Learn to Preserve (Your Food) : Eco and Organic Food Tip Eighteen
Making preserves of both the jam and the pickled variety is seemingly a lost art now only found at farmer’s markets. But the truth is that preserving is an affordable, healthy and eco-friendly way to store and then enjoy food. Whether it’s a solo project or family bonding time, learning how to make preserves can reduce your food budget and improve your diet. It also means that you’ll be reusing the containers that [...]
Filter Your Tap Water for Delicious Drinking: Eco and Organic Food Tip Seventeen
We’re all a little concerned about the quality of our local drinking water these days. With everything that’s finding its way into our water supplies – from antibiotics to hormones – that’s not surprising. And it’s sent many people running to bottled water as an alternative. Of course, there’s both a chemical and a container waste associated with bottled water. Do you know how long it takes a plastic bottle to biodegrade? The [...]
Your Fruits and Vegetables Do NOT Need An Extra Bag: Eco and Organic Food Tip Sixteen
One of our favorite things to watch at the grocery store is when people take bananas from the produce department and then put them into a plastic bag that will then go inside of another plastic bag. Newsflash – your banana already comes with a protective covering! While we’re (mostly) making a joke here, the reality is that using tons and tons of extra produce bags is both wasteful and unnecessary. You’re (most [...]
All The Water In the World: Our Favorite Water Conservation Quotes
“All the water that will ever be is, right now.” National Geographic, October 1993 Related Content What is Peak Water? Conserving Water in the Shower The Impact of the Water Shortage on Beer and Liquor What is Ocean Acidification? […]
Fresh is Best: Eco and Organic Food Tip Fifteen
t’s true that earlier we told you that rather than absorb the food miles associated with fresh but out-of-season produce in the winter months you should opt for frozen or preserved fruits and vegetables. And we still mean that. But when fresh produce is an option and in-season, always always opt for fresh instead of pre-prepared or processed. The amount of pollution and packaging waste used in pre-prepared and processed foods is exponentially [...]
Be Responsible About Your Refrigerator: Eco and Organic Food Tip Fourteen
Cooking may account for 4.5% of all of a household’s total energy, but the biggest energy suck related to food preparation and storage is the refrigerator. There are plenty of things that you can do to reduce this energy drain though. Of course, if you’re in the market for a new refrigerator, you can reduce energy waste by purchasing an ENERGY STAR™ rated appliance. But even with your existing refrigerator you can [...]
Cook with Natural Gas: Eco and Organic Food Tip Thirteen
Of course we’d all love it if we were cooking on solar powered stoves, but that’s not a reality for most of us. If, like most of us, your options involve cooking with electricity or cooking with natural gas, the more eco-friendly alternative is natural gas. A U.S. Department of Energy study revealed that cooking accounts for about 4.5% of all of the energy that we use. Gas burners provide instant heat and [...]
Eco-Friendly Cookware Does Exist! : Eco and Organic Food Tip Twelve
Not all pots and pans are created equally. If it’s time for a cookware upgrade, then here’s the truth: In this case, you really do get what you pay for. Aluminum may be great for storage, but when it comes to pots and pans aluminum takes longer to heat up, which means that you need more time to heat to cook your food and therefore you use more energy. Of course, the best [...]
Re-Use Your Aluminum Foil. Use Aluminum Foil Instead of Plastic. : Eco and Organic Food Tip Eleven
One of the most overlooked recycling facts is that you can recycle anything aluminum. Aluminum pie pans, aluminum food containers, aluminum cans and even aluminum foil. And, unlike plastic wrap, aluminum foil is often durable enough to be used repeatedly before you have to get rid of it. Believe it or not, it should be reasonably easy to never have a container of plastic wrap in your home again and instead embrace the [...]
Get Creative with Leftovers: Eco and Organic Food Tip Ten
Leftovers don’t need to be blah, and eating them is so much better for the planet than just giving up on them and getting rid of them. However, we all get burnt out on leftovers eventually. The good news is that there are lots of tools these days to come up with ways to “spice up” leftover food. Do a basic web search for “what to do with leftovers” and you’ll find dozens [...]
