How green is your kitchen?

[CatPoet]

And with  green we mean  Environmentally friendly.

 

 

A very simple question but hard  to answer, so lets break it down.

 

Cooking, utensils, pots and pans.

 

How much disposable   items are you using while  cooking?  

Will these be recycled or end up on the landfill?

How much energy does it take to cook your meal?

 

Could you change for a better option?

 

 

Food, ingredients:

 

How much is organic?

How much of the left overs will be used?

How much food do you through out that could have been eaten?

Will it be composed or end up in the landfill?

Could you change one habit that would make your dinners more environmentally friendly?

 

 

Sorry for the rough translation this was what my " county"  gave me for Christmas, how to cook green and a calender about using the resources we have sustainably.

It made me think. I answer as soon as I yet again have time. 

 

[CatPoet]

How much disposable   items are you using while  cooking?  

I try to use as little as possible  and not waste, but I am not perfect.  Most of my cookware is old and of good quality and there for seen as green,  I know my skillets are since they all are over 50 years old and therefore their negative  footprint has become a positive one.

Will these be recycled or end up on the landfill?

Recycle I have to recycle as much as I can or I get fine from my landlord. Yes I do slip up sometimes or cant figure out where things go  but plastic, tins, cartons, paper and glass I try to recycle  and  some go to burnable/ landfill and I try to use  bio degradable bin bags.

 

How much energy does it take to cook your meal?

I dont know, but I guess my lovely "county" soon will tell me.

 

Could you change for a better option?

Use less plastic would be ace, I am trying to figure out how.

 

 

Food, ingredients:

 

How much is organic?

Not much, since I cant afford it, but my eggs are at least free range and part of the year outdoors, so I guess that is better then nothing.  And my daughter only drinks eco milk, she doesnt like the taste of the others.

 

How much of the left overs will be used?

I try to use up everything  for lunch the next day if possible.

How much food do you through out that could have been eaten?

I be honest, that happens but I try to avoid it and I try to use up things before they go bad.

Will it be compost or end up in the landfill?

Compost,  it will be come bio fuel  for the  buses in town, how ever we dont get any benefits from it, still expensive to take the buses in this area compared to others.

Could you change one habit that would make your dinners more environmentally friendly?

I been pondering this all day and I am still pondering.

 

 

Sorry for the misspelling of compost and composed, little bit hard to think when  a 2½ year old  is  singing and bouncing  and hunting dad.

[andiesenji]

I buy as much organic as possible.

I recycle alsmost everything - all appropriate vegetable waste is composted - worm composter and ordinary composting and this includes many paper products, shredded used paper towels, etc.

 

I use up all my leftovers, and actually plan for leftovers as I live alone and  fix things that can be repurposed in different dishes and I vac seal and freeze in serving portions and LABEL everything.

 

I have been an environmental "nut" for decades, mainly because I grew up on a farm where nothing was wasted and when one gets into such habits when young, it sticks with you.

 

While I have many appliances, I try not to waste energy.  I only run the dishwasher with full loads - ditto the washer and I mostly use cold water and the dryer (gas) is operated on a low setting and most of my clothes are hung for final drying.  Towels and sheets get the full dryer treatment.

I use environmentally friendly detergents, somthing many people don't think about.

 

All my major appliances are "Energy Star" compliant  and I have tankless "on demand" water heaters which have reduced my gas bill considerably.

While the initial investment is significant, the long-term savings are even more so and ONE NEVER RUNS OUT OF HOT WATER!

I can take a shower with the washer AND the dishwasher running.  Could not do that before...

[Martin Fisher]

Recycling is a joke in this area.

I set out anything that's on the approved list (they won't take everything that's recyclable) but apparently they can't handle a large volume of recyclables because they take a portion of the recyclables (often a large portion) to the landfill with the garbage.

 

All organic waste from the kitchen is composted, that includes any meat scraps or bones.

 

No dishwasher, everything gets washed in a very old single bay sink. 

 

Very tiny house here, just 400 square feet...we don't use much electric or natural gas.

 

I grow organic and buy some organic, but not everything we eat is organic.

[gfweb]

Recycling is a joke in this area.

