Eco Tips for the Kitchen

Here are some tips on how to be green in the kitchen.

• Only put the amount of water you need into the kettle.
• Only use the amount of water you need to boil vegetables or pasta.
• Only run the correct amount of water when washing dishes, pots and pans.
• A small squirt of washing up liquid is usually all that is needed - you don't need masses of bubbles to get things clean.
• Use a microwave to reheat or warm food rather than the oven. [Read more about re-heating food safely.]
• A slow cooker pot uses less electricity than a conventional oven.
• Close the fridge door unless you are taking something out or putting something in.
• Fill empty space in a freezer (e.g. with crumpled newspaper) as this uses less power than freezing air. 
• Try and cook only the amount of food you will eat, unless you are deliberately cooking a larger amount to be used over two or more days.
• Put vegetable and fruit peelings, used tea leaves and tea bags, and coffee grounds in a compost bin. You can also compost left over salad and vegetables which cannot be re-used in a later meal.
• If you don't have a garden, put cooked and uncooked waste food items in the waste food bin if this is separately collected by your local council (and in the household waste bin if not collected separately).
• Recycle as much food and cleaning materials packaging (cardboard, plastic containers, bottles, etc.) as you can. Check with your local council recycling service on what can be recycled and how. 
• Don't over-stock your cupboards; although many items have a long shelf life, it is easy to forget you have something. Beware multi-buy offers which often seduce you into buying more than you need.

Various sources