Blog Action Day: Go Green in the Kitchen
“On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.”
A few months back, I attended a Greener Homes and Gardens show. As I walked past all the vendors pitching solar heating systems, hybrid vehicles, Energy Star appliances, I became discouraged. I can’t afford any of this stuff, I thought. How the hell am I supposed to go green on my budget?
Baby steps. I had to stop and remind myself. Baby steps. We do the things we can do, and work toward the day when we can do the things we can’t yet do. At this moment, for us frugality comes first. But that doesn’t mean we have to forgo being green. Not in the least. In fact, it’s amazing how often being frugal and being green go hand in hand.
Here, for Blog Action Day, are eight ways we go green in the kitchen and save a little money in the process.
1. Ignore the packaging and shop bulk
Buying in bulk is my favorite kitchen tip because it hits the trifecta of green, frugal, and healthy. You can’t get much better than that. Here are just a few of the items we get in bulk:
- Beans. Not only are they cheaper than canned, but home-cooked beans just taste better. Plus, if you cook a big enough batch you can do double-duty. Chopper did this the other night: used half the home-cooked black beans in a chili, then refried the other half for taco fixings.
- Granola. When the granola in the bulk section at New Seasons goes on sale, I’m all over it. (The blueberry and flax mix especially rocks my world.) Bonus health benefit: You’re not going to find high fructose corn syrup in bulk organic granola.
- Spices. If you can buy two ounces of bulk nutmeg for $3.69, why buy a jar of the same amount for $6.50? Bonus tip #1: Check thrift stores for old spice jars if you’re in need of more containers. The Goodwill near our house has them all the time, dirt cheap. Bonus tip #2: Last time I bought bulk spices, a fellow shopper was doing the same, only he’d brought a plastic bag from home, recycled from his previous trip. Now, why didn’t I think of that?
2. Seek out additional recycling options
Portland Metro’s recycling program is pretty good, but they’ve got a few gaps in their service. At curbside recycling, they only take plastic containers with necks, so yogurt containers, sour cream or tofu tubs, plastic take-out containers, trays from cookie packages – that all ends up in the trash. One solution is to eliminate as many non-recyclable packages from your shopping trip as you can, but if you’re still left with a few stragglers, then solution number two is to find a recycling depot that will take these items. Here in Portland, it’s Far West Fibers, a privately-owned recycling operation that takes everything from shrink wrap to scrap metal, CD cases, carpet pads, planting trays, and even old sneakers. In the plastic tub and tray department, if the recycle label is #1-7, they take it. I’m so relieved I don’t to invent craft projects for all those old tofu tubs!
3. Buy the whole bird
I’m a fan of Michael Pollan’s advice: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” There’s no scolding. No telling people they’re evil if they eat meat or buy a banana trucked in from Belize. Just a simple reminder that we’d all be better off if we didn’t stuff our faces with burgers, tater-tots, and Twinkies quite so much. With that in mind, this one’s for us meat eaters: don’t buy chicken thighs on Styrofoam wrapped in plastic; buy the whole bird, and use the whole bird. Imagine the tasty goodness you can get out of a winter’s worth of home made chicken stock! (Mmm, Chopper’s got some on the stove right now…)
4. Make leftovers on purpose (and eat them!)
The title of this tip might also be “Plan ahead” but to be honest, we suck at planning ahead and I’d rather not preach something I don’t practice. What we are good at is making large batches of food that last several days. Chili works well, as do taco fixings, but Thai curry’s my favorite. I could eat it every day for a week. Now this might seem more of a frugal tip than a green tip, but here’s the thing: More leftovers = fewer food packages = less trash!
5. Compost
Not everyone’s got a yard, but if you do have the means to compost, then by all means, do it! I’ll admit, we’re not skilled in this department. Our “bin” is an old plastic garbage can with holes drilled in the sides and it’s nearly full. Building a new one – with worms this time! – is on our short list of yard projects. Bonus budget saver: No need to buy bags of fertilizer for spring planting!
6. Use cloth instead of paper
We haven’t bought paper napkins or even paper towels in months. Instead, we’ve got a stack of terry cloth towels, dish rags, and cloth napkins that, when used, just go into the regular laundry with our clothes. If they’re disgustingly dirty, they might need a pre-wash in the sink, but that’s rarely necessary. I haven’t added up the savings to our grocery bill yet, but the impact on our volume of kitchen trash is obvious.
7. Take a bag to the store
I don’t always remember, but I do my best to grab a cloth shopping bag before every trip to the market. On a good day, I might even make it home with a bag full of groceries and absolutely nothing inside that needs to head for the trash. Bonus budget saver: New Seasons knocks five cents off our bill when we bring our own bag. Hey, every little bit helps!
8. Conserve water
How much clean water goes down the drain while waiting for the tap to get hot? How about that extra water in the kettle after a cup of tea? No need to waste it when there’s a thirsty pooch nearby – just grab the Dog Water jug and fill ‘er up. Keeps the cats happy too. If you don’t have pets, water your plants!
So, how green is your kitchen?
