It’s easy to be a more sustainable cook! Just follow these 10 tips to save food, money, and the planet
By Diane Small
Ever wondered how to be a sustainable cook without completely overhauling your kitchen routine? Good news—you don’t have to be a master chef or a hardcore environmentalist to make a real difference. Sustainable cooking is all about making mindful choices that are better for the planet (and often your wallet, too).
Ready to learn how to reduce waste and increase efficiency in the kitchen? Read on!
10 Tips For More Sustainable Cooking
1. Shop Smarter
Being a sustainable cook starts with what you buy to prepare your food. Opt for local, seasonal ingredients whenever possible. Not only does this reduce the carbon footprint of your meals (since your food isn’t traveling halfway across the world), but it also supports local farmers. Plus, seasonal produce just tastes better.
Planning your meals in advance will ensure you’re buying stuff you’re actually going to use. My top tip? Never go to the grocery store hungry! You’ll end up buying what you’re craving, not what you should be eating all week.
2. Buy In Bulk
Buying in bulk can cut down on packaging waste and save cash, too. If your grocery store has a bulk section, bring your own containers or reusable bags.
3. Nix The Animal Products
No matter how you slice it (pardon the pun), eating meat and dairy is bad for the planet. Why? Because animals take more space, reducing the habitat of wild flora and fauna. They also eat, in many cases, food that could be consumed by humans. We also need tonnes and tonnes of water for these animals to live. And finally, after they’re slaughtered, their blood and other unwanted body parts often end up polluting rivers.
So when it comes to making food choices, if you want to be a more sustainable cook, consider reducing your consumption or choosing sustainably sourced options. Even swapping out a couple of meat-based meals a week for plant-based alternatives can have a big impact.
4. Reduce Food Waste
One of the biggest steps in how to be a sustainable cook is learning how to minimise food waste. Did you know that about one-third of all food produced globally ends up in the trash? That’s a lot of wasted resources!
A great way to cut down on waste is by planning your meals ahead of time, as I mentioned above. Make a shopping list and stick to it to avoid impulse buys that may go bad before you use them. Store produce properly, too. For example, keep herbs in water like flowers, and don’t store onions and potatoes together since they speed up spoilage).
Also, get creative with leftovers! Turn veggie scraps into homemade broth, use overripe bananas for baking, or blend up a smoothie with any fruit that’s past its prime.
Finally, look for imperfect produce. Those misshapen, ‘ugly’ fruits and veggies often have fewer pesticides. And buy buying them, you’re saving produce that would likely just be tossed away. If we all start buying them, we could reduce the amount of food waste that ends up in dumps.
For more tips like this, check out our article on zero waste recipes.
5. Cook More Efficiently
Sustainability isn’t just about what you cook—it’s also about how you cook. Use energy-efficient appliances when possible, like induction stoves or air fryers, which use less energy than traditional ovens.
Cover pots while boiling water to speed up the process, and cook in batches to make the most of the heat in your oven. If you have a dishwasher, run it only when it’s full to conserve water.
And don’t forget about sustainable cookware! Opt for long-lasting, non-toxic options like cast iron, stainless steel, or ceramic. Avoid non-stick pans with harmful chemicals that wear out quickly and end up in landfills.
6. Be Mindful of Packaging
The plastic crisis is real, and a big part of sustainable cooking is cutting down on unnecessary packaging. Choose products with minimal or compostable packaging, bring your own reusable produce bags, and store food in glass containers rather than plastic ones.
And better yet, go to farmer’s markets with your own canvas or string bags to buy fresh produce that’s not covered in clingfilm!
When you are stuck with packaging – be it glass or plastic – be sure to recycle it. Personally? I use a lot of almond butter jars to store stuff like pasta, spices and sugar.
7. Grow Your Own (Even Just a Little)
Even if you don’t have space for a full garden, growing a few herbs on your windowsill can reduce the need for store-bought (often plastic-wrapped) herbs. If you have the space, try composting food scraps to create nutrient-rich soil for your plants. It’s an easy way to give back to the environment while cutting down on waste.
8. Make Small Changes
Know that you don’t have to do everything at once. Start small—maybe by swapping plastic wrap for beeswax wraps. Or planning your meals more carefully, or cutting down on food waste. The more you integrate sustainable habits into your cooking, the more second nature they’ll become
9. Invest in High Quality Kitchen Tools
One of the first steps towards making vegan cooking more sustainable is investing in the right tools. Kitchen tools can help enhance sustainability in a variety of ways. For starters, you can use them to minimise food wastage around the kitchen, e.g. blenders and food processors are perfect for repurposing fruits and veggies into smoothies and soups.
Besides reducing food wastage, having the right kitchen tools also improves efficiency. For example, cooking – foods like stew and grains – using an instant pot or pressure cooker ensures faster preparation while using less energy.
When buying tools that suit your kitchen needs, it is essential to prioritise quality and durability. High-quality kitchen gadgets, like those from Kitchen Mama, not only make your work easier and minimise food wastage, but they also help make your vegan kitchen more sustainable.
10. Be Sure To Compost
Whether you have a garden or not, there’s a composting bin that’s perfect for your kitchen. If you do have a garden, you can keep your composter there, or in the garage. Then, spread that rich compost on your lawn or in your garden. If you don’t have any outdoor space, it’s still worth composting! This reduces the size of our landfills, and if your municipal government collects your compost, they’re most likely enriching parks and city gardens with it.
Although they may not seem like much, these small changes in your vegan kitchen can make a huge impact. The key is to find a strategy that works for you, stick by it, and make improvements as you go.
If you have any other strategies on how to be a more sustainable cook that might be missing from our list, please let us know in the comments below!
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Very good article
Thank you! Hope our tips were useful 🙂