What if there was as way to make tiny changes in our kitchen that could save a bunch of money and protect the environment? Well there is and anyone can do it.

If you spend any amount of time in your kitchen, then you have probably collected a large number of small kitchen appliances along the way. Coffee makers, toasters, and blenders are all a part of our daily lives. But have you ever given much thought to the amount of energy these little machines consume everyday? It may surprise you.

How to Green Up Your Kitchen

Image by Jake Gagne

Fortunately, there are several things you can do to reduce your “cookprint” right now. These small changes will not only save you a bundle of money but they will also go along way towards protecting our environment as well.

Be Sensible with Your Appliances

We all have small kitchen appliances that we use everyday and there is no need to feel guilty about it. The truth is, these kitchen items have become an essential part of life. But that doesn’t mean that they should be overlooked when it comes to cutting back on energy consumption.
Here is a few ways to be more mindful when using your favorite kitchen appliances:

When boiling water in an electric kettle, how often do you fill the kettle with more water than you need? This uses more energy than necessary and can easily be eliminated by only boiling the correct amount.

To reduce your stove top energy consumption, there are a few changes you can make. First, always put a lid on your boiling pots to accelerate cooking. Second, use the appropriate size burner that best fits the pot size to decrease the amount of heat lost during cooking. And thirdly, cut foods like potatoes into bite-sized pieces while boiling to allow them to cook faster.

After you have boiled (or steamed) your veggies, save some of the remaining hot water to make delicious gravies and stocks. This saves you from having to re-boil cold water thus saving you energy. It will also add a ton of flavor to your meal.

Rather than firing up the oven, choose other low-energy cooking appliances instead. Some energy efficient solutions include pressure cookers, steamers and slow cookers.

Update Your Old Appliances

Energy efficient kitchen appliances are becoming more and more readily available every day. If you still own older model appliances, it may be time to re-invest. You will be surprised at how much energy and money you can save by updating just a few items in your kitchen. Here’s an example:

Eco-Toasters – These ultra energy conscious kitchen tools are being re-invented with one important new feature – lids! Once the bread is tucked inside the toaster slot, a lid automatically closes over the top to keep heat from escaping. This one simple addition is responsible for these toasters using 35% less energy.

Whether you’re making a few effortless changes in your kitchen or taking a bigger leap and investing in new eco-friendly appliances, there is no time like the present to start saving money and reducing your impact on the environment.

Paper Towel Usage

Image by miltedflower

Paper towels are made of an absorbent, paper-based textile. These convenient towels generally come on rolls, and are used for cleaning up messes in the kitchen. First produced by Arthur Scott of the iconic Scott Paper Company, paper towels are used by millions across the globe. Their disposable nature makes them incredibly easy to use, and they are touted as an efficient way to cut down on germs that can breed in the traditional fabric towels used in kitchens.

Unfortunately, all of that paper adds up pretty quickly. In fact, paper towels make up the second-largest product in the “tissue market,” second only to toilet paper. Hundreds of thousands of trees are chopped down annually to make paper used for these towels, which is then bleached and dyed to meet the brand standards of paper towels.

Saying goodbye to the paper towel is not solely a question of being more environmentally friendly. Paper towels also cost consumers several thousand dollars over the course of a few years, depending on how frequently your family goes through a roll of them. The savings incurred in one year alone are nearly enough to convince most people that they really don’t need to have a roll of paper towels on their counter top at all times.

The question many individuals ask is;

“What will I use instead of a paper towel?”

Many different solutions exist. The most basic alternative to a paper towel is a normal washrag. These can be purchased for pennies on the dollar at a superstore near you, or they can be made from extra fabric at home such as old t-shirts. Most jobs in the kitchen can easily be completed with such a rag.

Some alternatives are super cool too, if you haven’t already heard of them then you need to check out People Towels;

People Towels - An Alternative to Paper Towels

For particularly messy jobs, you may be tempted to use a paper towel. Many individuals keep a roll of paper towels on hand for those instances alone. As a simple rule, ask yourself if cleaning up such a mess will render your cloth towel unable to be washed and reused. If the answer is yes, you’re likely better off substituting a paper towel in that instance but always make sure you buy paper towels made from post consumer recycled paper.

Regardless of your reasoning behind eliminating paper towel use, you’ll likely find that you won’t even miss them. Throwing fabric cloths into the wash with the rest of your laundry is hardly a difficult task, and you’ll be maximizing the use of the energy and water needed for your laundry. Furthermore, the savings alone will make you thankful you kissed paper towels goodbye forever.

Sarah Danielson writes for HELOC which aims to inform individuals about different loan options and what each option entails.

I wished there was a way to store compostable fruit and vegetables in the kitchen until I was ready to take all the scraps out to the main compost heap!

I was given this perfect solution by my Mother and Father in law for my birthday and it makes the routine of collecting compostable food waste so easy… It is a counter top kitchen compost bin with a built in odor filter and it works great.