I set out anything that's on the approved list (they won't take everything that's recyclable) but apparently they can't handle a large volume of recyclables because they take a portion of the recyclables (often a large portion) to the landfill with the garbage.

 

All organic waste from the kitchen is composted, that includes any meat scraps or bones.

 

No dishwasher, everything gets washed in a very old single bay sink. 

 

Very tiny house here, just 400 square feet...we don't use much electric or natural gas.

 

I grow organic and buy some organic, but not everything we eat is organic.

 

Got photos?  Little houses fascinate me.

[Dave W]

I compost and recycle and grow my own vegetables, and do pretty well about not letting things go to waste so I feel ok about that part.

But again I live in suburban USA and excessive food packaging from normal food sources is nearly unavoidable.

And I eat beef so almost by rule my kitchen isn't green on balance.

[CatPoet]

Digging: Sounds like the little house my sister had and yet she manage to get  4 kids + 3 cats  and a husband  while living there, now they moved to a larger house.

 

I have 800 square feet, standard size for a 2 bedroom, 1 kitchen, 1 bath and one living room apartment, I am lucky I dont pay  extra for heat or water but my landlord being stuck in the greenest city in Europe  ( dont know why we won that award)  tries everything to make it  more green to live here.

 

Recycle for a tenant is easy, by law there should be a  " environment" building for  recycling and everything has its bins and if you have something you dont need there is a corner for that too.  But   every village has a few recycling points and I know where ours are.

 

My toilet paper is recycled newspaper and in theory if I want to I could drink my household cleaner and eat my  detergent, it is just pine oil soap and for stain remover I use gall soap. 

[andiesenji]

Recycling is a joke in this area.

I set out anything that's on the approved list (they won't take everything that's recyclable) but apparently they can't handle a large volume of recyclables because they take a portion of the recyclables (often a large portion) to the landfill with the garbage.

 

All organic waste from the kitchen is composted, that includes any meat scraps or bones.

 

No dishwasher, everything gets washed in a very old single bay sink. 

 

Very tiny house here, just 400 square feet...we don't use much electric or natural gas.

 

I grow organic and buy some organic, but not everything we eat is organic.

Lordy, my family room/kitchen is larger than your house.

My city recycles everything that can possibly be recycled.

There is a city facility - 24-hour recycling drop off place where one can discard electronics, batteries, etc., which are then broken down and recycled in various ways, some by reclaiming metals, plastics.

The other recyclable stuff is sorted and processed, baled and sold to manufacturing places.

Lancaster (CA) has won several awards for recycling, clean energy (all municipal buildings, all schools have shade structures with solar panels and most installations also have charging stations for electric cars.

With an entire city dedicated to "green" policies, it is much easier to be an environmentally responsible citizen.

 

Here's an article about it.  There is a proposal to present seminars for officials from other cities that are interested in solving these problems efficiently and those should begin this year.  There have been unofficial visitors from other cities and our mayor has championed this at meetings with other mayors across the country. 

[Martin Fisher]

This is New York State, lots of stupidity here...electric bicycles are illegal...gas guzzling vehicles generate many more tax dollars. 

 

 

Got photos?  Little houses fascinate me.

 

 

We're frugal...nothing fancy, just a VERY cheap place to live in a good neighborhood.

Photos of the place when I bought it 5 years ago.... https://plus.google.com/photos/101955322732983843480/albums/6100585386848617905

[Tri2Cook]

How much disposable   items are you using while cooking?  Usually none.
 

Will these be recycled or end up on the landfill? If I'm using anything disposable, it's gonna end up in the landfill.
 

How much energy does it take to cook your meal? I have no idea.

 

Could you change for a better option? Probably.

 

 

Food, ingredients:

 

How much is organic? None by intent. Some may be but not because I went out of my way to make sure it was.
 

How much of the left overs will be used? Depends, sometimes all of it, sometimes none.
 

How much food do you through out that could have been eaten? More than I'm happy about.
 

Will it be composed or end up in the landfill? Landfill unless it's something the ravens will eat during the winter.
 

Could you change one habit that would make your dinners more environmentally friendly? I'm sure I could...

