For thousands of years, kitchens have always been the heart of homes and the place where all the magic happens.
It is a place where cooking skills and knowledge come together to prepare some of the most delicious meals. In the kitchen, love is being doubled by sharing it.
However, cooking and kitchen home appliances nowadays represent the most significant expenditure in a household.
Since we are trying to save our planet in every way possible, we prepared you a plan of 8 excellent eco-friendly tips for saving money in the kitchen and also for transforming it into an eco-friendly one! Also we prepared a curated list for the best zero waste products: HERE!
Why is that? Well, many families spend a lot of money on food that often goes to waste. We overuse water and electricity, and consequently, the energy bills are pretty high every end of the month!
These ways of living are not only expensive but also unsustainable. Without being careful of our consumption, we waste a lot of Earth’s resources.
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1-Reusable Kitchen Towels
Using paper towels for cleaning counter, plates and our hands just doesn’t fit in the new era anymore. It is costly in the long-term and kills a lot of trees. Instead, we recommend you buying reusable kitchen towels, which can be easily washed and used again for many years!
Nowadays, reusable bamboo kitchen towels are quite popular and durable. If you want to avoid expenses altogether, you can make it yourself by cutting an old bedsheet, only make sure that the material is thick enough! When purchasing a new one, ask for a bio-degradable one, which can be used and washed about a hundred times, before they can be sent back to the Earth.
Pro tip: try using a dark-coloured one, since it will last a couple of days more than the white ones!
Check out our curated list for the best zero waste products:HERE
2-Invest in Energy-Saving Home Appliances
Of course, you don’t need to change everything straight away since it would be quite costly. However, once the time for buying a new home appliance has arrived, invest in an eco-friendly one, which will save a lot of energy and money in the long term.
Before buying, ask yourself whether you need a huge fridge freezer? Choose a model with an automatic energy-saving program, especially for the times, when you’re not at home.
Only run your dishwasher when it is full and select the “eco” mode if it has one. A study by the University of Bonn suggested that a dishwasher used less water and energy than washing up by hand.
You may want to read: Why choose to replace your appliances with efficient ones?
Check out our curated list for the best zero waste products: and energy stars appliances: HERE
3-Create Your Products (DIY Products)
Why always spend money, if there are so many cool ideas out there with which you can boost your creativity and make your kitchen more cost-efficient?
From your old T-Shirts, you can create eco-friendly shopping bags and avoid plastic ones forever. In most of the countries, they are forbidden completely, so you have to buy a fabric bag, priced at 1 USD. If you have your unique version of it, you can save a lot of money in the long term!
Check these DIY on SOSFuture.org a reusable diffuser, laundry detergent, toilet bombs.
Check out our curated list for the best zero waste products and DIY Supplies: HERE
Make your own detergent
Another great way of saving money and preventing the planet from additional pollution is by making your very own all-natural dishwashing detergent.(use reusable glass bottles) All you need is some lemons, vinegar, salt, water and you’ll be ready to start a new dishwashing chapter. Just imagine how much you can save with not buying the detergent for a year!
The whole procedure of how to make the detergent you can find here.
Check out our curated list for the best zero waste products and DIY Supplies: HERE
4-Don’t let the water run!
Watching your water consumption is one of the most important ways to turn your kitchen into a more sustainable one. Never let the water run when you don’t need it and install a filter to drink tap water instead of buying bottled water and create so much plastic waste.
5-Plan Your Meals
One of the most efficient ways of saving money in the kitchen is to plan your meals and never overbuy the groceries. We recommend you always to bring a shopping list into the store because otherwise you might end up just pilling up different foods in your trolley.
Planning your meals might seem a bit time-consuming in the beginning, but we assure you will soon love it! It will encourage you to be a creative cook and to try recipes that you were always too lazy to try before. (check these amazing glass container ideal for meal prep)
Once you observe how your food waste is reduced to nearly zero, you will feel very proud and inspired to continue in this manner. Check out our curated list for the best zero waste products: HERE
6-Use mechanic utensils instead of electric ones.
How nice is it to use our hands instead of machines?! Sometimes it feels like we will completely forget how to benefit from our very own body.
Use a mechanic chopping machine for foods that are easily chopped, such as onions, bread, cheese or salami and save the energy for appliances such as a water steamer, Spiralizer, smoothie mixer and a coffee machine. Also, always unplug them after using them! It will save you electricity.
Check out our curated list for the best zero waste products:HERE
7-Open windows instead of using a hood
A kitchen hood is a handy device since it contains a mechanical fan that hangs above the stove and removes the airborne grease, smoke, heat and steam from the place. However, it causes a lot of energy consumption which ends up in high utility bills every month.
An easy way to save money is to open windows instead of using a hood when cooking! Use the gifts of mother nature and go for natural air instead of an artificial one. Yes, it is that simple!
8-Buy in Bulk
Check out our curated list for the best zero waste products: HERE
One of our favourite emergences of the last decade is the reappearance of the “Buy in Bulk” stores, which promote the zero-waste lifestyle and sell goods in large quantities. It is funny that this is how people were used to shopping, before big markets and plastic wrappings took away the spotlight. Everyone chose convenience over a natural, planet-friendly way of shopping. However, the good thing is that 100 years later, we are coming back to simplicity and encourage people to buy a smaller variety of products in larger quantities. It will save us a lot of money and help us sweep the plastic out of our planet!
