apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

If you are like my family and have too many groceries to go shopping with canvas bags, do what we do and reuse your plastic shopping bags as bags to hold your lunch. Usually the bags have little holes in them so they aren't sturdy enough to reuse for grocery shopping. However, they remain strong enough to contain a lunch within a backpack.

My second favorite tip is eating in. If you cook your own food you don't need to drive to restaurant. You get dozens of meals out of a single trip to the grocery store.

My favorite tip involves kitchen pests, fruit flies. I keep a glass with red wine vinegar with a drop or two of dish soap (Restore dish soap, no less) on the shelf above my sink. (A similar tip was posted on this site awhile ago, but it involved a funnel). The red wine vinegar attracts the flies and when they land on the surface, the soap has changed the surface tension of the liquid and they fall right in! (poor little buggers die, but I'm not going to worry about it. :))

We've been turned on to the wonders of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap. It's more potent than other natural cleaners (and even Method, though I love them) but it really does dissolve grease and dirt. We use it for everything, from stovetop to sink to oven, which means we don't need Ajax, oven cleaner, or Formula 409. For easy jobs, I have a drawer full of rags (dirty ones pile up and get tossed in the laundry with dog towels) and for tougher ones I just use a nylon scrubbie. Oh, and if you've ever tried to clean the overhead vent filter (the one above the stove), Magic Soap in a sink full of hot water literally dissolves every bit of grime off and you get a shiny filter. Really.

Go meatless at least once a week. (I'm vegetarian so I do it every day!) The environmental impact is significant. I won't bombard you with links, so here's one: http://www.goveg.com/environment.asp

I'm amazed at how many horrible plastic bags I'm NOT using, by shopping with my reusable bags! Plus, most grocery stores give you .5 cents off for using a reusable bag! Save money & the environment is always good in my book!

My husband loves cleaning but unfortunately, when he does, he uses a million paper towels. His theory is if he uses a sponge, he's just pushing around germs. I recently bought some Scotch-Brite High Performance Cleaning Cloths and this is straight from their website: "... provides ultra cleaning power because of its knitted interwoven design of water-and-oil absorbing microfibers that lift and trap grease, dust and dirt particles. Reusable, machine washable." That last part, reuseable and machine washable has saved quite a few trees since we've started using them, I'm sure.

Try composting your kitchen waste. I keep a small pail under the kitchen sink and throw all of our compostable kitchen waste (things like vegetable matter, egg shells, and coffee grounds) into the pail, then I empty the pail into the compost bin a few times a week. Less kitchen waste goes to the landfill, and the compost makes an excellent fertilizer.

Good ideas so far - yeah for compost!!

For what it's worth, our grocery store accepts back the plastic bags to be recycled. That seems like the least we could do. However we have another take on the plastic grocery bags. I still have one child in diapers. We use the plastic grocery bags as individual wraps for really stinky diapers instead of buying extra bags designed for that purpose. Around the time we finally reach potty training success, we'll be moving into the school-lunch stage of life and the bags will get a new purpose. Thanks for the tip, OneEyedMan!

When it comes to scrubbing out our kitchen sink (or any other surface that I used to use Comet on), I now use plain, old baking soda and some elbow grease. And if I need some extra help from some "scrubbing bubbles," I'll add a little white vinegar to the baking soda. It works great, is totally non-toxic, and, for the science geek in me, looks really cool!

We recently took a close look at how we live in the kitchen to determine what we could change that would have the biggest impact environmentally speaking. We realized that because we're not as organized as we could be with our food storage, we wind up wasting tons of food. So we cleaned out the fridge and the pantry and took stock of what we have. We now are really careful about labeling leftovers (and making an effort to actually eat them) as well as being conscious of using ingredients that will spoil quickly before they spoil!

It seems like a silly thing, but actually ever since we cleaned the fridge and pantry out it's been much, much easier to cook healthy meals at home which was cut down on the amount of eating out that we do, and which has led to NO ingredients/food being wasted because it went bad before we got to it!

i've finally been able to stop using plastic bags! I buy tons of different sized reusable plastic and glass containers for taking lunch and storing leftovers. the plastic containers are best for taking food on the go (lunch/carrots/pretzels/etc.) And the glass ones are great for freezing/storage. When grocery shopping i take my own reusable bags (but also ask for a few paper bags to use as trash can liners).

