Spicy Roasted Chickpeas
Picnic Recipes Galore
Corner-Store Party Food on the Fly
9 Chili Recipes, Bison to Vegan
How to Choose the Best Strawberries
Sausage Recipes of the Month
10 Simple Ways to Be More Green
That don’t involve extra money, time, or even effort
1. Buy only what you know you’ll consume in a week, to avoid throwing away stuff you don’t end up using. (Steer clear of the “stockin’ up!” Costco mentality.)
2. Don’t use the plastic bags for fruits and vegetables in grocery stores. Bring your own that you’ve saved at home from when you were less green, or don’t bag at all. Wash and reuse saran wrap—just dry it on the drying rack.
3. Think before you open the oven and fridge so you don’t waste electricity. Don’t stand in front of the open refrigerator eating jam with your fingers. (The first is green; the second is gross.)
4. Don’t ditch beet tops, turnip tops, or radish tops—sauté them and eat them! Save scraps of meat and vegetables in the freezer and make stock when you have enough.
5. Buy stuff from the bulk section to avoid packaging. (Most markets will let you bring any kind of container you want—Mason jar, gym sock, what have you—just weigh it empty first and record the weight somewhere on the container for the checker.)
6. Shop at local, independent grocery stores, bakeries, and other purveyors, as well as at farmers’ markets. Fewer goods will have traveled thousands of miles to get to the shelves.
7. Try some baking soda or coarse salt to remove caked-on food from a pan or oven before you resort to oven cleaner. That stuff is toxic.
8. No bottled water. Ever.
9. Use cold water to wash all but your greasiest of dishes. Hot water heaters use energy.
10. Learn to cook. Eat the Michael Pollan way: mostly plants. Grow your own herbs. Feed your friends—staying in is the new going out.
I hoard my beet tops.
Cheesecake17, I get what your saying, but you can take point #5 into consideration before you "bulk up." Try buying your cereal from the bulk section of a grocery store... then you have even less packaging than the large Costco boxes.
In many cases, purchasing items in bulk from a Costco-like store saves packaging. Twin packs of cereal have one large box with two inner bags- that's one less box than if you purchased two packages from the supermarket.
Who wrote this article?
More green? Really? That's 1st grade grammar.
Greener is the proper relative superlative for the word green.
If everyone in country who had a slow cooker used a slow cooker versus the oven one day a week we could reduce energy consumption dramatically. By my research, it is about 9 times more efficient than an electric oven!
What about #9? I understand the savings in energy, but isn't washing dishes in cold water not very safe? How about not using petroluem based dishwashing liquid? Or how about piling washed dishes in the sink and only running the (hot) water when you need it to rinse them all at once? I also heard that using the dishwasher on the energy efficient cycle and skipping the 'dry' cycle uses less energy...+READ
What about #9? I understand the savings in energy, but isn't washing dishes in cold water not very safe? How about not using petroluem based dishwashing liquid? Or how about piling washed dishes in the sink and only running the (hot) water when you need it to rinse them all at once? I also heard that using the dishwasher on the energy efficient cycle and skipping the 'dry' cycle uses less energy and water than washing in the sink.-COLLAPSE
Apparantly the link sent to me (regarding Sheryl Crow) was a hoax but here is a link from the REAL Johns Hopkins which discusses plastic and safety. Thanks for questioning me and probing deeper - I learned something -
ahttp://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/articles/2008/goldman_schwab_bpa.htmlbout plastic:
I can't, but I will try to find the link -
alg6, how can you prove that her breast cancer was directly caused by that? just curious...
Regarding plastic, please spread the word, Johns Hopkins has come out with a statement (sorry, don't have the link anymore) that says that ALL plastic is not food safe. Do not microwave in it, ever. Do not leave water bottles in the car and then drink them. Sheryl Crow's breast cancer was a direct result of car water bottles. PLEASE spread the word. So many food products are made in plastic with...+READ
Regarding plastic, please spread the word, Johns Hopkins has come out with a statement (sorry, don't have the link anymore) that says that ALL plastic is not food safe. Do not microwave in it, ever. Do not leave water bottles in the car and then drink them. Sheryl Crow's breast cancer was a direct result of car water bottles. PLEASE spread the word. So many food products are made in plastic with simple microwave directions, but it is not worth the risk! Put in in a glass container or cook food in another way. Plastic steamers, plastic bowls, plastic microwaveable containers, chuck them all!-COLLAPSE
Tap water quality can vary from place to place (although on the whole, it is monitored and safe to drink! Bottled water is such a gimmick, especially if it has to travel far to get to us, like Fiji Water) so if you're concerned about the switch to bottled, the filter is the best idea. I live in NYC and the tap water here is fine but I live in an old building and sometimes there can be sediment in...+READ
Tap water quality can vary from place to place (although on the whole, it is monitored and safe to drink! Bottled water is such a gimmick, especially if it has to travel far to get to us, like Fiji Water) so if you're concerned about the switch to bottled, the filter is the best idea. I live in NYC and the tap water here is fine but I live in an old building and sometimes there can be sediment in the pipes. So about a year ago, I did some research and I got this monster of a home water filter (it sits alongside my sink and my best friend described it as a "mini nuclear facility" because it has three silo-looking tanks for filtering...) Anyway, the thing was 160 bucks which seems like a big upfront investment, but the filter lasts for 2 years (or 30k gallons). My water's been so great since and we can fill it up in bottles to take around town, or to cook with even b/c it is connected to my sink. There's even an under-sink version for those people who are adept plumbers. I find it better than the Brita or PUR type filters, which I've also had, and found to be pretty puny and limited in comparison.