[gfweb]

Looks bigger than 400 sqft! I can see how that would be plenty of space.

[gfweb]

Interesting question.

 

But considering that my kitchen is just part of the agri-industrial complex, I can say that whatever I do waste (while trying not-to) is an infinitesimal fraction of good food that is tossed because of a blemish or because of some partially arbitrary sell-by date ( no I'm not talking about dairy or meat). 

[Martin Fisher]

The porch makes it look bigger but there's not much usable space on the porch...there is a small 7 cubic foot freezer and some shelving out there.

It's 18' x 22' without the porch, so, 396 square feet.

 

I've ripped out all ornamental perennials and replaced with vegetable garden space or edible perennials.

[CatPoet]

TriCook: Our ravens at the landfill has  started to kill seagulls for food.   They are clever buggers.

[CatPoet]

Digging: My mum grows some ornamental  flowers as pesticides next to  her vegetables .   I know tagetes stand next to her tomatoes and near some cabbage ( the smell makes deer avoid it)

[Shel_B]

I buy just about everything organic, and research, often through Cornucopia Institute - but not limited to them - the quality of the organic products I buy and use.  I buy only top tier organics, and much of my shopping is done at the Berkeley Organic Farmers market, although I do buy a good amount of items at TJ's.

 

There is very little waste it my place, and likewise at Toots'.  If, between us, we toss a five gallon can into the landfill every couple of weeks, that's a lot, but El Cerrito has an EXCELLENT recycling program and produces compost from green waste which is distributed back into the community.  Even plastic bags and containers are recycled.

 

My cookware is all pretty efficient and is purchased with durability and long-term use in mind.

 

As for cooking efficiency, well, I am able to break down my cost for electricity (which is what my stove, oven, etc., uses) into 15-minute increments, so I know exactly what it costs to boil an egg or sear a pork chop.  Rarely do I use the oven, rather, I most often use the Breville Smart Oven unless I'm cooking a big meal and need the space the full-sized oven provides, but even then some items will often be cooked in the Breville.  It cost me 44-cents to prepare New Years Eve dinner for Toots and myself.  In the FWIW department, my electric bill runs about $5.00 per month.

 

Recently the City of El Cerrito decided to offer Clean Energy to it's citizens through Marin Clean Energy, and by May just about all the energy I use will be clean energy, produced by renewable resources such as wind, solar, hydro, etc.

 

Rarely do I have leftovers unless I cook with that purpose in mind.  Rarely is any useable food put into the compost bin.  When cooking at Toots' place we often cook with the idea of making leftovers, and more often than not those items can be given a quick zap in the microwave to heat up. 

 

We also grow some of our own produce - potatoes, leeks, tomatoes, herbs, peppers, squash ... all organic, often using the compost provided by the city that we helped to provide.  There's that completed circle ...

 

We both reuse plastic bags from the market, and I pretty much no longer store anything in plastic, using only glass containers for most everything, and the containers are, of course, reused.  I am slowly drifting away from foods sold in cans, preferring those items sold in glass or canning my own.  Admittedly, it's a slow process, but I am making progress.  Toots cans a lot of fruit and has been teaching me some techniques.

 

Overall, I think we are very conservative.  I buy more high-end organics than Toots, but we both support local businesses as much as possible.

Edited January 4, 2015 by Shel_B (log)

[dcarch]

This is New York State, lots of stupidity here...electric bicycles are illegal...gas guzzling vehicles generate many more tax dollars. 

 

 

 

 

We're frugal...nothing fancy, just a VERY cheap place to live in a good neighborhood.

Photos of the place when I bought it 5 years ago.... https://plus.google.com/photos/101955322732983843480/albums/6100585386848617905

[Martin Fisher]

I lived off grid for a few years...mostly wind power....I'm hoping to get back to the country and do it again some day.

 

Electric bikes are definitely illegal here in NY state.

 

"Motorized devices that cannot be registered in New York"

"You cannot register or operate any of the motorized devices from the list below on any street, highway, parking lot, sidewalk or other area in New York State that allows public motor vehicle traffic. You may be arrested if you do."

