Zero-waste Kitchen Swaps

by ajohnson | Dec 17, 2021 | Blog, Home, Life

We use, and we waste. Sadly, it is our environment that has to deal with what comes afterward by risking itself. And the result? A long list of environmental issues starting with air pollution, rising temperatures, changing climates, and natural disasters; it’s not surprising to assume that the environment might be showing that it is done with handling our mess. We live a waste lifestyle and the environment has to take the brunt of it. 

Nevertheless, if there’s someone that can handle the situation – it’s us. And surprisingly, it doesn’t take a lot to do something good for the environment. All we have to do is change our lifestyle a little, be more conscious to reduce wastage.

So, if you’re someone who wants to contribute, and do your part, you must start somewhere and in my opinion, your kitchen is the best place to do so. It’s the home to harmful substances – the most deadly of that lot is PLASTIC. Your job is to reduce its consumption as much as you can.

But how do you do that?

Start with these easy kitchen swaps.

Zero-waste kitchen swaps

• What not to use » What to use

1. Plastic Sponges » Cotton sponges
2. Liquid soap that comes in plastic packaging » Organic dish soap bars       
3. Aluminum foils and plastic wraps » Beeswax wraps/steel lunch boxes (My favorite ones come from Nature Bee Wraps!)
4. Plastic food storage bags » Silicon bags
5. Plastic food jars » Glass/steel jars or mason jars 
6. Polythene » Cloth shopping bags
7. Plastic vegetable bags » Cloth Vegetable trolleys
8. Paper napkins » Cloth napkins
9. Plastic straws » Steel/Bamboo straws
10. Disposable plates and spoons » Glass or steel plates, and steel spoons/fork (My new favorites come from Bentgo and I use these for the girls’ lunchboxes and silverware)
11. Plastic bottles » Glass/copper bottles
12. Teabags » Tea leaves
13. Plastic coffee tumbler » Stainless steel mugs
14. Paper cupcake liners » Reusable silicon cupcake liners
15. Plastic chopping board » Wooden chopping board
16. Plastic kitchen spatula » Steel/ wooden spatula
17. Plastic soap dish  » Wooden soap dish
18. Plastic buckets » Steel buckets
19. Plastic bags / Plastic sachets » Brown paper
20. Cleaning agents in plastic packaging  » Baking soda/ lemon
21. Plastic Tupperware » Glassware
22. Bottled water >> Reusable water bottle
23. Cotton balls >> Organic Cotton wipes or even washable makeup sponges
24. Drip Coffee Filters >> French Press

• Other additional tips to reduce and handle waste

1. Reduce takeaways

Takeaways come in plastic packaging. Unless you choose a restaurant that emphasizes sustainable living conduct, try to reduce your takeaways. If the option is available, try to eat out in the restaurant itself – that would ensure that you’d have the option of using crockery (Glass, or steel) available at the restaurant.

This is one thing as a family, we usually don’t do, unless it’s dessert! We rarely eat leftovers, so they end up taking valuable space in the refrigerator we aren’t willing to give up. Plus, it’s less to carry away!

2. Only take what you can eat (Be mindful of the quantity)

This one is for reducing food wastage at your home. Only take the quantity you can consume. If you are not sure, take a little, and if you still have the appetite, refill. That way, you’d ensure you eat as per your appetite, without wasting food.

I practice this in our home constantly, especially when the girls say they are starving, yet only eat a little bit. It’s easier to have little portions to start than a whole plateful that goes to waste.

When you take more than you can handle, this usually results in using plastic wrap for storage or even paper towels to cover the food when warming up in the microwave.

3. Composting

Composting can be a blessing for both the environment and your garden. In fact, composting is the process of converting food waste into fertilizer that can be used to improve the quality of your plants. You can do composting at home, or contact the local authorities that provide the facility.

I haven’t personally composted, but I have seen some pretty great options which take the smell right away and are quite powerful. This one from Vitamix has great reviews.

