Eco Kitchen 101
Your guide to an eco kitchen
On a quest to make your kitchen more sustainable, but you don’t know where to start? Well, what about starting here? This guide gathers all our kitchen-related content, from green tips to product recommendations.
The kitchen situation
Your kitchen is maybe the first room you should look at when doing sustainable improvements to your home. You might think it’s an easy one. After all, your guests are always impressed by your beeswax food wraps and your bamboo reusable sponges. Way to go! But in fact, a few cool eco-products don’t make your kitchen eco-friendly. Okay, we are probably underestimating your knowledge on sustainability, but that’s just to make a point, don’t take it personally. When shopping for an eco-friendly product, we tend to focus a lot on its reusability, or it being plastic-free. But there is more to consider, especially when it comes to building a sustainable kitchen!
Some eco kitchen shopping tips
So we just threw a free punch at you and you want answers. Then, what should you actually look for when shopping for eco-friendly kitchen products?
When buying cookware, untensils and cutlery, see it as an investment. Don't settle for "cheap", look for quality and durability!
Avoid Teflon and other materials that might leach chemicals and metals in your food. And clean your dishes with eco-friendly washing-up liquid.
Save energy, water, and money by looking at the EU Energy Label and the warranty when shopping for a stove, dishwasher, or fridge.
Don't ditch your cheap utensils just yet, let them reach the end of their useful life before going for a more eco-friendly alternative.
A word on cookware safety
It's not an easy task to recommend the perfect cookware for your sustainable kitchen. In theory, the perfect pan or pot is eco-friendly, durable, and safe for your health (not leaching chemicals/metals). But in practice, the selection is not that simple. We all agree Teflon is bad, but there are endless debates on how safe other materials actually are. In our humble opinion, it's all about quality and use. We believe food-grade stainless steel (304 grade) cookware is the most versatile, but we also love a good non-stick ceramic pan like this one.
Shopping guides for an eco-friendly kitchen
As we’ve just explained above, your eco kitchen quest has to be planned cleverly. It’s about investing in the right product, at the right moment. With that in mind, you still have to make a selection when looking for eco-friendly alternatives. And it’s not always easy, right? First of all, you have more and more options to pick from (but that’s a good thing, to be honest). And then, you still need to know what eco-friendly features to look for. For example, do you know what makes an eco-kettle eco-friendly? Well, we do, and that’s where our shopping guides come in handy! We do the digging for you and list our favourite eco-friendly products so that you just have to pick the right one for you.
Cooking the eco-friendly way
Having an eco-friendly kitchen is an amazing achievement, but you also need to make sure that you cook in a sustainable way as well! (disclaimer: the following tips won’t make you a better cook 😉 ).
When grocery shopping, reduce the environmental impact of transportation, boycott plastic packaging and support local businesses. And don't forget your reusable shopping bag, of course.
Did you know that you only need to preheat the oven for food that needs lift, like bread or pies? Skip the preheat for your next lasagna!
Hand washing can use up to 7 times more water than a dishwasher. BUT make sure your dishwasher is full before running it.
We're big advocate of the zero-waste lifestyle (learn more here). And our relation with food probably needs improvement in that field...
A short guide to a zero-waste kitchen
The zero-waste lifestyle can sound a bit overwhelming, but it's mostly because of its name. Zero-waste doesn't literally mean 0, don't sweat it! Anyway, we think the kitchen is maybe the most interesting and challenging area to go zero-waste. But there are many things you can do, and we have listed some great ones in our zero-waste kitchen guide. It's up to you now!
About food storage & protection
So you’ve cooked a meal in your eco-kitchen, using durable and healthy cookware, and following the best eco-cooking practices. Attagirl/boy! But you’ve cooked enough to feed an army of eco-soldiers and you don’t want it to go to waste. Now, what’s your solution to store and protect it? Anything but cling film and non food grade plastic containers, really…
Do you really need a fancy silicon lid to cover your food? What about just using another plate or bowl? And have you heard of Furoshiki?
The concept of cling film is great, but sooo not eco... Fortunately, there are many amazing eco-friendly cling film alternatives nowadays! From beeswax food wraps to glass or stainless steel containers.
Plastic gets bad press, but the real problem is single-use plastic. Even if we prefer stainless steel or glass, food-grade plastic containers are a safe and durable option to store your food. Just keep them away from too acidic food and heat (microwave and dishwasher). Check the number inside a triangle at the bottom of the container to make sure it's safe (BPA-, BPS- & PVC-free). 2,4,5 are safe, while 3,6,7 aren't.