Clean Up Your Cooking

Stuffing? Mashed potatoes? Tofurky?

Regardless of what you put in your oven or your mouth, cooking is usually a holiday staple. But along with cooking, waste isn’t usually far behind. From leftover food to left-open refrigerators, waste is all around us as we prepare the treats that make your holiday dinner party a hit.

Though cooking by candlelight may be a romantic choice, it isn’t necessarily practical for all occasions. So, how does one still be merry while not breaking the eco-bank? It’s as easy as a 1,2,3:

Your holiday dinner party can be easy, breezy and green, from the grocery store to the dining table. Photo: Amanda Wills, Earth911.com

1. Buy It
2. Make It
3. Clean It

Buy It

According to the U.K.’s Soil Association, “50 percent of the increase in global CO2 emissions between 1850 and 1990 has been tied to changes in land use –mainly because of farming practices.” This huge number demonstrates the impact that food production can have on the planet. Your purchases are important, whether you’re at the the grocery store or the farmer’s market. But the good news is that shoppers are starting to listen.

A recent study by Packaged Facts found that U.S. supermarket sales of environmentally sustainable or “ethical” products will rise about 8.7 percent in 2009 to nearly $38 billion, proving that, despite the recession, holiday shoppers still favor eco-friendly goods. But how does a shopper know what products to buy and which products to pass up? Let’s explore some need-to-know terminology.

Organic

Foods that are labeled organic must meet certain standards set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Organic foods can vary to a degree, but all take into an account how the product’s growth relates to:

• Pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers (synthetic ingredients)
• Antibiotics and hormones
• Bioengineering and ionizing radiation

Purchasing products that limit or deny usage of the above promote healthier foods and healthier environments in which they are grown or raised.

Local

Most produce in the U.S. is picked four to seven days and makes a 1,500-mile trip before it’s placed on supermarket shelves. In addition, the amount of food that is air-freighted around the world has increased by 140 percent since 1990. This long trek not only increases emissions, but it also has a negative impact on local economy and crop production.

Look into Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs as an easy alternative. Consumers buy small “shares” from local farmers before the season begins, allowing farmers to rely less on banks and worry less about marketing. During harvest, members get delicious, local produce delivered to them each week.

Sustainable

Best described by KidHealth.org, “This movement encourages eating foods grown locally by sustainable agricultural methods – that is, using food-growing techniques that don’t harm the environment, are seasonal and preserve agricultural land. Sustainable practices also are humane to animals, pay growers fairly and support local farming communities by distributing their food through farmer’s markets and other venues.”

Organic agriculture requires managing an agricultural system so as to enhance and support natural biodiversity and biological process by using biologically-based techniques that exclude the use of synthetic chemicals and other artificial inputs. Photo: Amanda Wills, Earth911.com

It is important to note that “local” doesn’t equal “sustainable.” There are a lot of questions to ask retailers, and  SustainableTable.org has developed numerous sets of Q&A’s to get you started. To learn more about the sustainable practices of your local food producers, check out what to ask your local:

• Beef Farmer
• Dairy Farmer
• Egg Farmer
• Hog Farmer
• Poultry Farmer
• Store Manager/Butcher
• Waiter

Grow your own

Although the day of your big feast may be a little too late to plant and harvest, it’s a great time to sow the idea of starting your own garden. When that time comes, we’ve gotcha covered.

Whether you have a large backyard or need to find a creative home for your first plot, the American Community Garden Association (ACGA) is a good place to start searching for the right gardening situation for you.

The ACGA serves the U.S. and Canada, and gardeners can find resources to help start their own community garden and search for gardens by state or ZIP code. The association also provides links to other regional urban gardening associations, as well as research and tips about growing in the city.

Vegan/veggie dishes

While a holiday meal may not be the most convenient time to ditch the staple family recipes, adding to the classics is what makes new traditions. Try adding meat- and dairy-free dishes to your menu this year. If you’re not sure it’s worth it, think again.

According to estimates by the Environmental Defense Fund, if every American substituted a vegetarian dish for a meat dish just one meal per week, the carbon dioxide reduction would be roughly equivalent to taking more than 1.5 million cars off the road.