4. Opt for loose food items

Some grocery items such as wheat and rice come in both plastic packaging and loose. Go for the stores that allow you to have refills, or collect these food items in your own packaging. Try to stay plastic free as much as possible. 

I believe this will start to return into a post COVID world, but do the best you can to reduce the waste. If you must buy something with a “plastic” on it, make sure it’s made of alternative material so it can be recycled or composted.

5. Conserve resources

This goes without saying – we think we have the resources in abundance but we do not. Resources are limited and we must do our best to conserve them not only for the environment but for our budgets as well. Thus, always ensure that you conserve valuable resources like water and electricity. For electricity – do not leave the electric points running when you don’t need them, and for water – by ensuring you do not leave the tap running for long. (Even ten seconds of water wastage can be heavy.)

It is really important we teach the younger generation this especially with the growing amount of screen time and need to always be doing something. My two get distracted easily so this is an important reminder for them.

6. Go local

When you opt for local markets, instead of the big, commercial stores, you reduce your carbon footprint. You save the transportation, production, and packaging needs and resources that are usually incurred to meet your demand. Not to mention, these big commercial brands and retail stores are not eco-friendly and do a lot of energy wastage in the name of convenience. Be wise with your choices.

I love shopping local farmers markets as much as possible because I usually discover a new company or product I can share with my guests and family!

7. Go vegan

Going vegan can be highly beneficial for the environment. Among the many benefits, the most significant one is that vegan products use minimum resources and produce minimum damaging byproducts as compared to a non-vegetarian eating lifestyle.

I’ve been vegetarian/vegan since I was a teenager and I can attest that not only is it healthier for your own body, I find less waste in the kitchen as I don’t have a lot of the same trash as my non vegan/vegetarian family members. It makes trash day lighter and also keeps the refrigerator nice and stocked!

8. Grow your own vegetable garden

You’ll not only save the environment by reducing your carbon footprint but would also save a lot on groceries. So, if you love to maintain a yard, try to keep food-producing plants more than floral ones.

Well, that’s enough to get you started. If you decided to do as mentioned, you’re doing a marvelous deed for the environment. Be proud of yourself. These waste swaps are pretty easy to implement and are more than most people will try to do in their life, so every little bit helps! 

Hey there, how do you reduce wastage in your kitchen? Feel free to share some tips with us in the comment section.

Simple Home Management Skills that will Make your Life Better

by ajohnson | Jun 28, 2021 | Blog, Home, Life

Managing a household and a family is no joke. Sometimes, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all of the chores – the cooking, the cleaning, the dishes…the list goes on. Not to mention actually working yourself and during these present times, home/virtual schooling. However, with the help of a few handy home management skills, you can make the process of managing as well as living in your home, simpler, easier and better.

Simple Home Management Skills that will Make your Life Better

With these 10 tips, you can upgrade your home life and make it less chaotic.

1. Organization

The first thing that jumps to mind when we hear home management, is definitely organizing everything in your home so that things are in their correct places. A cluttered home means a cluttered life.

Of course, if you have kids in the house, the tasks increase tenfold. But, by being strict with your family members, and decluttering the house every once in a while, you can manage to keep your home organized and tidy. You can either clean one room at a time, or you can do a massive weekend decluttering.

2. Meal Planning

“What’s for dinner?” The answer to this question should be ready in your mind when you wake up in the morning. You cannot just grab whatever you can from the refrigerator and throw them together in a pot. Every meal of the day should be planned according to the likes and needs of the family members, to ensure that they get their nutrition while savoring a dish. Variety is the spice of life so a varied diet each day is important to satisfy those hunger pangs.

Sometimes I’m really great at meal planning while other times, I grab whatever is in the fridge/freezer and make something up. With the pandemic, we were lucky enough to stock up on groceries. So we have quite a bit of stock to choose from. Lately, I’ve been putting everything in my Instant Pot, which also doubles as an AirFryer, so that makes dinnertime easy.

