Home & Garden...

This week we're looking at how to green audit your home. Yesterday we looked at how to green audit your home cleaning supplies. Today we're moving on to your kitchen pantry.

The kitchen pantry is usually not a big old toxic mess of a place, but it is a place where people tend to have some major over packaging issues.

Take a look at your kitchen shelves, walk-in pantry, fridge, and anywhere else you store food items. Yeah, I use pantry in a broad way - any food items should be audited. Look first for over packaging. For example, cereal in a plastic bag, in a box is double packaging. Pasta that's sitting in a flat container and that also been shrink wrapped is too much packaging. Go through everything, and as you sort, make a list of everything that you think is too over packaged.

Also look for food items packaged in non-recyclable packaging and non reused packaging. You can check for the little recycle symbol, or check the inside of boxes. It's not a completely hard rule, but for the most part, white interior cardboard means non-recycled. Darker cardboard has usually been recycled and reused.

Look at juice bottles, cheese slices that are individually wrapped, and fruit you buy in plastic. Try to think of alternatives. You can buy bulk foods (reuse containers and bags), you can buy fresh berries and freeze them instead of buying frozen in bags, you can have turkey sliced at the meat counter and wrapped in paper vs. buying turkey in plastic wrap and a container.

To learn more read:

Your Kitchen Food Pantry

Bulk Food Storage: Flour and Other Dry Basics