Let's just jump right into it, shall we?
Do you enjoy a nice cup of coffee, or tea, in the morning? If so, you can make your coffee experience a little more green in these simple ways.
I already mentioned last week that coffee grounds, with the filters, are compostable, as well as tea bags. So if you have a compost, just pop it in and you don't need to worry about it.
If you don't compost, and don't plan to, consider getting a reusable one instead. They are less than 10$, which is really not a very big investment, and easy to manage.
2$ on Amazon
They also have some reusable K-Cup filters if you've got one of those fancy machines. My parents do, break my heart when I see them throw away the cups when the coffee grounds are compostable (which they do) and the cup itself (clean) is also recyclable... Think I'm getting them one of these for Christmas.
4$ on Amazon
For those that get their coffee on the go, remember we covered reusable mugs!
I also gave you lots of ideas for reusable lunch items last week, so go see there if you missed that and need some inspiration.
Now, are you a baker? Amateur or not, everyone loves some homemade freshly baked cookies! But no one likes to scrub the dirty pan. So a lot of people now use parchment paper for easy and fast cleanup. But that makes a lot of waste, just to save you a minute of scrubbing.
I recently saw these silicone cookie sheet liners, and at 5$, I grabbed one!
Thing is, though, I never use my full size oven, only my toaster oven. And the cookie sheets don't fit in there, so I've got a couple smaller trays that I use. I had to cut my silicone liner so it would fit, but again for 5$ I didn't care so much, still does the job.
An other thing that is super fun to bake: cupcakes! And muffins, too. But do you realize that for every cupcake or muffin baked, we waste the cupcake liner? I know that they are part of the charm, but really, all you really care about is chowing down that yummyness!
If you don't use cupcake liners and bake directly in the pan, then good for you, I have nothing to teach you, haha! For everyone else, there's silicone cupcake liners. They come in a variety of colors and shapes! You don't even need the cupcake pan anymore, they hold themselves up! I am so grabbing myself a dozen very soon!! In the mean time, I think the paper cupcake liners might still be compostable... that's what I've been doing.
 12 cups for 9.72$ at Amazon |
 (Picture credit: Audrey's Cooking Lab) |
When I prepare food, I like to cut everything in advance, then cook it; I'm a bad multi-tasker-cook. Instead of bowls (which I don't have very many of), I use mushroom containers to hold the veggies. They are a great size and shape, and I get to reuse something that is not recyclable around here (#6 plastic).
Then when I bake something in the oven, I have a couple of glass bakeware that I love, because they also have a lid!
There's always more food than we can eat just to 2 of us, so being able to put the lid on and refrigerate is really an awesome feature! I don't have to transfer to a new container with a lid, and I don't waste saran wrap.
I loathe saran wrap. Not just because it's so wasteful, but because it is no fun to use! It's hard to pull out of the box (unless you got those big ones with the little zipper/cutter) and it clings to everything BUT what you're trying to cover it seems. And it folds on itself and sticks. Just... no thank you.
When I have containers that don't have lids, like bowls, I use those shower-cap like bowl covers. They are awesome. They come in many different sizes, though I do use the bigger ones most often, and are super cheap at the dollar store.
I even cover my watermelons with them to store them, cuz I can't eat a whole watermelon to myself in one day. Works like charm! See:
Covers the half or quarter pieces perfectly.
Of course, you could make your own pretty bowl covers if you've got a bowl that is bigger. Or just because they would be prettier. I need to make myself some square ones, for when I bake brownies and such! I've got such a long to-do list after this series!!
Bowl Covers fromThe Cottage Home
What's your favorite green cookware?? Do you have an other green alternative for cooking? Please do share in the comments!
Catch-up with all the posts in the series:
I party at these parties.
I often cover a bowl of leftovers with a plate. Works great. cdsmith322 at aol dot com
ReplyDelete