"Motor-assisted Bicycle - a bicycle to which a small motor is attached. A motor-assisted bicycle doesn’t qualify for a registration as a motorcycle, moped or ATV and doesn't have the same equipment."

 

Source: http://dmv.ny.gov/registration/motorized-devices-cannot-be-registered-new-york

 

Sensible states limit electric bikes to about 750 watts and 20 miles per hour.

[dcarch]

Over the pass many years my kitchen scrap contribution to the landfill = 0.

 

I recycle 100% of my kitchen waste. Meat, fat and large hard bones are also all composted. I use my garden shredder to pulverize bones. I use a converted rototiller to bury kitchen waste deep to avoid animals digging things up. I must have buried several thousand gallons of kitchen waste. Incredible fertile soil I have.

 

Water from the sink is collected to water the garden.

 

I repair many appliances, so I seldom have to buy machines and throw away machines.

 

I have seven computers, all are repairs from sidewalk throw aways. Instead of "recycle" electronics to poison African children, I save money not having to buy new ones.

 

I don't trust farmers market "organic", and I don't believe buying local is energy efficient. 

 

My kitchen and house is 60F in the winter. Dough doesn't rise well in my kitchen. :-)

 

dcarch

 

 

[liuzhou]

How much disposable items are you using while cooking?

 

Very little. 

Will these be recycled or end up on the landfill?

 

One of the contradictions of China is that, while there is appalling pollution almost everything can be recycled. Not only that but they pay you for your garbage! Metals, paper, plastic, cloth etc. are all recycled. Food is gathered and used to feed pigs. Even toilet waste is gathered and used as fertiliser.

How much energy does it take to cook your meal?
Don't know, exactly. Like most people I mainly use gas rather than electricity (except for the rice cooker) and 99% of my cooking is done in a wok, which as I'm sure you all know was developed to save fuel. I do have a stand alone induction cooker that maybe gets used once a year.

Could you change for a better option?

I'm not perfect, so yes. Not sure what that would be though.

 

 

Food, ingredients:

How much is organic?

Very little I'm sure. Unfortunately, China has no real legal definition of "organic". I do buy what is labelled as organic chicken (土鸡) , but have no real way of knowing other then by taste.

How much of the left overs will be used?

 

Usually, most. Lunch next day.

How much food do you throw out that could have been eaten?
I used to throw away much more. Cutting down on that

 

Will it be composed or end up in the landfill?
Fed to pigs.

 

Could you change one habit that would make your dinners more environmentally friendly?

Eat less meat.

Edited May 26, 2018 by liuzhou (log)

[Shel_B]

... I can say that whatever I do waste (while trying not-to) is an infinitesimal fraction of good food that is tossed because of a blemish or because of some partially arbitrary sell-by date ( no I'm not talking about dairy or meat). 

Edited January 5, 2015 by Shel_B (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Cary has a very good recycling program, although it makes me a little mad that it ended behind-the-house garbage collection with no benefit to me and lots to them. It threw much of the municipality's work on the residents for no compensation. It works for them because everyone wants their garbage collected, so it's very easy to enforce the free labor. My water/garbage bill is $100 per month.

 

That said, I used to have many bags of trash destined for the landfill. Now, there's only one or two a week. The recycle cart's always full to the brim every two weeks.

 

It's been very profitable for them. I was surprised after reading several years ago that the Italian mafia was killing one another over plastic bottle recycling. I hadn't realized there was that much money in it.

 

We even have a law that it's illegal to "steal" anything from recycling bins to curtail those individuals who were trying to make a profit for themselves from this practice, but it's still okay for the police to go through recycling or trash looking for something incriminating without a warrant because it's been discarded. I guess the "legit" mafia makes the legislation to benefit themselves. Logic be damned. So I have a few problems with these developments, but overall, I really like them.

 

Practically no food gets wasted in this household. We can't afford to. If for any reason, leftovers do not get eaten in a timely fashion, which is seldom, they get offered to our raccoons. I discovered years ago after years of trying to beat the critters who'd raid my trash cans and break into the plastic bags and strew all the trash over the yard in search of the tasty chicken bones they smelled, that it was just easier to join them.