3. Laundry

No one really likes doing laundry, but the more you procrastinate, the more dirty clothes pile up until you are out of clothes. What a nightmare! Do not let this happen to you. Form a new habit, a habit of doing a load of laundry every day. Clothes need to be sorted into different washing categories, and then you can just shove them in the machine. However, you do have to have space cleared out separately for dirty laundry and fresh laundry.

We have a cleaning crew that comes 1-2 times a week, and they take care of laundry on those days. However, with 4 people in our home, and working out daily and swimming quite often, we still have a bit of laundry that piles up. I find it easiest to get a load going in the morning and then switch halfway through the day. I’m not the best at hanging or putting away, but everyone knows where the clean laundry is. We also installed a washer/dryer in Steve’s closet, so he does his own laundry throughout the week right in his closet, because he always wears the same things. Even with a closet full, he claims to never have clothes!

4. Finances

Taking care of the budget and finances is one of the most important skills of home management. You need to fix a budget and chalk out how you will spend your money to pay the bills, to buy essentials such as food and clothing, recreation, and more.

I will admit, we don’t have much of a budget, but we do look at finances to figure out when we can take a vacation, or when we can book flights to travel to see family. For our businesses, finances and budgets are a bigger deal.

5. Baskets

Bins and baskets are a neat little way of storing supplies in every room. You can store essential supplies in these baskets and put labels on them so that everyone in the family knows where the dirty laundry goes and where the toiletries are.

This isn’t something we utilize too much in our home aside from the containers the girls have for their toys. We do use these for our short term rental properties and it seems to work quite well and is a nice decorative touch.

6. You’ve Got Mail

Important mail like bills and payments need to be dealt with as soon as they arrive, while some others can be stored away for later. Figure out a system that works for you about how you handle mail when it arrives, how you sort it out, and how you separate the important ones from the less urgent ones.

I personally pick out a day or two during the month, one at the beginning and one in the middle, to do all of the bills that need paid. I typically do online payments, so this is a simple task for me to knock out quickly.

7. Labels

Labels are quite a nifty way to give silent directions to your family members about what goes where. If you have kids in the house, then this is especially helpful for them to always remember where to put their toys and where to put their homework. Implementing the label system in your organizational skills will only lead to smoother operations.

We have friends who use labels for everything, and quite honestly, it was overwhelming for me and makes me shy away from them. However, it would be much easier now that both girls can read, to keep things better organized and picked up.

8. Garden and Yard

You need to assign who gets to do this part of the job. Garden work can be pushed further down the list of priorities. But it’s important to have your yard just as neat and tidy as your house because it makes sense to have a proper usable space outside of the house.

In our home, we do have a landscaper. But my husband LOVES to cut the grass and do yard work. He typically takes care of the landscaping on Saturday or Sunday. We do share the load with ensuring all the rubber mulch (best decision ever) is put back into the border when we are out with the kids or the dogs.

9. To Do Lists and Schedules

It’s essential for you to make to-do lists, checklists, and schedules for yourself in order to get more work done in an efficient manner. With routines, you set up goals for yourself. Which makes it easier for you to get the chores done.

For me, I like to set a weekly plan, instead of a daily list. As it helps me to be flexible with my days while being able to check a few more things off on days that are lighter. Or days where my girls don’t need me as much for virtual school.

10. Grocery Shopping

Once again, you need to assign who buys the groceries in day-to-day life. And your work will be smoothed out for you if you make it a habit to make a list of things you need to shop for. I use apps that deliver the groceries to my front door, without me having to be home.

My favorite is Instacart, but there are several grocers now who have their own app or website where you click the items you want to buy. Then a worker ‘shops’ them and when you or they are ready, you pick them up curbside or in the store. This saves you time and you can add things to your ‘cart’ as you run out and then checkout when you are ready instead of having to remember or write on 10 different paper lists to get everything. Only to end up forgetting things as well, like I do.

With these simple but efficient home management skills, you will find more work getting done in your house in an organized manner, without feeling stressed out all the time.