I am a convert to composting.
My kitchen waste has been reduced exponentially,
and I have a fine use for the pretty blue speckle-tin pot with lid that is too thin to use for cooking but perfect for holding vegetable waste and coffee filters and egg shells until they hit the compost bin.

NYC sells the bins at a subsidized $20 at various events.
http://www.nyccompost.org/index.html

On the Preserve products: LOVE THEM
and love that they are made of yogurt pots.
I use one of their toothbrushes.

p.s.
although most communities don't yet offer #5 recycling,
one place in Brooklyn is set up to take what they city does not
and that is the Park Slope Food Coop
One need not be a member to recycle (clean, dry) plastics
Of course it helps to live nearby . . .

details about drop times and other particulars at
http://foodcoop.com/go.php?id=112&PHPSESSID=6957fc5b6f194dda5d788a14ae4c9a27
I have an iCal program with the dates and times if anyone wants to email me to subscribe
guidoo at mac dot com

I try to re-use packaging from food that I buy. I especially like bottles and plastic tubs. They are great for storing leftovers or using as resealable airtight containers for things that come in un-resealable bags, such as rice, nuts, etc.

This is a tip for lazy people like me - arrange your kitchen so that doing the environmentally friendly thing is EASIER than using a disposable/toxic product.

For example, I still have some paper towels (recycled!), but I keep them in a cupboard, instead of on a paper-towel holder out within easy reach. Meanwhile, I keep dishtowels and small rags accessible. Now I reach for those to clean up a spill, when I used to go straight for the paper towels. I also filled an old spray bottle with white vinegar, water, and a little soap, and keep it out on the counter - now it's just as easy to use as a conventional kitchen cleaner. Use your innate laziness to help the planet!

One of my favorite eco-kitchen things are the unbleached brown waxed paper bags that I wrap my son's sandwiches in. Not only are they biodegradable, but they have a real 1950's feel to them, and remind me of things like wonderbread jelly sandwiches, which I would never eat today. I also use reusable container for his lunches and biobag bags for garbage and compost. These bags are a kind of plastic that is biodegradable and compostable and are worth the price.

My tip is to leave the oven door open a little after you turn it off so that the accumulated heat can seep out and add to the warmth of the house. This can actually make a noticeable difference if you have a small place, as we do, and since I use the oven a lot anyways, it make sense to use the heat for more than just baking. Plus, we use our other heater less in the process.

bsc, that's a great tip!

In my tiny studio apartment, composting just isn't feasible. I always get fruit flies, even with a lidded container (the worms need air, and the little bastards - fruit flies - seem to get in and out of those hole just fine), so I had to think of other ways to reduce my food waste. I now have a food waste bin in my fridge where I throw all of my technically edible vegetable leftovers (cut ends, stalks, wilty or yellowed leaves, touch but edible skins, etc) and on weekends I use all that stuff to make vegetable stock. My freezer is now 'stocked'...heh heh...with delicious homemade stock in varying flavors!

erm, I meant "tough but edible" not "touch"...

Boiled water is just that--boiled water. Last night after I boiled water for egg salad I used the same pot for pasta.

And, sometimes w/ two of us a whole bag of spinach is just too much. But always cook it all at once, because you can reheat, but you can't stop the fresh stuff from wilting!

I don't think I've ever bought a garbage can liner bag - the supermarket bags do the trick. Remember, the three arrows stand for reduce, REUSE, recycle.

I stock up on all of my pantry items at once (pasta, canned and jarred items, flour, sugar, etc.), so when I haven't planned for dinner and have only a few tomatoes and celery lying around, I can whip something up. It saves me a drive to the store.

I like to save jelly jars and use them as drinking glasses.

We also recycle everything that we can, usually our recycle bin is so full by midweek that we have to use our neighbors bin.

I finally stopped letting the hot water just keep running while washing the dishes... oh and while O am brushing my teeth. It was a hard habit to break!