Counter Top Compost Bin

My 3.5 Litre Kitchen Composter

The kitchen composter that i was given has a 3.5 liter capacity so I can cram it full off vegetable peel, fruit waste, coffee grounds, tea bags and egg shells! The picture on the packaging shows the bin full to the top but I will be taking my compostables out every couple of days to the main outdoor compost heap so I doubt it will ever get completely filled.

If I ever fill my kitchen composter then I know a visit to the outdoor compost heap is called for!

This counter top compost bin features a built in odor filter, basically a carbon filter, and it works very well indeed.

The bright red ceramic finish matched our kitchen colors perfectly, I suspect my mother and father in law had taken notes during their last visit to the house!

So it looks good, but does the built in odor filter work?

I have already partially filled my new countertop composter with orange peels, several tea bags (I drink a cup of tea each day!), a few pots worth of coffee grounds, five egg shells and some waste bell pepper cores. Needless to say, this mixture of kitchen waste is pretty stinky but the odor filter cuts out all of the smell.

My Collection of Countertop Compost!

This wonderful little counter top composter has made my life easier and it encourages me to compost AS MUCH of my kitchen waste as possible… I now have an easy place to store waste fruit and vegetables when preparing meals, I have an easy place to throw used tea bags and coffee grounds.

This simple device just makes my life simpler and greener at the same time.

The kitchen composter has a convenient metal carry handle and this means visits outside to the large compost heap can include the kitchen composter in one hand and any other compostables in the other.

So, the all important question, where can you buy yourself one of these awesome counter top composters?
Buy on Amazon.com:


I hope you enjoyed reading about my new “green” kitchen addition, please let me know if you have any kitchen composting stories to share…

Scotch Brite Scrub Pads

These wonderfully green scrubbing pads can do the work of about 30 rolls of kitchen paper and as it says on the packaging;

“You don’t have to give up cleaning performance to live a greener lifestyle”

These scrub pads have a durable rough side shown above and a smoother wiping side shown below…

The Smoother Side of Green Cleaning

We’ve been using these new biodegradable scrubbing pads on our dishes and for general kitchen cleaning and we can thoroughly recommend them, we won’t be buying regular sponges anymore, we’ve seen the green cleaning future and it is Scotch Brite!

We bought ours at the local grocery store but you can read more about these and other green cleaning products here;

www.scotchbritegreenerclean.com

Stahlbush Island Farms is a Real Family Farm.  they were founded by Bill and Karla Chambers in Oregon’s Willamette Valley in 1985, planting and harvesting just 2 crops. In 1998, Stahlbush Island Farms launched the sustainably grown frozen fruits and vegetables in the distinctive brown paper package that I purchased and in 2003, they begin selling a brand of organic pumpkin products called Farmer’s Market.

I have also tried the Cauliflower and it was just as good. I will continue to buy their products. To purchase a great tasting product that is produced by a farm that is concerned about the sustainability and health of the entire farm environment; the soil, water, air, plants, animals and people is exactly what I am looking for! Visit  http://www.stahlbush.com/ to learn more about this family farm.
Here is the recipe I used for the Butternut Squash, This will feed 2 to 4 people.

Pan Roasted Butternut Squash

Ingredients

I would never have thought of putting Clorox and green in the same sentence but Green Works appears to me to deliver on both being environmentally friendly and a great cleaner. Green Works is derived from lemon, corn and coconut. I bought my cleaner at Home Depot. The bottle has the Home Depots ECO Option label which means it has less of an impact on the environment than competing products.

Green Works All Purpose Natural Cleaner

Clorox also makes Green Works natural all purpose cleaner. This product is dermatologist-tested and made with plant and mineral-based ingredients, it is suppose to cut through grease, grime and dirt.  I will definitely buy that the next time I am in Home Depot. I also note they have a natural laundry detergent. If you are looking for cleaning products that also help create a greener Earth print, try out Green Works. Clorox says “They are committed to continuing  to go further and push harder to develop natural cleaning products that help create a clean and healthy home.”  I like the sound of that. Let me know what you think.

Evolve Ziploc sandwich bags

I don’t know about everybody else, but we use a lot of sandwich bags, plastic storage bags, etc. I know some people wash those out and use them two, three or four times. Sorry - that’s not me, however we ran across these New Ziploc evolve bags, that are better for the environment. They are Ultra Light Bags, use 25% less plastic, and are made with wind energy! The carton they come in, is made of 100% recycled paperboard. They use less energy to produce them, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Granted we would be better off not using plastic storage bags at all, but in our house, that’s probably just not going to happen. So at least using this product I feel like we are doing a little bit more to reduce our carbon footprint and create a more beautiful earthprint, one tiny step at a time. To find out more about the evolve products, go to www.ziploc.com.