Totally Bamboo Cutting Board Set

A better, more eco-friendly choice is wood. However, with wooden cutting boards often comes the safety concerns. Is is safe? Will bacteria settle down into the board? How can you safely clean it? Plastic doesn’t mean safer though – studies show that wood and plastic both can hold onto bacteria if you don’t clean them properly. The Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) Food Code even states that “hard maple or an equivalently hard, close-grained wood” is a suitable material for safe cutting boards and other restaurant food equipment.

Wooden cutting boards are a safe and sustainable choice so long as you follow some basic rules.

• Look for wooden cutting boards made with rapidly renewable wood-like material such as bamboo or get one made with sustainably grown wood.
• Own two (or more cutting boards) and divide them up task wise. One for meats and one for produce.
• Never leave your wood cutting board sitting around wet or allow it to steep in water. Wetness makes for some fun bacteria growth.
• After each and every use wash in the hottest water possible with a good natural soap and dry with a clean towel.
• Protect your board with an eco-friendly wooden cutting board oil.

5 eco-friendly cutting board choices.

Post from: Blisstree

Is it safe to use wooden cutting boards?

1. The Bamboo Cutting Board Set is one of my favorite eco-cutting board sets because it comes with both silicone flexible boards for ease of food transfer but also comes with a pretty and durable bamboo cutting board that anchors the silicone boards for less slipping around the kitchen.

2. Teak Cutting Board: Teak is super strong, lasts a long time, and is beautiful to boot. Made by Proteak Renewable Forestry.

3. Preserve cutting boards, made from 100% recycled plastic and recyclable in communities with #5 recycling. Also nice bright colors.

4. Dishwasher safe Totally Bamboo GreenLite Cutting Board Collection.

5. Black Epicurean Cutting Surfaces look like classic dark ceramic but are actually made of eco-friendly natural fiber composite, plus the laminate is non-porous and won’t dull knives.

Post from: Blisstree

Five eco-friendly cutting board options

1. Decent vegetarian cookbook: A diet with less meat is important if your goal is green living. Meat can take a toll on the environment and your body. You don’t need to go totally vegetarian or vegan, but you should incorporate a few meatless meals a week. My favorite veggie cookbook (which actually has some fish in it, so it’s not totally veggie) is Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites. The recipes don’t taste low-fat at all. In fact, the entire Moosewood book line is great – plenty of cool vegetarian and veggie heavy books to choose from.

2. Ice pop molds: This is especially a must if you have kids, but even if not they come in handy. Ice pops molds allow you to use up leftovers (smoothies, yogurt, fruits, etc), and cut down on store bought dessert waste.

3. Silicone: Silicone items rock because they last forever and are reusable and non-toxic. Some ideas for starters include silicone muffin cups and silicone baking sheets which cut out paper cups and foil waste.

4. Reusable coffee filter: If you’re still using paper filters – why? There are way better options on the market. Reusable coffee filters last for years, save you money, and cut out waste.

5. Stack o’ cleaning cloths: Using paper towels comes at a huge eco-cost when you could use reusable cloths instead. Cloths last for years and don’t fill your trash bin.

6. A dishwasher: One major recent study (among others) shows that dishwashers use less energy, water, and soap than hand washing.

7. Organics: You don’t need to hard core pack your shelves with organics. That’s excessive and a waste of money. That said, there are some foods you should always buy organic including the newest dirty dozen.

8. Tap water or a filter: If your goal is green, forget buying bottled water. Drink tap water or filtered.

9. A dedicated home recycling area: All homes need an organized recycling center, and the kitchen is the perfect place to create one. It’s handy and handy means you’ll recycle like you should.

10. Your BIG green kitchen step – purchase green and safe dishes: This is bigger, because you may need to sort out the toxic from the non-toxic dishes you already have, and then set aside a budget to purchase more sustainable options. However, bear in mind, that change can occur slowly. Switching out your dishes doesn’t need to happen in one swift weekend.

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10 Things Every Green Kitchen Needs

This post at GreenStudentU on How to Recycle Your Used Coffee Grounds couldn’t have come at a better time.  Trish Smith gives a great list of ways to recycle those grounds. I don’t think that I’m going to rub a mixture of egg whites and coffee grounds on to my face any time soon, but I am going to mix some into the soil of my house plants and tiny herb garden to see if they give my greens an added boost. I wonder if it matters that I’m drinking decaf?

Post from: Blisstree

Good to the Last Drop – Reusing Coffee Grounds