When you think about it, the kitchen has more potential for waste than any other area in the home. It’s where the majority of your appliances run. It’s where you cook and generate food waste. And it’s where you run water almost constantly, between the faucet, the dishwasher and any icemakers. So, if you want to have an eco-friendlier home, the place to start is in making a sustainable kitchen.
As far as costs go, you could be looking at thousands of naira if it’s time to get more sustainable appliances. Or simple measures like labelling food by date so it doesn’t go bad can be basically free. Planning and implementing more sustainable measures in your kitchen can also take as little as a weekend. So, whether you’re ready for a complete appliance overhaul or looking for easier ways to be less wasteful, below are some tips for a sustainable kitchen.
Invest in New Appliances
If you’re looking to cut the energy you use in the kitchen, you might want to replace any old appliances. The easiest way to do that is to look for ENERGY STAR appliances. Doing so could help you see a major reduction in your energy bill. So if you have older appliances, now may be the time to upgrade to something more efficient for a sustainable kitchen.
Get a Sustainable Kitchen by Rethinking Your Trash
Another part of the kitchen that affects the sustainability of the whole household is how much trash you’re throwing away. There are a few easy ways to reduce the amount of waste you produce in the kitchen:
- Try indoor composting. You can find special indoor bins or simply remember to throw scraps into an outdoor compost bin.
- Also, try to buy reusable or recyclable. Ditch the single-use paper plates and non-recyclable Keurig cups.
- Don’t buy more perishables than you can finish.
Get a System in Place So Food Won’t Go Bad
We all do it. We all have that leftover pasta we meant to eat, and then it started growing mould before we knew it. But developing a few habits can reduce the chance of food going to waste and make a more sustainable kitchen:
- Label food by date and keep older food near the front of the fridge.
- Seal food in air-tight storage bags.
- Keep the moisture out of foods like spinach by getting a salad spinner.
- Check for mouldy items in your products or baked goods early and often, before that one bad spot can contaminate the whole container.
Watch Your Water Use
You should also watch how much water you are using, as we use a large amount of water in the kitchen. For instance, we use about 8 to 27 gallons of water washing dishes by hand alone, depending on your faucet and how much you let the water run. So if you’re washing dishes by hand, try washing dishes in a basin rather than running the faucet continually.
And remember, if you make conservation a habit, running a sustainable kitchen will eventually feel like no effort at all.