The kitchen is one of the most important elements of a home. It’s where the magic happens, where home-cooked meals are made from fresh ingredients to produce food that brings everyone together.
Current climate trends indicate that our planet is in crisis; we need to act now and implement changes to preserve our earth’s natural resources.
But how can the home kitchen and sustainability be linked? Well, in a number of ways. This article will explore the many simple ways in which you can make your kitchen more eco-friendly and become a sustainable chef.
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Go for a plastic-free clean!
Having and maintaining a clean kitchen is vital in keeping your house safe as germs can easily spread on the surfaces, and potentially cause illness. However, this doesn’t always have to be done with products that come covered in plastic.
Many retailers, such as Galleons Supplies, have succeeded in providing customers with plastic-free and eco-friendly cleaning products. Trusted brands as such, provide effective cleaning solutions that will keep your kitchen safe, without damaging the planet.
Some of our favourite brands that feature eco-friendly products include:
- PandaSoft toilet paper (made from bamboo!)
- Eco-natural couch rolls (made from recycled drinks cartons)
- Kleenex paper towels
- Kimberly Clark airflex hand towels
Plastic-free cleaning doesn’t have to break the bank, just look for the best deal you can get on the range of eco-friendly available in 2022.
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Shop locally where you can
Now, let’s be realistic. Anyone working a 9-5 is not going to want to spend £100 on organic fruits and vegetables. However, shopping locally where you can make all the difference.
Buying a cut of meat from your local butcher, or some tomatoes from a veg stall may seem small, but you are becoming part of the solution. Shopping locally is beneficial to you and the environment in a number of ways, including:
- Local farms avoid using the pesticides that many national businesses rely on to keep their produce fresher for longer. Buying locally means that these pesticides won’t damage the environment or your body.
- Less plastic waste! – The vast majority of the products that can be bought locally, aren’t packaged in the harsh, single-use plastic that you will find in the supermarkets. This plastic cannot be recycled, and ultimately damages the environment by contributing to our growing problem with plastic pollution.
- You will get better freshness and quality for your money. From local stores and markets, the product you purchase will likely taste better and be fresher. This is attributed to the reduced pesticides used in the harvesting process. Local suppliers don’t need to keep their products fresh for as long so don’t rely on these pesticides.
- You can reduce your carbon footprint by shopping locally. By doing so, you can help to reduce carbon emissions and air pollution. If a product is grown locally, it has not had to be transported hundreds of miles to your supermarket, thus making it more sustainable.
With this wealth of benefits, shopping locally is one of the best ways to make your kitchen more eco-friendly. As mentioned above, not everyone has the means to do so, which makes even buying one item from your weekly list from a local provider, a great contribution!
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Hey! Don’t chuck that in the bin – stick it on Olio!
The totally free Olio app has rapidly become a popular way to reduce household food waste. In 2018, the UK alone produced around 9.5 million tonnes of food waste, a truly astonishing statistic.
The Olio app, first launched in 2015, aims to promote food sharing. The app allows users to list food items that they do not need for whatever reason. People in the area can pick up the food for free, saving the food from going to waste whilst also feeding a hungry stomach.
Whether you’re going on holiday and need to have a fridge cleared out, or simply haven’t used all your shopping for the week, you can list it on the Olio app.
Install the app today via your phone’s app store to start being more eco-friendly in your kitchen.
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Freeze!
Don’t panic you’re not being held up by the police. Rather, you should be making proper use of your freezer. Freezing foods is a great, and very simple solution to food waste. You can freeze almost everything, from meat to veg and fruit to leftovers from last night’s dinner.
Freezing products effectively extends the shelf life of your food, making it last months longer than it would in the fridge. It is also a cost-effective solution, as you are able to bulk buy essentials for cheaper and simply freeze them to avoid going to waste.
The following are guidelines for how long you can freeze certain food items and still consume them safely:
- Chicken (9 months to a year)
- Salmon (3 months)
- Minced beef, lamb or pork (3 months)
- Steak (6 months)
- Soups and sauces (2 months)
- Bread (2 months)
- Nuts (6 months)
- Frozen foods, bought from supermarkets (indefinitely)
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Buy your appliances second-hand
Essential kitchen appliances such as blenders, microwaves and toasters can be quite costly. As well as this, the production of such electricals is not eco-friendly. Therefore, shopping for your kitchen appliances second-hand is a good way to make your kitchen more sustainable.
Buying your blender from somewhere like Facebook Marketplace, eBay or Depop, is a good way to extend the lifespan of that product. You are repurposing what someone else has no use for, as well as getting quite the saving too.
There are lots of second-hand sites which focus on the repurposing of the products that people want rid of. Check them out today for your next kitchen appliance!
Make your kitchen more eco-friendly today!
Hopefully, you now know the simple ways in which you can make your kitchen more eco-friendly. Although it can sometimes be more costly to do so, you will be contributing to the preservation of our wondrous planet so that we can enjoy it for longer.