Make Your Kitchen Eco-Friendly With Sustainable Storage

The pandemic has shifted our focus to eating healthy and honed our skills in the kitchen. Experimenting with foods, new ingredients and cuisines seems to brighten our moods when ‘eat from home’ has taken centre stage. However, while we pay attention to what we eat, we also need to pay attention to what we eat from and ensure our cooking, consumption and storage utensils are safe, sustainable, and eco-friendly. Maintaining an eco-friendly and sustainable kitchen comes down to the simple choices we make. Here are some easy and practical ways to achieve this.

Switch To Glass, Steel & Other Alternatives
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Plastic has taken dominance in our lives, particularly in the kitchen. From plastic utensils, containers, cutlery, and storage to our take-away food containers, we are damaging our health and the environment in the long run. Plastic contains harmful substances that can have detrimental effects on health. Additionally, it takes years to decompose and loads our environment with waste. Switch to viable and safe options like glass and steel. Use air-tight glass containers and jars made from 100 per cent borosilicate glass for your storage solutions as these are easy to clean, do not leach chemicals in your food on heating, are microwave safe, and retain the flavours. Stainless steel utensils have always been a part of the Indian kitchen.

The benefits of these are many: they are non-toxic, more durable, and easy to clean and retain the flavours on heating. Using cast iron skillets vs Teflon-coated pans, wooden chopping boards instead of plastic, and pots and pans made of ceramic is a great way to make your kitchen sustainable.

Avoid Excessive Wastage

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Our kitchens generate perhaps the maximum waste in our homes. To reduce waste, carry recyclable or reusable shopping bags for grocery shopping. This cuts down on the use of single-use plastic bags. Also, use airtight glass containers for storage or products made with natural products instead of cling wrap to ensure your cut fruits and vegetables and leftover food does not rot or absorb the chemicals from harmful materials used for wrapping.

Use Natural Detergents
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Our kitchens have everyday ingredients like vinegar, lemon juice, and baking soda which serve as great natural and non-toxic cleaners compared to the ones available in the market which are filled with chemicals. There are natural, plant-based options also available today. You can even opt for ritha and shikakai as alternatives, as much as possible if not all the time.

Invest In The Right Cookware & Appliances To Save Energy
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Investing in energy-efficient electric appliances like an oven, toaster, or griller vs a big oven will use less energy to cook the same food and will go a long way in saving on your electricity bill. Invest in pots and pans that are the right fit for your gas and stove. Larger-level pots are said to waste heat produced by electric stoves. High-quality cookware made with conductive materials gives the same results while using approximately 25 per cent less heat.

Adopt Composting
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Turn your green waste into wealth by composting. All vegetable scraps, eggshells, fruit peels, can be collected in a clay pot (avoid plastic) and used as a rich homemade fertiliser for your plants or kitchen/terrace garden. Composting helps in reducing waste going to landfills which requires space and releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Shop Seasonal
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Eating local, seasonal produce has a positive impact on the environment as this saves on the energy required for transportation, refrigeration, and storage, also reducing the burden of packaging. It will also support your local communities and farmers.

Go Green, Literally
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House plants are a great way to decorate your kitchen. They have a soothing effect while converting carbon dioxide into oxygen, making your kitchen environmentally friendly and reducing your personal carbon footprint on the environment.

Also Read: Unusual Kitchen Gadgets You Didn’t Know You Needed