Plastic Free: Kitchen

Welcome to Trash Talk Tuesday! Continuing with our Plastic Free July challenge, I thought it would be helpful to discuss ways to reduce plastic in your kitchen.

It seems like plastic is everywhere in the kitchen. Last week I suggested trying out reusable metal straws, grocery bags and cups. This week, I wanted to touch on shopping in bulk. First, whenever shopping in bulk I ask the cashier to weigh my container. I then write the weight in a sharpie on the container so that I will have it for future reference. By weighing my container, it allows me to just pay for my food and not the container too. I have found many grocery stores willing to put my deli meat, fish and cheese in the container that I provide, eliminating the plastic that would otherwise encase them. It has also been helpful to shop in bulk for my coffee, spices, teas, rice, beans, nuts, flour, sugar and other baking ingredients. When shopping for fresh produce, I try to avoid items that are already packaged. This enables me to pick out how much I want of that item, and then I can put it in a reusable produce bag. If time allows I will freeze some of the fresh produce in my own container, eliminating the plastic from pre-packaged frozen produce.

Check back next week for ideas on reducing plastic in regards to your cleaning supplies!