Anyway, these are all helpful tips to think about how we can conserve in our own ways. I like that people on Chowhound tend to be concerned about green issues, but are not advocating religiously following one set of "rules" over others. Like #10...eating more veggies is good for you as part of a balanced diet, but I'm glad it wasn't a call for becoming vegetarian or vegan outright because that doesn't work for everyone (I know, I got dreadfully sick being one for 5 years). Be aware of the issues and do what works for your particular budget, lifestyle, environment and conscience! Have a great day :)
PS to camidumas...the Saran wrap thing seemed icky to me too.-COLLAPSE
Why does everyone think bottled water is so much better for you? In most cases it is glorified tap water. Most areas of the US there are no large health issues related to drinking the water. It is PERFECTLY safe.
Buy a filter for your faucet at home if you're so worried about whatever it is that you think has seeped into the water. Use a aluminum or steel bottle to carry with you everyday.
...+READ
Why does everyone think bottled water is so much better for you? In most cases it is glorified tap water. Most areas of the US there are no large health issues related to drinking the water. It is PERFECTLY safe.
Buy a filter for your faucet at home if you're so worried about whatever it is that you think has seeped into the water. Use a aluminum or steel bottle to carry with you everyday.
They're small purchases, honestly. And much cheaper than paying a few dollars a day for bottled water you could get for cents. Not to mention the amount of bottles that end up in landfills every year.-COLLAPSE
I don't quite agree with not stocking up on some staples. Yes, be very careful not to overbuy fresh food - all those greens seem so virtuous. Not everyone has a steady income, and for some of us having some tins and dry goods in the pantry is a great security. This is also important anywhere that can be impacted by severe weather.
That said, it is important to take careful stock of the pantry...+READ
I don't quite agree with not stocking up on some staples. Yes, be very careful not to overbuy fresh food - all those greens seem so virtuous. Not everyone has a steady income, and for some of us having some tins and dry goods in the pantry is a great security. This is also important anywhere that can be impacted by severe weather.
That said, it is important to take careful stock of the pantry so as not to waste anything or let dry goods get bug-infested.
And why not ride your bicycle every day? I don't in the depth of our Montréal winter, but usually ride from March to early December, and I'm over 50?-COLLAPSE
These are mostly good suggestions, but, reusing saran wrap is a bad idea. Plastic that is not intended for re-use breaks down very quickly under exposure to heat and/or water, and starts to release a lot of the nasty chemicals required to make the saran so conveniently wrappy. (That also applies to ziptop bags, but also harder plastic like ice cream or margarine containers, and water bottles not...+READ
These are mostly good suggestions, but, reusing saran wrap is a bad idea. Plastic that is not intended for re-use breaks down very quickly under exposure to heat and/or water, and starts to release a lot of the nasty chemicals required to make the saran so conveniently wrappy. (That also applies to ziptop bags, but also harder plastic like ice cream or margarine containers, and water bottles not intended for reuse, too -- use them to store your buttons, but not your button mushrooms!) If you want a container you can get multiple uses from, go with waxed paper, foil, metal or glass.
In Canada we have even banned plastic baby bottles outright because not even the super-inert Lexan type is free of leachate. New studies are showing that prolonged exposure to trace amounts is actually more dangerous than a big binge, which is counter to our previous thinking that a little bit is no big deal. Turns out a little bit is a bigger deal than a big bit.-COLLAPSE
Why is tap "usually not an option"? The trend these days is to buy a reusable bottle (or more than one) and refill it from a tap. A lot of bottled water is just tap water anyway, and the requirements for bottled water are much lower than for the stuff coming out of your tap. Here's just one of many articles on the subject: http://articles.latimes.com/2008/oct/13/health/he-nutrition13
That...+READ
Why is tap "usually not an option"? The trend these days is to buy a reusable bottle (or more than one) and refill it from a tap. A lot of bottled water is just tap water anyway, and the requirements for bottled water are much lower than for the stuff coming out of your tap. Here's just one of many articles on the subject: http://articles.latimes.com/2008/oct/13/health/he-nutrition13
That said, I still occasionally use bottled water when I'm out and about. Since I don't drink other kinds of commonly available beverages, it's bottled water instead of soda, etc., not bottled water instead of tap water.-COLLAPSE
If not bottled water, that what water? We need to drink 8 plus glasses a day and tap is usually not an option. I remember the big story that said tap water included all types of medication in it that doesn't disappear though the filtering system.