When we bought our house it had an old fridge that was making odd knocking sounds and was running quite often. We decided to replace it with a much smaller EnergyStar fridge. The obvious advantage of this is the reduced cost of running the fridge. The extra bonus has been that it has helped us reduce our food waste since it is not as easy to loose items in the back of the fridge.

We make a very concerted effort to recycle everything we can, including paper, cardboard, glass, aluminum etc.

We also try to reuse glass containers for leftovers, homemade dressing etc.

When you're cooking in a covered pot on the stovetop, turn off the burners a few minutes early, and let the residual heat finish the job. The energy savings will really add up over time!

Every jar or container we buy gets reused. My spice rack is full of jelly jars. I use old bottles from herbal tinctures for vanilla and the like. My beans, rice, pasta, various grains, powders, and whatnot, all go in reused glass jars.

This implicitly involves shopping in the bulk department. It's far cheaper than buying pre-packaged goods. Spices alone are an enormous savings! Don't be shy about bringing your own containers. Just remember that you have to get the weight of the empty container before you put anything in it. I find the folks at the meat counter are always willing to weigh my empties for me. Sometimes they print out the weight on a scale sticker as well.

I avoid getting plastic as much as I can, but when we have plastic containers in the house, we use them the same way we use glass jars. Also, since they are less breakable, they are perfect for packing lunches, sending people home from dinner parties with leftovers, anything you would normally use a Tupperware container or the like for.

I can't compost in my backyard, but there is a huge compost project in town that accepts food waste. Rather than spend money on a bin or risk getting fruit flies, I put all the compost in a brown paper bag in the freezer. The bag itself is compostable, and I re-use it until it falls apart. For liquids or coffee grounds, I keep an old 32 oz yogurt container in the freezer.

When we cannot avoid getting plastic bags, we reuse them. We have 4 cats and three litterboxes. Need I say more?

and speaking of cats, clean aluminum foil that can no longer be reused makes a great cat toy. They love chasing a tight crinkled ball of it across tile or linoleum.

compost, compost, compost!

Compost your kitchen scraps. You can easily reduce garbage output by 50 percent.

We compost as much as we can in our kitchen- papergoods get put into a vermicomposting bin, and plant matter and eggshells go into our compost bin outside.

Native carivorous plants provide fruit-fly management while also adding a touch of nature indoors.

The biggest thing in our household is that we don't have a dishwasher- so to keep from using too much water while washing dishes we was in washtubs, and re-use water from our big canning pots to water plants, and to wash dishes with.

I replaced all of my appliances with Energy Star high-efficiency versions. It has saved a lot of energy (and bills). I also make sure to use them efficiently - like running the dishwasher only when it is completely full.

I'm the composting queen in the kitchen of all my kitchen scraps and an avid recycler of packaging. This has allowed me to cut back drastically on the amount garbage that I put out weekly at the curb, so much so that I've reduced from a 32 gallon garbage can to a 20 gallon garbage can. This reduces what goes in the landfill and ultimately saves me money on my garbage bill.

I've also gotten my 3 year old into composting as she makes demands that I compost her banana peel, apple core. She accompanies me out for the the daily trek out to the compost bin in our backyard and for the weekly turning of the pile and is amazed and delighted by the process. Already she knows that composting is a good thing and it gets her thinking green at any early age. How bad could that be?

We take grocery bags (plastic) back to our local Kroger store for recycling. We installed all Energy Star apliances when we built our house two years ago. We live in a rural area so I can throw out food scraps that will either decompose or be eaten by wildlife. I still use papertowls, but I have cut way back on them. I also use them over, when I dry my hands on them or use them for anything thats not greasy or sticky, I reuse them to clean up cat messes. We have two older male cats, one can't seem to urinate in the litterbox anymore, the other one seldom manages to deficate in the box,so I reuse alot of papertowls. It makes me feel less guilty about using them.I use soda & vinegar for cleaning alot of things, but I do still use some comercial cleaners.I recntly got an infestation of tiny moths in my pantry,(they hatched out of organic pumpkin seeds) I got rid of them with clove oil, (7 drops to a pint of warm water in a spray bottle). I sprayed the shelves heavily, top, bottom, & sides. I'm not entirely sure whether I drownd them or what but it worked. I hate the very thought of using chemical pesticides. This is my first post, I hope I didn't go on too long.

