Living an eco-friendly life does not have to be a difficult ordeal. Much of what it means to be “eco-friendly” boils down to the basics: what we use to store our food, where we buy our food, how we clean our dishes, how we clean our mouths, etc. Here are five simple things you can do in your kitchen to shape it into an oasis of eco-friendly activity and energy.
1. Use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins or paper towels. My family made the switch from cloth to paper on my birthday last November, and what a painless transition it has been! No longer are we buying giant packages of napkins from Sam’s, depleting our supply in only a few months, and beginning the cycle once more. Now, we use a set of reusable cloth napkins that we wash once a week. Ultimately, this saves money, reduces waste, and even significantly improves the presentation of our food (consequently improving its taste)! 2. Compost! The hardest part about composting is initially setting up your compost pile, but after that, it is so simple! Between 20 and 30 percent of American garbage is made up of compostable material...this material would be put to much better use in your garden, and taking compostable material out of landfills reduces methane emissions. Find out more here. 3. Store your food in reusable containers...NOT Ziplocs! Investing in a hardy set of glass containers is your best alternative here. Reheating plastic containers in the microwave and freezing them is a little shady, but glass is safe and reliable. When I imagine the amount of Ziploc bags my family used to go through, I am amazed. We went through Ziploc baggies like we went through paper napkins! If you ever do need to use Ziploc bags (for instance, I have not found a better alternative for transporting food when I backpack, and my mom uses them to give bread away to other people), try to save them and reuse them in the future. 4. Use your dishwasher whenever possible. As long as you have a full load of dishes, using your dishwasher instead of hand washing your dishes will save both energy and water. It even saves soap! 5. Stock your refrigerator with food from local farmers’ markets, or grow your own food in a garden. My goal this spring is to visit a farmer’s market at least once every two weeks. 99% of the food modern Americans consume is sourced from large-scale factory farms...not the picturesque farms with cute barns and happy animals that cartons and packages still advertise. Buying your food at farmers’ markets supports local commerce, reduces your carbon footprint, and encourages diversity in our food. While many factory farms emit massive amounts of greenhouse gases and improperly dispose of waste, small, local farms are generally more eco-friendly. Additionally, when you shop at farmers’ markets, you support food diversity. Biologists estimate that only 103 crops make up 90% of the global diet. If the two or three varieties of tomatoes commonly found at supermarkets were wiped out by disease, we would finally appreciate the vast array of tomatoes sold at farmers’ markets! What is more, it is fun and delicious to taste all of these different varieties! I hope you take a few of these tips into consideration next time you enter your kitchen to cook up a delicious meal. Feel free to share any additional tips that come to mind in the comments below!
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