A kitchen is the heart and hearth of a home. In addition to being a place where you dish out meals for your family, it is also the place where you can start implementing energy efficiency. Talking of energy efficiency, it is not just easier on the environment, but also on your pockets. Yes, going green saves you a lot of your hard earned money that you could put to better use.
Here are 7 easy-to-implement tips for cleaner, greener kitchen:
- Installing a dishwasher is the best way to save on water and electricity in your kitchen. The main things to keep in mind are turn the dishwasher on only after it is full and switch to a model that eliminates pre-rinsing. You can minimize the energy consumption of your refrigerator by setting the temperature only as low as required and not too cold. Use of glass wear is another sure shot way to save energy consumed by a refrigerator.
- Install motion sensitive or foot operated faucets in the kitchen sink to eliminate wastage of water that runs as you are unable to turn them off while washing utensils.
- Install a composting unit in your kitchen or kitchen garden, which can take up all the food waste and convert it into organic fertilizer. This is not only good for eliminating food wastage but also useful to grow organic plants in your garden.
- Replace all your Teflon coated non-stick cookware with all-clad aluminum or cast iron cookware. This is not only a healthier choice for you but also environment friendly. Disposal of Teflon coated cookware causes health hazards through the food chain.
- Get a fridge triage box for your fridge. Place all the soon-to-expire food stuff in this box so that anyone looking to find food in the fridge knows that these need to be used first. As a result you eliminate precious food from going waste just because it was tucked away in some obscure corner of the fridge.
- For those of you who drink bottled water, this is the time to replace them with a filter enabled pitcher that will filter your tap water and make it safe for you. Another option would be to install a Da29-00020b filter (or other compatible filter) onto your refrigerator’s water dispenser. Bottled water is not only a drain on earth’s limited resources, but also creates too much of plastic waste that find their way to the landfills.
- Replace cling films, zip lock bags and aluminum foil with Pyrex glass containers that are microwave safe. They are a reusable and also easily recyclable. They can be used for dual purpose of storage and serving food.
