7 eco-friendly kitchen items you need today!

Over the years I have tried to reduce waste at our house and become more eco-friendly. So today I'm sharing with you seven items that I have made or purchased and that I find very useful. 

1. Silicone Lids

Silicone lids are a great replacement of cling film. Cling film may be very useful, but it is also very difficult to recycle and, bottom line, each time you place a piece of cling film in the trash it will most likely end in a landfill somewhere - or in the ocean.

I have bought a set of round and and rectangular silicone lids in several sizes over a year ago, and I'm very happy with them. They are easy to store, can be used in the microwave or in the fridge and are freezer and dishwasher safe. 

After over a year of use they are still in great condition and I have never used another roll of cling film since. 

Here are all of mine (except one that's now in use in the fridge):

The exact set I bought doesn't seem to be currently available on Amazon, but they are the same as these (except that mine come in different colors...):

   

2. Reusable straws

My kids tend to use straws a lot, even now that they are older. Until a couple of years ago, I bought plastic straws and, as you can guess, there were a lot of straws being placed in our trash bin every week. Again, plastic straws are very difficult to recycle. I'm also not a fan of paper straws - they don't last very much if you leave them in your drink for a while and if you're tearing down trees to make them they're not all that eco-friendly either. 

Then a friend if ours gave us a couple of bamboo straws for us to try - and I was instantly in love. And I ended up buying a larger set too. 

These are the ones with have now (minus three that are in the dishwasher right now...):

They come in different sizes, have their own storage pouch and included were a few cleaning brushes too. 

Our set is similar to this one:

   

Once each straw is used I clean it with the brush and then place it in the dishwasher. Ours have been going through the dishwasher for almost two years now and we haven't lost a single one yet, they are all in great condition. And just think of all the plastic straws we didn't use in the meantime...

 

3. Fabric bread bags

Until recently we went to our usual bakery everyday and brought bread home in a plastic or a paper bag. Then, while going through some stuff that my mother was getting rid of, I found a set of bread fabric bags. They are a mismatched lot, but I still love them - especially because now we go to the bakery, they place the bread directly in our bags and I'm no longer bringing disposable bags home. 

You can obviously make your own bags (any drawstring bag tutorial will work just fine), but there are also cute sets you can buy - like this one, for example:

   

4. Fruit and produce bags

Just like the bread bags, I have switched to reusable bags for fruit and produce too. I make my own using a pattern I designed myself. Although you can use bags similar to the bread ones above, I personally prefer these: 

My pattern comes in three different sizes and can be found at my Etsy shop:

But if you don't want to make your own, there are also sets of these reusable bags that you can buy:

   

5. Reusable kitchen towels

I used to have a roll of paper kitchen towels always on hand. Now I have a roll of...fabric towels instead:

These towels have snaps that hold them to each other, so they are very easy to keep on regular kitchen towel holders. I've made a few sets so far (some for me, some as gifts, some sold on my Etsy shop back when I had physical items available). They are very durable even when washed regularly and you can choose whatever color or design fits your kitchen better.

You can find my free kitchen towel tutorial here. 

And again, if you don't want to make your own, you can have a look on Etsy or Amazon for a set that works for you:

 

6. Reusable containers

For some reason, I have never been a huge fan of beeswax covers or beeswax reusable bags. But I'm all in favor of reducing plastic and waste. 

Last year I made a set of reusable snacks and sandwich bags which I find are more easily washed and more durable than the beeswax alternatives. You can find my tutorial below: 

I've been also progressively changing our plastic fridge and freezer containers. And although they are a bit more expensive, I'm looking at these sets with bamboo lids (because, again, I would like to reduce plastic at home...):

   

7. Reusable shopping bags

Ok, so maybe these are not exactly a kitchen item, but since a large part of all our shopping has to do with groceries, I think it's still a good fit. 

I've been using fabric shopping bags for way longer than any of the other items above, and I have a huge stash of them. We have a few in each of our cars, I always keep one or two in my purse, and the rest are stored at home to use as needed. 

When one is dirty I pop it into the washing machine and that's about it. 

If you want to make your own reusable shopping bags, you can use either my lined tote bag tutorial (adjusting measurements as needed) or my reversible shopping bag that folds into a little pouch and is perfect to keep in your purse. 

Os just get a cute set like this one:

   

How about you? What are your favorite eco-friendly kitchen items?

Thank you for stopping by, and happy Tuesday,

Free images from Canva.

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