Many people today are actively looking for ways to live in harmony with the environment. With this in mind, here are 3 tips for a more eco-friendly kitchen.
Choose you Key Appliances with Care for a more Eco Friendly Kitchen
When it comes to choosing new appliances, the most obvious points to check are energy-efficiency and the use of environmentally-friendly materials (or at least the lack of environmentally-damaging ones). It can, however, be worth thinking a little more about how you use your appliances as this can make a big difference to your environmental footprint. For example, if you sometimes cook for large numbers and sometimes for small ones, then it can be worth having a main oven and a smaller one, perhaps a microwave/oven combination, so you only use the main oven when you really need it. You might also want to think about moving some of your cooking away from your main cooker and doing more in your microwave or slow cooker, both of which are environmentally-friendly ways of creating tasty meals.
Resist the Temptation to Stock up on Gadgets
These days you can buy a kitchen gadget for pretty much anything, but before you do, think about how often you’ll really use it and whether you’ll really get any significant benefit from a dedicated gadget. If you already have a blender, will a dedicated soup or smoothie maker really make such a great difference to your life? Do you really make pizza so often that you would benefit from a dedicated pizza maker as opposed to just putting it in the oven? Avoiding excess gadgets will help the environment, save you money and give you more space in your kitchen.
Learn to Understand Food Storage
Frozen foods obviously need to be kept in freezers. Freezers are most efficient when full, so if there is unused space put something in it to fill it up, even if it’s just newspaper.
Fridges work best when the air is free to circulate so there needs to be some free space in them. A lot of fruit and vegetables will keep quite happily in cupboards or even in the open, so if your fridge is constantly full, then moving them out can free up some space and help your fridge to work. Food also needs to be cold before being put in a fridge. This is both to avoid raising the temperature in your fridge and to keep the food in good condition for reheating. It’s also good practice to learn how to load your fridge properly, although this is more for good food-hygiene than to help the environment.
Cans, jars and packets can generally go in cupboards, at least until they are opened. Organize your cupboards so that you can easily see and reach all foods. You can do this by organizing items by height, by using mini-shelves to raise up items towards the backs of cupboards or by using lazy susans to make the contents of a cupboard easily visible. You can also keep an inventory of what’s in the cupboard and it’s use-by date, ideally on the inside of the cupboard door. This will help avoid food waste, which is a huge environmental problem.
Buy Local
Purchasing locally cuts down on a lot of the eco concerns that can be central to a kitchen. Using food from local sources, that’s grown locally cuts down on air miles. This may require you to eat seasonally at times, however the positive side of this is that the food will be fresh at all times and will taste amazing. The sheer level of pollution flying things from one side of the world to the other is immense, so being aware of this and doing what you can to combat it can make a big difference.
Recycle More
The nature of the modern world means that there will always be a need for recycling in the kitchen – that’s just reality. Ensuring you understand your local areas recycling policies and doing the very upmost to recycle all the items you use can be a big help when it comes to creating a greener and more eco-friendly kitchen.
Nowadays most things are recyclable to a fair degree and with a little awareness and effort you can make provisions to recycle up to 90% of what comes into the kitchen.
Cleaning
Due to the notable demand nowadays, there is a huge selection of green products for cleaning the kitchen. Things such as plant based detergents, biodegradable plastic bags and a variety of natural cleaning products mean that there is no excuse for using damaging chemicals when cleaning the kitchen any longer. There is loads of choice and you can even try to make your own with some vinegar, lemon or baking soda based recipes.
These tips are there to help ensure your kitchen is greener and works more efficiently. A greener kitchen is better for all of us and can make a notable different in the short and the long term.
If you have any questions about how to make your kitchen cleaner then please contact us for details of our kitchens.
