Yet Americans just keep right on using it. It’s not a big shock. Plastic is cheap, easily portable and lightweight, can be waterproof, and it’s used for flipping everything – toys, dishes, cleaner containers, shampoo bottles, baggies, and so on. You can’t escape. Well, actually you can escape. Fake Plastic Fish is just one blog among many who discusses the quest for a plastic free life. In fact, I talk about it all the time. You can use…

• Cloth shopping bags over plastic.
• Stainless steel water bottles.
• Glass and other dishes over plastic.
• Cloth snack baggies.
• Foil or a food container not plastic wrap.
• Wooden toys, cloth toys, and so on.

You can, even in this day and age use far less plastic if you try. However, there are some who won’t get on board with a plastic free life so I’m offering up these safety tips. Because if you’re gonna use plastics, you may as well use them safely.

Use the safest plastics for babies and young children. Little ones gather toxins and chemicals at a more alarming rate than fully developed adults. If you use plastics for your baby choose safe BPA-free, toxin free options. That goes for feeding gear, toys, and other plastics your baby may get his hands on.

Don’t microwave plastics or otherwise heat them up. The FDA has guidelines about plastics that are kitchen safe vs. not, and while they note that phthalates are only released from the softer plastics, why risk it. This means hand washing your plastics too – because heat from dishwashers releases chemicals as well.

Buy safer food storage plastics that are BPA free.

Lastly, as an earth safety issue reuse and recycle your plastics wisely. If you’re taking on using them, then be a responsible plastic consumer.

[image via stock.xchng]

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Use plastics safely (if you must)

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.

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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.

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Five eco-friendly cutting board options

Here’s a cute set of 4 cloth napkins from WeeBeaks Etsy shop. They are a festive 2-tone pink batik, that is washer/dryer safe, but skip the bleach if you want to keep them bright. They measure 14 inches square or 35.5 cm.

Cotton Candy Swirls Batick Cloth Napkins, Set of 4
$15.00

Check out WeeBeak’s shop for more colors and patterns. 

Image credit: WeeBeak at Etsy.com

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Green Kitchen – Cloth Napkins

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

Image: Sunset

Image: Sunset

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Earth-friendly Options For Countertops

However, for today here are some general tips about kitchenware and dish safety…

• The best green dishes are made with recycled and or sustainable materials but that doesn’t always indicate perfect safety. Make sure you look at the whole picture before buying a set of dishes.
• Glass dishes, stoneware, and ceramic dishes made in the U.S. are three of the best green choices when it comes to dishes and these also tend to top out the list for safety as well.
• Buy locally made pieces whenever possible to cut out transport energy issues.
• Buy from people and companies who maintain eco-ethics. You should be able to get this info from the company. You want to make sure they do things like recycle, use less packaging, and possibly even use things like solar energy to run their company.
• Bamboo dishes are one great green wood dish choice.
• Look for non-toxic finishes.
• There are better choices than plastic anything, but if you need/want plastic go with a company who makes recycled plastic options.
• Avoid pots and pans made with perfluorochemical (PFCs): You most likely know PFCs as “nonstick cookware.”
• Stainless steel dishes are another good choice, especially when it comes to green storage solutions. Many recycled options in stainless steel are available now too.
• If you MUST use disposable dishes, for say a party or big barbecue, choose recycled and biodegradable disposable dishes.
• Look for flatware made with recycled handles.
• The best green-minded cookware choices (like stove and oven pieces) are made of recycled glass (i.e. bake ware), cast iron, and stainless steel.

Quick safety points:

• Thrift store and antique dishes do carry a smaller footprint BUT they can be unsafe. First of all, never store food in older dishes and learn how to test your dishes for lead.
• Don’t store liquids in lead crystal glasses or bottles and if you’re pregnant, a child, or a baby, you shouldn’t drink from lead crystal bottles or cups.
• When you purchase new cookware always fill out the registration card and send it in. If there’s a recall, you’ll hear about it.

Have you gone through your kitchen lately to make sure your dishes are safe and green?

[image via stock.xchng]

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How To Choose Safer & Greener Dishes

Emeril’s new show, Emeril Green, begins airing in June of this year.  As all good chefs, Emeril loves working with fresh ingredients.  Emeril will show you how to shop for and utilize organic foods while keeping it healthy for you and your family.

From Well Fed Network:

The man who once told Bobby Flay “I have my own food pyramid” as he plopped a pound of thick cut bacon into a skillet is turning healthy. Chef and TV icon Emeril Lagasse’s new project is called “Emeril Green” and will air on the eco-friendly network Planet Green (a Discovery Network). The premise is astonishing considering the host’s well publicized love affair with pork fat.

Emeril Green will feature the chef teaming up with organic grocer Whole Foods Market to teach American families how to cook healthy food that is also worthy of the Emeril name. With the trend in American cooking venturing towards organic and sustainable foods who better than America’s favorite chef to help folks navigate the confusing waters of healthy eating. Despite Lagasse’s love for fatty foods he, like all chefs, have an eternal passion for premium ingredients not only because they taste better but because they are better for you.

The series will be there at the beginning of the new eco-lifestyle television network, Planet Green, launching in June 2008. On June 4 at 6pm EST, Planet Green will take over the Discovery Home Channel airwaves for its debut.  

Read more about Emeril’s new show, Emeril Green and read even more about all the programming Planet Green will offer.

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Lagasse, Pork Fat and Going Green

There are so many ways to go green in your kitchen.  Probably one of the easiest is to recycle.  We all go through so much waste in the kitchen and so much of it is recyclable…glass, plastic and aluminum to name just a few.

Rebecca over at Mother’s Earth’s Garden writes about the Confessions of a Non-Recycler and a neat gadget to make recycling that much easier.

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Going Green in The Kitchen