October 16th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Looks like you been rumaging around in my dishtowel drawer.
Cute.
I bought a bag of gas-station cloths, those coral-red little wipers, at Costco a hundred years ago. We use ‘em as napkins. They just keep getting paler and paler in the wash. And now I’ve got pink undies.
Hey, MizD: click through on me. ;-)
Oh! One more for you. While we’re waiting for the shower water to warm up (way down the hall from the water heater), we place a bucket to catch the unwarm water. It just about fills up by the time the heat arrives.
October 16th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
I do most of the tips you list, except i haven’t sought out alternative recycling options (although there is a place I can donate yogurt and margarine tubs for crafty reuse!) and I don’t do much of that particular water conservation.
At our bulk store, the proprietor is even willing to pre-weigh the container and use it as a tare - although I’ve only ever done that with empty containers, I’m not sure how he would take to a jar with some spices in the bottom. (Then again, he offers pre-used plastic bags to patrons, so maybe he wouldn’t blink an eye!)
October 17th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
All wonderful tips! My other favorite tips: consider buying a pressure cooker…it cooks dried beans and lots of other things in a very fast, very energy-efficient way. Use a toaster oven for baking small amounts instead of heating the whole large oven. Plan meals so that 2-3 things can be baked in the oven at the same time.
October 17th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Hey Muffin! Great tip on the Costco wipes. I really don’t own nearly enough pairs of pink undies! We do keep meaning to do the bucket in the shower thing. Now you’ve nudged me. Good for you!
Tricia, it sounds like you’ve got a pretty good bulk store. I haven’t tried anything with spice jars at our market, but that’s only because it just didn’t cross my mind. I would think the easy solution would just be to empty the last bit of spice into a dish before bringing it into the store.
Hi Nupur! Good tips! I’m going to have to have a chat with Chopper. We have all sorts of other kitchen goodies, but no pressure cooker. That is a problem. I like your toaster oven suggestion, only I can’t imagine where we’d put one! Maybe after we build more shelves with recycled lumber…
October 18th, 2007 at 5:04 am
[...] Belly Timber taught us how to be green on a budget. [...]
October 19th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Great tips! We do many of these in our own kitchen, but I especially love the dog water idea and wouldn’t have thought of that. Now I’m off to go see this other blog of yours…
October 21st, 2007 at 2:59 pm
I hadn’t thought of the water jug idea, either, but will start doing it. (It will be cat water in our house, of course.)
The last time we had paper napkins was during our kitchen remodel, when our washer and dryer were out of commission. We haven’t yet managed to get rid of paper towels entirely, but Seattle’s yard- and food-waste composting program will take food-soiled paper unless it has animal byproducts on it.
While we always remember to take tote bags and a stash of smaller bags to the farmers’ market, I rarely have them on hand when I stop by the grocery store. Two of our local public radio stations had reusable shopping bags as ‘gifts’ during their pledge drives this month, so we’ll soon have 4 of them. With that many, we should be able to remember to keep a couple in the car at all times.
October 27th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
I have been really lazy about recycling and conservation lately. I was discouraged because it seems I am the only one taking these thing seriously. It’s about time I go back to my old ways. Thanks for informative post.
December 10th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Thanks for the great suggestions! I’m absolutely implementing the dog-water one.
December 21st, 2007 at 7:27 pm
I’ve noticed that in some of our big grocery stores that the shop assistants will ask now if I want a bag or not. Usually it is if I have only purchased one or two things but in the past they would always pop it straight into a bag without asking. I guess every little bit helps.
March 5th, 2008 at 9:26 am
A bit late to the game here, but fyi… the jug o’ water idea is great for saving water, it’s not really great for feeding to anyone. The warmer the water is, the more it’s able to leach various, uh, “stuff” from your pipes, which is not meant for consumption. This is particularly an issue with older plumbing.
May 21st, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Great and practical tips! So often “greenies” focus on the big things like buying hybrid cars or new environmentally friendly homes that many ordinary people just cannot afford, but each of us can do our part in little ways!
July 24th, 2008 at 9:49 am
You have one of the best blogs I’ve seen in a long time. Keep up the good job:)
August 6th, 2008 at 2:28 am
Terrific blog. I love the water saving ideas. I will certainly be joining the day of action on October 15th by blogging away.
Keep up the good work. In these difficult economic times, we mustn’t take our eye off the ball.Go GREEN!
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:15 pm
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September 5th, 2008 at 3:48 am
I’ve just found your blog, and read for a bit, and enjoyed what I’ve read, when it suddenly hit me that you have apparently not been blogging for nearly a year now. I hope you’re OK, but it is sad finding abandoned blogs. I hope you someday resume where you’ve left off, and of course hope the only reason you stopped was cos of a busy schedule, not a tragedy.
Thanks for sharing what you have.
September 15th, 2008 at 9:33 am
The City takes the tubs now (a year later), but I still end making monthly trips to FarWest Fibers for hard plastics like CDs, nursery pots and packaging materials.
Great blog! It’s good to find another Portlander. :)