 

Now bones, and anything else I think they'll eat gets offered after dinner in a designated place at the edge of the woods. They especially love sweet potato or butternut squash skins. Maybe they don't have access to a lot of vitamin A?

 

I even been known to cook pasta or pop corn that I've inadvertently let go past its expiration date for them instead of throw it out.

 

I can't usually afford a lot of organic stuff either, but I'm buying more chicken that way because I'm having a very hard time choking down the agribusiness offerings lately. Sometimes I find produce that's organic and very affordable. Carrots seem to be very reasonable in that class lately. Maybe they're easy to grow that way. I never remember any bug problems when I grew them.

 

Our recycling program doesn't take some stuff. A major one is plastic grocery bags. Regular paper bags just don't get it with the long haul from the driveway up the sidewalk into the house. It's 100', and I may have to make a dozen or more trips sometimes. I take the bags back to the local Food Lion that accepts them for recycling.

 

I also use reusable shopping bags, including an insulated one from Trader Joe's, and I reuse their paper bags, which because they have handles, if double bagged are every bit as utile as plastic shopping bags. When the paper bags are worn out, Food Lion offers recycling for them too.

 

I buy cheap paper towels from the dollar store for nasty jobs where they'll go straight into the trash. I buy better paper towels for the kitchen, and reuse them. If I'm just, for example, drying off produce I just washed, I'll hang them to dry over my utensil bucket. They may last up to a week, until I have something greasy or nasty I have to wipe up right away and don't have time to run to the pantry for the cheap ones.

 

All my cookware is bought to be very long-lasting with the exception of nonstick. If I found an acceptable substitute that worked as well, I'd be open to getting rid of that too, although I've had my current nonstick aluminum pans for twenty years because I only use them for necessary tasks. Some are beginning to ask for replacement, though.

 

I manage my fresh produce very carefully, taking advantage of the many tips I've found on eGullet. For instance, I didn't know fresh ginger could be successfully frozen and grated from that state. It works great and has allowed me to utilize many a rhizome that would have otherwise gone to waste. I aim for zero waste, and often achieve it, thanks to eG.

 

I do keep disposable dinnerware, but only for power outages. We're in a hurricane zone, and are subject to NASTY ice storms in winter. Heating water for dishwashing without power is very difficult. Usually I do that in the skillet I cooked in and just throw out the serving ware.

 

I send sturdy, disposable, full sized eating utensils with my husbands lunches sometimes, but expect him to return them so I can run through the dishwasher and send them out again. This doesn't always happen, and that's the reason I don't send regular silverware.

 

That's all I can think of in this area, but any tips anyone comes up with in this area are most welcome to me. 

[Martin Fisher]

Sometimes I find produce that's organic and very affordable. Carrots seem to be very reasonable in that class lately. Maybe they're easy to grow that way. I never remember any bug problems when I grew them.

 

 

Yes, one of the grocery chains here, Wegman's, offers only organic carrots.

[sparrowgrass]

 

How much disposable items are you using while cooking?

 

Almost none--a little alumiinum foil, which I recycle. 

 

 

 

How much energy does it take to cook your meal?
Don't know--propane stove.

 

Could you change for a better option?

Probably. I could use the microwave/pressure cooker more.

 

 

Food, ingredients:

How much is organic?

I garden and preserve, so a lot of veggies are organic.  

 

How much of the left overs will be used?

 

Not everything.

 

How much food do you throw out that could have been eaten?
I don't throw any food away--I have dogs and chickens.

 

Will it be composed or end up in the landfill?
The only thing that goes to the landfill are bones that I don't want the dogs to have.

 

Could you change one habit that would make your dinners more environmentally friendly?

Eat less meat.  But my beef is local, no hormones no antibiotics.   

• Like This

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

[Deryn]

Oh dear. This is a pet peeve of mine. Please feel free to delete this post if it is not PC enough. I do do my best to be 'green' but ...

