Small Steps to a Greener Kitchen

By: Malerie Eeds

Let’s face it; an inordinate amount of time is spent in the kitchen, especially around this time of year. What with playoff games, the Super Bowl, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years all piled together.

Here are a few small steps you can take to make your kitchen a greener scene and save you a few dollars to use on your Christmas shopping list:

Match your burner to your pot size. I actually just did this last night: put a 6-inch pot on an 8-inch burner. But it wastes more than 40 percent of the burner’s heat! Just choosing a smaller electric burner can save you about $36 annually. You know what also saves energy? High-conductivity pots which heat up faster than steel pans and can reduce cooking time.

Oven strategies. Turn off your oven for the last five minutes of cooking – it saves energy and the oven is already hot enough to finish the job.

Buy eco-friendly cookware. Nonstick, Teflon-coated cookware can be dangerous at high temperatures (like when boiling pasta for that childhood staple, Mac n’ cheese). Heated to over 600°, the coating can break down and release a chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid (or PFOA) which is harmful to animals. So opt for aluminum, cast iron, or copper.

Buy local or plant a garden. Think about the carbon footprint of a piece of fruit that comes from Africa. The fewer miles the food has to travel to your table, the better. Having the ability to pick some fresh cilantro, bell pepper, or whatever your fancy may be from your backyard before preparing a meal is not only convenient but also cost efficient. Plus it’s so fresh!

Compost. Composting is a great way to get rid of the massive quantities of leftovers Moms face after every meal. Instead of saying, “But you JUST SAID you WANTED strawberries!” save yourself some stress and toss it, guilt-free, into the compost pile.

Reuse. Turn peanut butter jars into mini flower vases. Make sand toys out of plastic containers. Create costumes and art projects out of paper towel rolls and old tin foil.

Rethink the sink. Here’s some good news: running a full load in the dishwasher actually uses less water than washing by hand. If you use the “air dry” feature instead of “heated dry” you get bonus points – and save energy.

Quick cuts. Get a cutting board made of reclaimed or sustainably harvested wood – I saw some at the grocery store even! Bacteria thrive in the grooves made in plastic cutting boards by your knife, whereas wood has natural anti-bacterial properties. And it looks pretty too.

There are lots of ways to make a greener kitchen by reducing, recycling, reusing and of course, saving energy. But more importantly, it gives you the perfect excuse to ask for one of those gorgeous copper (or cast iron) pots for Christmas.