Category Archives: Sustainable Kitchen

I need your help. I hear frequently from people who get what I do that it’s overwhelming. And those are the people who want to do this and understand the difference it makes. But trying to communicate this to people who are just beginning to consider sustainability is not going so well.

You see, I was just over at Planet : Home with a table set up in between a small table of “green” products and a table demonstrating canning. Because of the kiddos I wasn’t able to be at the table the whole time but I had a board up with my list of the top 5 things I think you can do to make BIG changes.

Top 5 Things You can Do to Make Your Kitchen More Sustainable
1. Eat only seasonally – no need to preserve.
2. Grow your own or buy only local, organic, sustainably produced vegetables, fruits, eggs, dairy, meats and grains.
3. Learn to properly store things to eliminate waste

cellar long storing things like potatoes, onions, garlic, winter squashes, apples

ferment short storing things like cucumbers, carrots, beets, cabbage

dry fuits

freeze or can things you would otherwise be tempted to buy during the off season (peas, tomatoes, berries)

4. Ditch the grocery store – Grind your own and learn to make from scratch
5. Compost

These things would make what was on the tables flanking me obsolete.

I watched as people came and looked at the items on the table, picking up the Mrs. Meyers (which I consider more greenwashing than green and could be easily replaced by baking soda, vinegar and Dr. Bronner’s), the compostable toilet bags (which you don’t need if you don’t have wet waste) and then gravitate over to the canning table (which you don’t need if you eat seasonally all the time.)

On my table I had books about fermenting, cheesemaking, gardening and baking. I had a grain grinder for folks to try it out and see that it was indeed the same size as a burr coffee grinder and smaller than an espresso machine. I had a jar of spelt.

They would read the board for a moment, shake their heads when I asked if they wanted to know about anything in specific, and then move on.

I’m trying to think of ways to let people know they can start with small steps. You don’t need to rip out your entire lawn. You can buy that produce from a farmer’s market or at PCC when they have it (and you can encourage them to carry it more frequently).

You don’t need to learn to can or dry or freeze or ferment or cellar if you simply eat in season.

And if you stop buying processed foods you won’t have any waste that is not compostable or recyclable.

I’m still trying to come up with a good way to present this information to people in a way that makes it simple for them to understand. I think part of the problem is this is a HUGE paradigm shift. Moving away from a largely grain based and nutritionally-bereft diet towards a more seasonal, nutrient dense diet is a huge shift for folks.

But it is THE thing you can do to become more sustainable. Healthier. Leaner and Greener.

If you have ideas on how best to present this apparently ground breaking information – Help! I’m all ears. Just not ears of corn.

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Sustainable NE Seattle has a sustainable home workshop coming up on August 21 and I’m helping pull together some information for the kitchen. I have many goals for our house and dog this year but I can’t really think of any more changes to make in the food preparation area. I thought I would share with you my list of things that will help make others become more sustainable in terms of food preparation and storage. As you read through these I encourage you to think if these are things you can do as well.

