Secrets for Keeping a Sustainable Kitchen
I had the honor of being included in a line up of savvy kitchen gurus seeking to live a natural, and sustainable life. Piggy backing off my post on non-toxic cookware, I’d love to pass on this resource of tips for keeping a sustainable kitchen!
Experts Dish Their Secrets for Keeping a Sustainable Kitchen
The kitchen is one of the places people spend a lot of their time, whether food prepping for their household or simply enjoying a reheated take-out meal after a long day. But if you’re looking for a way to make more conscious decisions about the environment in your day-to-day life, it can be tough to know where to begin. Or you can begin with making a more sustainable kitchen.
We’ve reached out to eco-friendly experts living in Austin, TX to Philadelphia, PA for their best tips and tricks for keeping a sustainable kitchen. From simple swaps of using less plastic to investing in reusable kitchen gear, check out some of their best kept secrets for a more sustainable home.
Start with easy swaps. One of the best ways to have a more sustainable kitchen is to start by swapping out some of your everyday items for more sustainable options. I love Stasher’s reusable silicone bags in place of plastic baggies, or Bee’s Wrap for covering leftovers instead of cling wrap. This allows you to have a big impact with minimal effort on your part. – Lindsay Viker, Everyday Dishes
Sustainability begins with decluttering what you don’t use. To maximize your productivity and sustainable living my first and most impactful tip would be to declutter your kitchen, mainly worktops. Leave only everyday used appliances on worktops. Make sure to empty your sink and wipe it every night before going to bed. The more organized we are in the kitchen – the less clutter, less buying unnecessary stuff and the happier we feel to use our kitchen. – Maria Smith, Frugal Mummy
Switch to beeswax wraps. It’s super simple – and way more colourful – to be sustainable and eco-friendly in the kitchen when storing and wrapping food by switching to beeswax wraps instead of using plastic cling-film wrap or kitchen foil. My range of beeswax wraps are made using 100% organic medical grade beeswax incorporating my own pattern designs from fresh fruit, colourful bees, hearts, florals, and more. – Rebecca, Dainty Dora
Consider your food storage and ditch the plastic. Instead of using plastic containers and single-use ziplock bags, try more sustainable materials like silicon and glass. They last longer and are way better for the environment. This option even makes your food healthier and better tasting. Ever notice that water in disposable plastic bottles tastes bad after a while? That’s because plastic is made of toxic chemicals that eventually seep into its contents. Eek! – Kelee Bovelle
Stasher bags are an easy swap. One simple way to have a more sustainable kitchen is to swap all your food storage containers to glass or silicone. I love Stasher bags, and grabbing a couple every month makes it affordable and quickly grows your collection. Do some meal prep once a week and store food in your Stasher bags so they stay fresh longer. Any veggie scraps can be thrown in a bin in the yard for compost. – Natasha Red
Glass containers double as storage and decor. We’re insect nerds, which basically makes us climate nerds. We make sure to furnish our kitchens with lots of visible jugs filled with dried legumes on the shelves. This is both a beautiful decoration and a constant reminder to use other protein sources other than meat in our food – of course some of the containers in our kitchens are also filled with powdered buffalo beetles. – Hey Planet
Invest in washable sponges rather than disposable ones. We switched over a few years ago and haven’t looked back since. It’s great to feel like I can change out my dish washing sponge each day for a fresh one, without creating waste. And spoiler alert: most washable sponges are way cuter than the disposable ones. – Andrea Hartman, Seasons and Salt
Create a system for using towels and cloth wipes in your kitchen instead of disposable paper products. I use the bins designed for trash and recycling as a “clean” and “dirty” bin. Use a reusable wet bag for the “dirties” and then you can throw the whole bag into the washing machine. – Melissa Colonno, Deliberate Less
Recycle and compost as much as you can. Making sure to keep recycling and compost bins in the kitchen will mean less waste going into landfills. While recycling bins are pretty straightforward, composting might seem a bit more intimidating. There are plenty of stylish countertop compost bins for you to throw food scraps into that can easily be found online, Target, and hardware stores. Some even come with a built-in filter meaning that you never have to worry about the smell. – Valerie Alvarez, Live the Little Things
Anything can be reused. I keep a bag in my freezer for food scraps – onion skins, herbs that were about to go bad, garlic, knobs of ginger, carrot tops, etc. When I roast a chicken, I’ll put the bones in a big pot of filtered water, dump in the bag of freezer scraps, add a dash of apple cider vinegar, sea salt, and peppercorns, and simmer for 5-6 hours. Homemade bone broth makes the best soups; but I also like to add a squeeze of lemon and sip it for breakfast. – Lindsay Kinder, Food La La
Use all parts of the ingredients. An eco-friendly kitchen is one that uses ALL parts of the ingredient(s). For example: if you’re chopping veggies for soup or roasting, save the tops, ends, and peels in a bag in the freezer. When you have enough, you can make stock in a slow cooker or pressure cooker for future meals. – Sarah Cook, Sustainable Cooks
Re-grow herbs to make them last. There are two ways I go about this; the first is by prolonging my veggies properly, and the second is re-growing as many of them as possible. I keep fresh herbs like cilantro and dill in a glass of water before placing in the fridge, prolonging their life significantly, and I regrow things in water like green onion and chives so I can use them again and again. – Kristen Mandala, The Greener Good
Store food correctly will make it last longer. Improper food storage can lead to premature ripening and even rotting. Separating foods that produce more ethylene gas from those that don’t (or are especially sensitive to ethylene gas) is one great way to reduce food spoilage. Some foods that produce ethylene gas are: bananas, avocados, and tomatoes. Some foods that are sensitive to ethylene gas are potatoes, apples, and leafy greens. However if you want to ripen that avocado quickly – place it overnight in a bag with a banana, it will be ready to be eaten the next morning. – Jessica Ross, My Humble Earth
Use your food scraps in your meals. Our best tip to make your kitchen more sustainable or eco-friendly is creating homemade veggie stock from vegetable scraps including onions, carrots, and more. All you need is water, leftover vegetables, heat, and time. – Brittany Boyer, Eco Stitch & Cycle
Make the most of your oven time. If you’re like me and prefer your foods baked or roasted, then an efficient and eco-friendly habit is to make the most of every time you heat your oven by cooking multiple dishes at a time. For example, cook tomorrow night’s roasted veg at the same time as tonight’s. The same amount of energy is required to heat the oven whether you cook one dish or fill the shelves, so a little forward thinking can help you become more environmentally conscious and efficient in the kitchen. – Marc Rees, EcoShoots
Keep these three things in mind. Install a time-delay (motion sensor) switch, so when it doesn’t detect movement the light turns off. I bought a tabletop convection (7-in-1) oven to eliminate using the oven attached to the stove when making smaller meals. I have almost eliminated plastic from my food storage cabinets – swapping it out for glass containers and beeswax wraps – Nicolette Richardson, The GrownUp Millennial
Originally published by Redfin