a gas or wood-burning stove, install a carbon monoxide detector nearby to ensure levels stay in the safe zone.

    Avoid overheating

    When possible, set your stove burners to the lowest effective temperature and gradually increase heat as needed. If cooking at a higher heat, use a cooking oil with a higher smoke point (such as avocado or canola oil) to prevent burning.

    Keep fumes contained

    Whether you’re frying sausage or simmering soup, cover pots and pans with lids to trap moisture and grease splatter. Close doors to other rooms of the house to prevent cooking fumes from spreading around (and your clothes from smelling like last night’s dinner).

    Clean with care

    Some splatter is inevitable, so be sure to regularly wipe down kitchen surfaces and appliances with natural, non-toxic cleaners. Pay special attention to stove burners and oven racks — food and grease buildup in these areas can be a fire hazard.

    Cover up smells naturally

    Need to mask an unsavory smell? Make your own natural, homemade air freshener by simmering your favorite fruits and wintry spices in water — think orange peels, cinnamon sticks and fresh rosemary sprigs. It’s a fast way to add a festive aroma to your home!

    Sources:

    1. “Sources of Indoor Particulate Matter (PM).” EPA. 2024.

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