Going vegan is has become more and more popular in the past 10 years, and in turn, is more convenient and easier to do. Check out the following resource for some great vegan/vegetarian foodie ideas:

• FatFree Vegan Kitchen
• Vegetarian Times
• Post Punk Kitchen
• ChooseVeg

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Make It

Don’t wait until you have a pan of leftover oil to dump. Make a designated waste oil container, label it and put it in a place where everyone in your home can easily access it. Photo: Flickr/_e.t

Once you have the ingredients down and your plan in place, saving energy and water is the next major mission.

Dive in and watch the small things add up. For instance, every time you open your oven door to peek inside, your oven’s temperature lowers 25 degrees. It takes both time and energy to get that temperature back up and (not to mention) messes up your cooking process.

• Pots and pans – Use the right size for the right burner and put a lid on it. Both will result in the most efficient use of your heat source, making cooking go faster and energy usage shorter.
• Keep it clean – Burnt spots on your stove can take away from the energy that is getting to your pan. Having a clean cooking surface, along with heavy-bottomed cast iron or cooper cook wear can really help to heat things up.
• Get some gas – According to GreenYour.com, “Gas cooking appliances use less energy than electric stoves because the fuel is delivered directly to the home and used directly for cooking.”
• Use it wisely – An electric oven can be a huge consumer of power so make sure to only pre-heat when really needed (like pizza or cakes), keep that door closed (that’s what that little window is for) and double check that the oven is really the right tool (a toaster oven may do the job).
• Dispose of that disposal – According to Kate Heyhoe, author of Cooking Green, “Garbage disposals waste fuel and water and contribute to carbon footprints. The chewed-up gunk goes to a water treatment plant, then the solids get sifted out and trucked to a landfill. This wastes water, electricity, and fuel for transport, and generates greenhouse gases.” If you can compost your leftovers (read below) then do so for a lighter impact. If not, toss the leftovers from your dishes into the trash.

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Clean It

Now that the feast is complete and your belly is full, the dreaded clean up must begin. This portion of  holiday cooking can really make or break the eco-deal. Not only is greening your trash important, but keeping your cleaning supplies and practices up to par is just as important.

Make Your Own Cleaners
Cleaning products get the job done, but at what cost? They can be responsible for around 10 percent of toxic exposures reported to poison control centers and are difficult to dispose of properly. You can most likely find nontoxic alternatives at your grocery store. You can also make your own cleaning product from supplies you probably already have, such as vinegar and baking soda. Try this recipe out for disinfectant spray from NaturalCleaningRecipes.com. Just combine and store in a spray bottle:

• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 tsp. tea tree oil
• 1/4 tsp. lavender oil

Think ol’ fashioned

You can purchase paper towels made of recycled content, but they become non-recyclable once you use them to clean the house. However, you can return to the pre-disposable days and use clean towels and sponges until they wear out. This creates less waste and saves you money on supplies.

Remember the broom and the mop? These cleaning classics are still pretty effective for getting your rooms to sparkle, and you don’t need to plug them in or charge batteries to power them.

Recycle

From used cooking oil to packaging and food scraps, recycling should be a major player in your home regardless of the room you’re in. The kitchen just happens to be the hub of most houses and, in turn, can create a lot of materials that can be recycled.

So what’s the holdup? For many people, it is knowing exactly what goes in the recycling bin and what to do with stuff that doesn’t.

1. Check with your local government to get a list of what materials you can and cannot put in your curbside bin.

2. For everything that can’t be put in your curbside bin, check Earth911’s recycling database for drop-off locations near you. This includes those hard-to-get-rid-of items such as paint, batteries, CFLs and pesticides.

Compost

One of the largest contributors to home-based composting piles is kitchen waste. Scraps from meal preparations can be added to a compost bin and contribute to your soil and mulch.

According to the U.S. EPA, each American throws away an average of 1.3 pounds of food scraps daily. In addition to this, yard trimmings and food waste combined make up 24 percent of the nation’s municipal solid waste stream. Even if half of this can be diverted and recycled through composting, our daily trash levels could start to decrease.

Check out our easy to use guide for Composting in the Kitchen to learn more.

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