Did you know that making your kitchen eco-friendly is super easy? It’s also good for your health and fills your home with positive energy. The benefits of going green extend way beyond saving our planet and it all starts with a few tiny changes in our daily habits.
Lately, it seems like everyone is talking about “going green” and “sustainability.” But what does “becoming eco-friendly” actually mean? And, how can we make our homes more eco-friendly? We’re dedicated to spreading the movement in our own kitchens by making them more eco-friendly and stylish. And, in this article, we’ll share some of our top secrets with you!
Simple tips to make your kitchen eco-friendly
Did you know that the kitchen produces the most waste of any room in your house? The amount of waste we generate in disposable kitchen dishes and utensils every year is shocking.
Roughly half of the annual plastic production in 2016 included single-use plastic items and totaled at around 335 million metric tons. This included items like plastic bags, straws, and plastic containers that have an average lifetime of 15 minutes, and then take thousands of years to decompose.
There are a number of easy changes you can make to help reduce waste in your kitchen. Here are some tips on how to make your kitchen eco-friendly.
Get a reusable shopping tote, water bottle, straw, and a go-to container.
Replacing these one-time-use plastics with reusable ones will not only save the planet but will also cost you less in the long run.
Eat what is seasonal
While off-season fruits and vegetables might be available at your nearest supermarket throughout the year, putting them there definitely costs a lot; not only to the market owners but to our planet as well. They are transported from different parts of the world and use all kinds of unhealthy preservatives and packaging products to stay fresh. All of this causes massive deterioration to the planet in terms of the emission of greenhouse gases and disruption to the natural flow of things.
Shop at the farmers’ markets
Consuming seasonal fruits and vegetables is not only good for your health but also helps support the local industry. This prevents a lot of harm to the planet and also helps you save some bucks (local is always cheaper than imported, remember?).
More reasons to buy local produce:
- You help create community – when you support your local farmers’ market, you create personal relationships with the people who grow your food.
- It reduces food miles – as we mentioned before, one of the biggest factors that cause the most impact is food transfer and packing. You can avoid all this by supporting the local farmers.
- Supports small businesses – rather than larger chain stores.
Embrace Meatless Mondays
Growing up, I was always told that meat was an essential part of our diet, and not eating it would leave us under-nourished. Modern research, however, shows that human beings can do just fine without eating meat, and some believe that they can do even better if they stop consuming meat.
Despite all these controversies and vague facts and figures, one thing that is for sure is that skipping meat once a week is not going to harm you in any way, and will do wonders for the planet on the other hand.
If you want to read more about the meat industry and its effects on the environment, you can go through some of these informative articles:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211601X15001157
Grow Your Own Herbs
Growing your own herbs will not only make your kitchen look greener and fresher, but you will also get to taste food that’s completely organic which is also way cheaper than what you pay for at the market.
More: “How to grow your own herbs”
Glass Over Plastic – Every Time
Glass containers might cost you a bit more than plastic ones, but at least you won’t be contributing to the toxic chemicals that are used in plastic production or the plastic waste that takes thousands of years to decompose.
Make Your Own Non-Dairy Milk.
Milk production impacts the environment in different ways. Dairy cows and their manure produce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. Also, to produce cow milk requires large areas of land and lots of water.
Studies show that switching to non-dairy milk will roughly halve the emissions of that food item, so by swapping dairy milk for non-dairy, that cup of coffee’s footprint reduces to around 26.5g CO2e.
For more info regarding the milk industry and reasons why you should swap to non-dairy milk, go here:
You can easily make your own nut milk or nut butter. It not only tastes so much better than store-bought options, but it also allows you to control the ingredients. Commercial nut milk usually contains extra sugar and additional thickeners, flavorings, and preservatives.
Here is a homemade almond milk recipe that is super quick and easy!
Here are more recipes to make different types of homemade milk:
Buy in Bulk
No more disposable packaging! Reuse all your empty jars. When you bring your own reusable jars, you are substantially reducing the amount of packaging that usually comes with grocery shopping.
More pros of buying in bulk
- Saves time – no need to choose between brands, usually, there is only one brand.
- Controls the amount – One thing I really love about buying from the bulk bins is that you can buy as much or as little as you want. If you do a lot of baking, you can stock up on salt, sugar, and flour. Or you can buy a teaspoon of ingredients you need for a new recipe you’re trying.
Switch to Reusable Wrap
Toss the cling wrap, it’s wasteful. You can find beeswax wrap in the supermarkets or you can try your hand at making your DIY beeswax wrap.
You can also use reusable silicon wrap or vegetable and fruit silicon holders, that way you will also save food scraps.
Use Your Food Scraps
There are many inventive ways to use your food scraps. It all amounts to less food waste!
Ways to Reduce Wasted Food
- Compost – you can add all organic waste (such as vegetable and fruit scraps) to the soil to help plants grow. Use all food scraps and help your garden at the same time. For more info on how to compost at home click here.
- Make homemade stock – turn scraps such as stalks, peels, and all other vegetable leftovers into aromatic vegetable broth. For more on how to make vegetable broth from kitchen scraps, click here.
- Save the seeds – aa awesome way to cut waste is to save the seeds. Not only will you grow your own vegetables, but you can also sprout all kinds of seeds and get all the amazing benefits from sprouts like minerals and vitamins. For an amazing recipe on how to sprout seeds, clicks here.
- Spice up your water- Add all lemon peels and fruit scraps to your water. For all the benefits of infused water plus an amazing recipe click here.
Use an Eco-Brush
Leave plastic sponges behind! There are a lot of sustainable alternatives to single-use items. Buy a set of plant-based brushes to use in your kitchen.
What do you say?
Have we convinced you? Even if you only follow one of these tips, it’s worth it. There are endless ways to be eco-minded in our lives. If you have practical tips to make your kitchen or home more eco-friendly, please share them with us.
By thinking more about how to reduce household waste every day, you not only help save our Earth, you also create good energy around yourself.
Even tiny changes in how you shop, cook, and consume can help reduce your waste impact on the environment.