We have 'garbage nazis' around here. Real garbage only gets collected every 2 weeks, despite the fact there is also a 'rule' that says we cannot keep garbage on our properties more than 7 days. And when the garbage truck comes, the guys spend quite a lot of time peering through the clear PLASTIC bags (in 2 colours and not cheap) we are forced to buy to make sure rules about what is allowed in there are strictly adhered to. If they see anything that doesn't belong (and I mean 'anything' - a small piece of what they deem recyclable paper in the 'real garbage' - put there because it was dirty on the side they can't see - means the entire bag is rejected), they leave a notice (on non-recycled paper) saying that it must be removed, and they leave the bag for collection another 2 weeks down the line (meaning that 'real garbage' - which can stink - potentially remains on my property for up to 4 weeks). Try as I might to make sure nothing gets in the wrong bags, this still happens far more often than it should.

Cutting up cardboard and bundling it according to the many regs that govern that type of recycling doesn't always work either - with no explanation at all as to what is the problem, it is not collected - and I pay (more every year) for a service I don't consistently get any more.

The good news is that cooking is now almost impossible in a kitchen cluttered with 4 large 'garbage' containers - plastic/metal, paper/glass, real garbage, and compost - which it was never designed to hold. Takes longer to sort out the refuse than it does to cook - and since that is not my favorite activity, I cook less and less. I still buy too much food (because I have to drive 2 hours to get it) but the good news there is that most of it can go into the compost container and that does always get collected every week. I would just eat out all the time and let others deal with the refuse but this is a 'one horse town' and there are very few places to eat and they don't serve decent or healthy food in my opinion.

It doesn't thrill me that the consumer is often forced to buy goods in 'non-environmentally acceptable' containers so we are the ones paying more than once for the irresponsibility of industry. I have stacks of Styrofoam packaging piling up in my garage because they don't seem to be acceptable in any container and I cannot compress it without breaking it up into a million tiny pieces that fly all over the place and take years to completely clean up. My real garbage bag is often full of plastics of all kinds - no matter how I try to cut that down.

I don't keep cows and other methane emitting creatures (well, I do have a dog but I feed him Beano). Neither of us eats beef more than about once every decade. I am doing my best to save humanity.

I bought a freeze-drier to try to cut down on 'leftovers' going to waste. It uses electricity, a considerable amount, but hopefully that balances out eventually.

But, my kitchen is painted green - and I am certain the paint was low odour and otherwise environmentally sound. So, yes, I am 'green'!

I save on water too. The flow is so low these days that I take fewer showers because I hate being so cold while wet (and making the shower twice as long so I can get clean - consuming just as much water as if there was more flow). Good thing I don't go out much - the dog doesn't care how I smell. This is especially the case in mid winter, when I do my part to keep carbon emissions down by wearing mittens and heavy jackets indoors so I can lower the thermostat.

And I do fewer dishes because I cook less. I try not to use bags at all when shopping - I buy all my clothes with large pockets now - because plastic is bad, paper is bad, and all other bags need to be washed every time they are used to be sanitary and safe - which increases laundry and I have cut down drastically on how much of that I do - to save the environment.

I have also been known to buy new clothes (cheap from China) and dump the old ones into recycling containers at Walmart rather than washing them and using power and water. I actually bought a manual clothes 'washer' to help save the world - but until I can get a clothes line put up (those ARE allowed here, miracle of miracles - many places they are not), it gets used very little since I have nowhere to hang the clothes to dry - especially sheets. That much extra humidity in the house would mean I would have to turn on a dehumidifier - consuming more electricity.

But luckily, the power police are not on my tail here yet. We don't have 'smart meters' so what laundry I do do I don't have to get up at 2 am to do - so far. By my accounting that is a good thing because if I did that I would have to turn on heat and lights. (Note: We have windmills making power for people hundreds of miles away - not for us - within full view of my front door).

Meanwhile I was thrilled to learn the other day that the rain forest is growing faster than ever - apparently it has just been discovered that it LIKES the C02 produced by humans and cows. I thought I learned that in Grade 2 science - plants take in the CO2 we put out and give us back O2 to breathe - it is a wonderfully designed symbiotic relationship.

I grow and forage a fair bit of my food in summer and dig by hand as much as possible, and all fertilizer (if used at all) is 'organic'. We have long winters though.

I am a very responsible citizen and do my part as best as I can to help the environment but it has gotten to the point of ridiculous here.

Edited January 5, 2015 by Deryn (log)