on Aug 11th, 200910 Quick & Easy Ways to Go Green in the Kitchen
1. Buy Local Produce
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, most produce grown in the United States travels an average of 1,500 miles before it gets sold. Trucking, shipping and flying in produce from around the country and world takes its toll on our environment. Instead, check out the local options:
Alpharetta Farmers Market
-or-
Crabapple Farmers Market: Join your neighbors each Saturday morning in July and August at the open area adjacent to the Faire La Belle Salon and Olde Blind Dog Tavern 12650 Crabapple Road. Saturday 9 AM to 12 noon.
Alternatively, find the closest CSA.
2. Ditch the Single Use Containers
Check out Cool Gear for some great storage solutions, whether you’re looking to freeze individual portions to bring out later, or easily pack leftovers into a lunch without the hassle of separate freezer packs.
3. Reduce Paper Towel Use
I don’t know about you, but I use the “quicker picker upper” to clean up so many small kitchen messes that I end up using well over a couple of rolls of paper towels each and every week. Instead, try using a paper towel replacement like the biodegradable one here by Skoy.
4. Bring Your Own Bags to the Grocery Store
Many of the retail stores now offer their own reusable shopping bags, but I have these Acme Bags and will never go back to the flimsy ones I bought from the grocery store. Acme Bags are super durable, and have a nice little outside pocket that comes in handy more often than you might think.
5. Plan Your Meals
Convenience food often translates to more packaging (not to mention less nutrition.) So plan ahead, and choose whole foods as ingredients to avoid packaging.
6. RECYCLE!
I think we tend to underestimate what can be recycled. Put everything you can in the recycling bin! Did you know glass takes tens of thousands of years to decompose in the landfill, and plastic drinking bottles take hundreds?
- Most curbside recycling programs accept glass bottles and jars (all colors), newspaper, plastic #1 through #7, cans, chipboard (cereal and cookie boxes without the plastic liners), cardboard, magazines, phone books, and junk mail.
7. Bottle Your Own Water
Not only is bottled water expensive, but distributing it consumes quite a bit of fuel. Consider a good water filter to improve the quality of your tap water. Cool Gear makes innovative water bottles, all BPA-free.
8. Nuke It!
Think of the oven as the Humvee of the kitchen. It’s probably one of the most energy-consuming hog of your kitchen applicances, so you should think about possible substitutes before using it. Try using the bake feature on a small toaster oven when possible, or the microwave. Did you know that sweet potatoes, artichokes, baked potatoes, and corn on the cob can all be prepared using the microwave?
9. Slow the Flow
Attach a low-flow aerator to your kitchen faucet to mix air into the stream and cut water usage without affecting pressure. Find aerators at hardware stores and home centers for under $10. Look for one with a flow rate of 2.2 gallons per minute or less, saving from 1.4 to 2.7 gallons each day.
10. Let the Dishwasher Do the Work!
Perhaps the easiest way to go green of all is to let the dishwasher run rather than hand washing your dishes. It actually uses less water than hand washing. Just be sure you run it when it’s full and use the most efficient setting.
To learn more, you might be interested in the book Cooking Green: the New Green Basics Cookbook.