We save our kitchen scraps in a step-lid trash can that has a lift-out insert. We give the scraps to the chickens who in turn supply us with fresh eggs. If there is something that the chickens can not eat (such as raw potato peelings), it goes into the compost pile which we turn, add chicken manure to and use as good dirt around out vegetable plants and other plants... thus providing them nutrients which will eventually provide us nutrients and start the cyle over again with kitchen scraps.


blogged ya: blogged ya: http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com/2007/11/thursday-edition-of-contests-galore_15.html

As citydwellers, it is hard for us to compost- there is no place for us to put it!!! However, we are constantly using old veggies to make stocks or soups and give other food scraps to the dogs in our building. We reuse takeout containers for our own leftovers and rinse/reuse ziploc bags.

we stopped using all paper towels/napkins in the kitchen. we have converted to all cloth. In my opinion, they do their job better. We also reuse plastic bags for all sorts ways....such as collecting our recycling in them. weee for trying to do our best.

Agree with the above ideas about reusing plastic bags for diapers, trash bags, and lunches (and the rest get recycled at the grocery store). Also use my reusable TJ bags (and teaching the toddler about it too). Lastly, I love Method's Go Naked all-purpose cleaner. And the baking soda/vinegar suggestion above. I've never had a cleaner coffee maker.

I've already started Christmas shopping and when I'm shopping for the presents that I'm not making, I bring my llbean tote bag to the mall to put all the gifts in so I don't bring home those plastic shopping bags.

So simple -- skip take-out and do the cooking yourself!

I re-use as many plastic shopping bags as I can and bring the unused ones to the Salvation Army, which always needs used bags for their shoppers.

eat local!
choose local, regional and seasonal foods over trucked-in organics.
why?
eating local supports your community and requires less oil for transport. local foods are typically fresher, too. it's also a plus that many small farms actually adhere to organic standards, whether they're certified or not.
and..
eating seasonal supports sustainable farming and reaffirms your connection to the earth.
yummy food and a happy earth. what could be better?

I live in a small town and there are lots of farmers markets and orchards. I love buying food from these local places. They usually cost more but I'm willing to pay for it because I know the food I'm eating is so much better for me and the environment. It's also nice to know that I am supporting people in my community while I'm buying healthy food.

I always try my best to re-use those plastic bags that you get at the grocery store. Even when you have those reusable grocery bags, somedays you just don't have enough. So I use it for all garbage containers in the bathroom, bedrooms, home office, etc. Even for food scraps that might leave an odor that you want to keep separate from the rest of the garbage (e.g. rotting food, fish bones, etc.).

All my tips are already listed. Especially baking soda/vinegar, keeping rags in a drawer next to the sink, and re-using bags and containers, especially jars (I heart jars). I would happily compost, but don't have time to garden. I called the city's community garden program and they won't take my compost. :( I should start making stock. I love the tip about carnivorous plants; I think I'll do that.

Wow, a lot of my favorite eco-friendly tips are already listed! The one single thing that I believe makes the biggest impact is to buy locally. I just returned from the farmer's market and am sad to see that their season is ending (Farmer's markets close in Boston before Thanksgiving). However, I will unabashedly say that I was absolutely giddy to find organic winter squash for $0.50/lb! :D

The winner is bebemiqui who says "compost, compost, compost" - great advice, no matter where you live. We compost in our tiny apartment - most communities have a compost drop-off program.

Thanks for participating!

Save kitchen scraps and compost them at your friendly community garden.

It can be quite difficult to be "green" and stay on a single mom's budget. Luckily the stores all have the reusable bags for so cheap now we have been able to convert. I also tend to not cook more than we eat. It has been a challenge with just myself and 2 young boys to not cook too much... but with practice I have and we do not waste nearly as much food.

We use washable dish rags instead of paper towels.

We compost indoors using one of those big lidded Rubbermaid containers. It's shocking how much vegetable matter those little guys will go through in a week!

I would love these recycline products. Living in the city, I am frightened by the amount of plastics thrown away - water bottles, food containers, plastic wrap! Plus my cutting board is getting pretty sad looking.