When you set out on the zero-waste journey the path to zero waste, you start by learning and gathering all kinds of information to figure out where to begin. You will find this information through advice from people who have already taken this path, online, and in certain books on the subject.
To that end, we invite you to download our "Zero-Waste Guide" for free. There you will find many tips and grandma's recipes to help you along the way.Once you have corrected your bad consumption habits, you will certainly want to apply your new methods in every room of your home.
In this article, we will try to answer several questions, starting with:
How do I create an eco-friendly kitchen?
This is a big question that would deserve a very in-depth discussion. Indeed, to make your kitchen 100% eco-friendly, you would have to think about all the appliances that are part of a modern kitchen and the energy source with which our oven, microwave, kettle, blender, mixer, cooker, coffee maker, food processor, and dishwasher operate. To be as aligned as possible with the green label, we would need to ban the latter from our kitchens and wash our dishes by hand, avoid energy-hungry induction cooktops, and favor gas stoves, etc. ...
Instead, we are going to focus on kitchen utensils and accessories that will make your kitchen more eco-friendly. Indeed, everything that complements what is known in the trade as your "kitchenware set" can be designed in a cleaner, more minimalist way.
Eco-friendly kitchen utensils
We are going to divide all the accessories into 2 categories to give you a clearer overview.
Cooking utensils
In this category, we will list all the kitchen utensils needed to cook and roast your food. You will find:
- Stockpots
- Dutch ovens
- Frying pans
- Saucepans
- Woks
As the old saying goes, "The best jam is made in old pots". That's absolutely true! Why? Let me explain...
When we refer to this kind of saying, we tend to drift back to memories of the smells and flavors of our grandmothers' cooking.
What you should know is that the frying pans and saucepans of the past were designed to last and made from much healthier materials than those used today.
Do not hesitate to spend a bit more in this range of utensils and choose quality products made of stainless steel and natural cast iron. Avoid materials such as Teflon.
I invite you to read this article=> which will teach you more about this subject.
Small utensils and baking utensils
It may not seem like it, but the list of these small kitchen tools is relatively extensive: tongs, cutting board, colander, garlic press, pestle, funnel, jars, scale, rolling pin, spatula, silicone mold, bowls, citrus juicer, ladle, whisk, mixing bowl, etc...
As you will have understood, if you want to make your kitchen eco-friendly, the first rule to follow lies in the choice of material for your utensils.
The material to avoid at all costs is obviously plastic for environmental reasons. Since it is cheaper than stainless steel and cast iron, it is widely used in the manufacture of these small utensils.
However, plastic utensils are more fragile and end up breaking after regular use. As a result, all that is left is to buy new ones.
For these reasons, I encourage you to invest in quality equipment that you can keep throughout your life. Of course, the purchase price will be higher, but if you do the math, it remains a good investment. And who knows, one day your grandchildren may think the same as you do about their grandmother's cooking! That's the amateur equivalent of a Michelin star! 😉
To inspire you, we invite you to take a look at our "kitchen accessories" collection, where you will find a wide range of accessories made from bamboo, the star of our site!
Kitchen knives
All cooks know it, whether they are beginners or great Michelin-starred chefs, the quality of the knife is very important. After all, you don't go to war with a wooden rifle... It is better to cook with a sharp, high-quality knife.
The list of all kitchen knives is long. You will hear about a peeler more commonly called a vegetable peeler, a filleting knife equipped with a long blade for lifting fish fillets, a boning knife very practical for breaking down large cuts of meat. But the best known and most widely used both in restaurants and in households is the paring knife.
Relatively small, it fits perfectly into all our kitchen drawers. The length of its blade can vary between 7 and 11 centimeters, which makes it ideal for cutting, slicing, and mincing your vegetables in every form: diced, julienned, brunoise, etc... The paring knife is inevitably part of a professional kitchen kit.
Which knife blade should I choose?
If you want to get a kitchen knife that you can keep for a long time, or even your whole life, you will certainly ask yourself questions about the choice of blade.
In recent years, ceramic blades have become trendy alongside traditional steel ones. Stylish and very sharp at the start of their use, ceramic blades are criticized in several respects. I will let you read this article => which does a very good job of highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of this type of knife.
As a result, I recommend going through a true cutlery specialist more commonly known as blacksmiths. We will be pleased to offer this type of knife in our upcoming collection "French artisans".
We will offer kitchen knives and Laguiole knives equipped with wooden handles and made in a 100% handcrafted way by a genuine certified blacksmith. Once again, do not hesitate to spend the money to get the right tools because you will keep them for life, or even for several generations.
How do I clean my knife blade?
For knives equipped with stainless steel and ceramic blades, maintenance is relatively simple. Just run them under water and wipe them with a dish towel. For steel blades, although they are almost unbreakable, they tend to darken and oxidize over time.
Here is a little grandma's recipe for maintaining your steel blade:
Ingredients:
- 1 lemon
- water
- bowl
- 2 soft cloths
- a steel wool sponge
Steps:
- In a bowl, squeeze one lemon into 5 times its volume of water
- soak the blade in this mixture for 15 to 20 minutes
- Take out your blade and scrub it with the steel wool, then wipe it with a dry cloth
Repeat this cleaning process about every 2 months and your knife blades will always have a brilliant shine.
Take care not to put your kitchen knives in the dishwasher, especially if their handles are made of natural wood. Wash them as indicated above and store them away from the air in a kitchen drawer, in their handle if they are foldable or in their case.
Practical utensils for a zero-waste attitude every day
There are simple habits you can adopt that can drastically reduce your impact on the environment. Here is one among many others, using bamboo cutlery. Many French people eat lunch at their workplace, whether at their desk or on a job site, etc...
So you prepare your meal every midday and use cutlery to eat lunch.
We recommend our bamboo cutlery set Take katorasetto™ which you can carry with you everywhere. It comes with a small foldable fabric pouch. Inside you will find: a pair of chopsticks, a spoon, a knife, a fork, a bamboo straw, and its cleaning brush to make washing easier.
To avoid using plastic cutlery, our cutlery set is an excellent alternative, ideal for your travels and camping holidays.