1. Stop Wasting Food. Did you know that 40% of all food goes to waste? Just think how much more sustainable you could be if you stopped wasting food!
2. Eat more nutrient dense food.  It follows that you’ll consume less of it that way.
3. Garden year round and eat seasonally. I do still preserve some of summer’s bounty but it’s far more efficient and simpler to just eat what is in season, when it is in season. In the winter in Seattle we have vit, winter hardy spinach, cabbages and kale, carrots and parsnips can stay in the ground and be harvested as needed, and onions, garlic, potatoes and winter squashes can wait all winter in your garage. Many long storing apples can also last in your garage most the winter. When they start to soften it’s time to make applesauce and fruit leather.  This means no strawberries in January, even if they are a good deal at Costco.Plant perennial edibles in your landscape. Many fruits, nuts and berries make attractive landscaping but also provide valuable and enjoyable nutrients that reduce your food purchases.
4. If you can’t garden, consider getting a local, organic or heirloom variety CSA.  This helps reduce monocrop farming and genetic seed modification.  If everyone did this it would be a HUGE setback for companies like Montsanto.
5. Learn to ferment. Many foods can be fermented, such as sauerkraut, kimchee, carrots and beets. In this way they can be preserved using no electricity and stored in a cold cellar, garage or basement until spring.
6. Turn an area of your yard into a perpetual garden. Many herbs and leafy greens can self-sow, coming back several times per year at no effort on your part. Parsley, cilantro, arugula, kale and lettuces form seed heads and create new volunteers with abandon. Set aside a dedicated patch and let them. Think of all the plastic containers you’ll save by not buying these things any longer!
7. Learn to culture dairy. Buttermilk, kefir, yogurt, and non-pressed cheeses are simple to make, require only a few ingredients and no special equipment. You’ll save a lot of packaging and be able to extend the shelf life of fresh dairy so that you don’t end up wasting it.
8. Grow your own teas. Camellia sinensis grows very well in most climates and is easy to dry as green, black, or oolong tea. You can also easily grow and dry mint, chamomile, Echinacea, lemon balm, raspberries or huckleberries, rose hips and other plants that make many different flavors of herbal teas. Leaves are simple to dry in the warm summer air and you won’t be buying individually wrapped tea bags in a plastic wrapped box that was imported, shipped and trucked in order to get to you.
9. When you buy things like chocolate, coffee and sugar be sure they are organic, fair trade, and shade or sustainably grown.
10. Trade surplus produce with friends and neighbors. Don’t let large bounties go to waste!
11. Organize a barter event twice a year. It’s much more efficient to make large batches of the same canned good, soap or lotion then swap with another person who has made something different. Trading for things you don’t know how to make also keeps you from buying a less local, more packaged version of the same thing.
12. Compost kitchen and garden scraps. You can make small plastic tubs into worm bins that fit under your kitchen sink, making composting just as convenient as using your garbage disposal. In fact – you should take out your garbage disposal so you have room for a bigger worm bin! Simple metal lidded garbage cans can be drilled with holes then sunk into the ground outside to make rodent and pet proof compost bins and a simple pile suffices for everything else.
13. Make long lived snacks rather than buying packaged foods. Jerky, dried fruit, fruit leathers and trail mix are great ways to preserve fresh meats and fruits so that you have some convenience foods in a pinch yet they will be shelf stable.
14. Buy a grain grinder and learn to make your own baked goods. This will be the single-most biggest change you will make. Imagine no longer buying bread, pancake mix, crackers, muffins, tortillas or breakfast cereal. Not supporting the additive companies, or the packaging, or the companies supporting genetically modified grain seeds, or the pesticide companies, or the large mono-crop farms is what will change the food movement faster than anything else. Drive that change. Support local, small scale grain farmers who are growing organic heirloom variety grains. There is a whole world of grain beyond wheat just waiting for you to discover it.
15. Buy local, pastured meats and use the whole animal. Request the bones for making broth and bone meal for the garden, learn to prepare the organs and reserve the fat for soapmaking and cooking. Nothing need go to waste.
16. Take a good look at your pantry. Do you really need to be buying so many different vinegars and other products? Consider making due with fewer variations of things. Do you have molasses and granulated sugar? Then make your own.
17. Use pantry items and essential oils to make lotions and cleaners rather than buying a closetful of products. Old houses didn’t need cabinets in the bathroom because they didn’t have things to put in them! You don’t need them either.
18. Shop monthly from a list. This will help force you to be organized and cut out impulse buys that get you off track. It will also help you stay on budget.
19. Consider replacing existing appliances with high efficiency models, or using them less frequently.
20. Hit thrift stores and stock up on cast iron, glass, wood and Corningware™. Repurpose rather than shopping for new.

How about you?  Do you have any suggestions for things I’ve missed?  If so I’d love to hear them!

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