The emphasis is mainly in the kitchen because this is the heart of your house. If anything goes wrong in the kitchen, the whole house gets affected. You can’t allow any toxic substances to linger around the kitchen. So, how do you make your kitchen more eco-friendly?
Make Your Food At Home
You should start loving home-cooked foods. No matter how busy you can be, you should always make time to prepare food at home for your family. This is healthy for your family and is also an excellent way to go green. Stay away from pre-packaged or frozen foods that you always but from local restaurants. These foods are not healthy for you as well as the environment.
Cooking is not a difficult task if you can just train yourself and get used to it. It will also save you extra costs and ensure you always eat fresh meals.
Use the Dishwasher Instead of Hand-Washing
Dishwashers preserve energy, water, and soap as compared to hand-washing. They also offer excellent cleaning as compared to doing it manually. There are new dishwasher designs in the market made with efficiency and environment friendliness in mind. They only heat as much water as needed and use only the required amount of energy.
You can also make the dishwashers work in an eco-friendly way. This involves only running water when the dishwasher is full and rinsing your dishes after putting them in the dishwasher. Ensure you only shop for the best dishwashers in the market if you want to benefit from their eco-friendly nature and efficiency.
Reuse Water
Water is one thing that is mostly wasted and is used widely in the kitchen. Cooking and cleaning all require water. Most of the time, you pour out this water after using it, even though it’s not too dirty. You can start reusing the water by watering your plants. Your plants need this water, and you can save your water bill if you don’t just waste it unnecessarily.
Also, ensure you avoid buying bottled water and filter the water you have instead. This means you won’t have those plastic water bottles in your home. However, you can make use of refillable water bottles from custom Camelbak as those are made of high-grade material and safe to use. Install a water filtration system in your sink to ensure you only use clean water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning.
Go for Environment-Friendly Packaging
Packaging materials contribute to too much waste in the kitchen and later end up outside dirtying the environment. If you care for the environment, you should do the earth a favor by buying your items wrapped in compostable materials. You can also shop in bulk to minimize how many packages you carry home every time you do your shopping.
Ensure that your kitchen towels are reusable. The paper towels are enticing because they are cheap and do not require any washing. However, they all end up in the waste bin after use which means a dirty environment. If you love your environment, you should go for the washable towels. Ensure you buy plenty of kitchen towels so that they are easily available and give you an easy time to stay away from paper towels.
Save Energy
Most of your household energy is spent in the kitchen. You should start conserving the environment by minimizing the energy used in your kitchen. There are many appliances in your kitchen that need electricity to operate. These include the refrigerator, electric cookers, water dispenser, heating appliances, as well as your kitchen bulb. You can survive with all these and still conserve your environment.
Going green starts from your home before extending to the environment outside. It is not all about protecting the environment but also people living in your house. There are plenty of ways in which you can make your house, especially your kitchen area more eco-friendly. It is going to cost you nothing but just a little bit of discipline. And if you can spend some money, make sure to invest in garbage disposals at kitchenhomelet.
Wherever you go shopping for these appliances, ensure you buy energy-efficient models. Most manufacturers put this into consideration when making their products. Don’t mind spending more if, in the end, it means long-term savings. You can also choose electric cookers instead of gas. Make sure you switch off your electric appliances when not in use to save energy.
Invest in Quality Kitchenware
You have to use your kitchen utensils and cookware for a long time to avoid throwing some away. It is worth investing in quality utensils if you’re environmentally conscious. Stainless steel and cast iron are the best materials. Avoid plastic because they can melt and do not decompose if they end up in the environment. You should also stay away from low-quality wooden spoons that rot with time.
Grow Your Herbs
If you have a garden, you can make use of it to grow herbs rather than buying. However, it isn’t even necessary to have a garden. You can also grow herbs in containers and place them on your kitchen window. Various herbs can grow in small containers and pots as long as they get enough sunlight and necessary nutrients. This will save you money, trips to the store, as well as brighten your kitchen.
Recycle Your Shopping Bags
One of the most unnecessary kitchen wastes that is easily avoidable comes in the form of shopping bags. If you want to make your kitchen more eco-friendly, then you should buy durable shopping bags and carry them wherever you go shopping. There are always very cheap shopping bags in grocery stores, but they don’t last. If you buy durable ones, they will last longer, and you won’t always have to throw bags in the bin.
Now, you can see that making your kitchen green is not as difficult as you first imagined. It only starts from simple things you use daily such as shopping bags, to what you eat and finally to the equipment you use in your kitchen. You’re not going to make any big sacrifices. Instead, going green is going to save you money, time, and make you and your entire family healthier.
Resources – One Green Planet, Tree Hugger, HGTV, Thought Co.
