Everyone is going green these days.  Our family has been working on making our home more eco-friendly.  We look for energy star appliances, use cfls, bypass the disposable cups & plates, look for high percentages of recycled content in products and make sure to recycle all we can.

An  often overlooked area to green your home is in your cookware choices.  Here I will cover a few green tips, for the purchase of cookware and utensils.

Buy Quality

The most important rule of thumb to keep in mind, when it comes the purchase of cookware and utensils, is to buy quality items that will last.  It is more costly, to both your wallet and our environment to replace a worn out pan, than to pay a little more, for a well made durable one in the first place.  Look at the item you are about to buy, can you see yourself still using it in 8-10 years… if not keep looking.

Skip the Non-Stick

Forget about advanced non-stick surfaces, not only do they wear out fast, but they actually shed their coating into your food over time.  These coatings are known to kill birds, when over-heated… do you really want to cook in these things.

You are much better off going with stainless steel, glass, enameled or good old fashioned cast iron pans.  I have several commercial anodized pans, which are also great choices.  They are incredibly durable, and provide excellent browning, much like cast iron, but are lighter, and a bit easier to clean up.

Invest in a Pressure Cooker

Pressure cookers cut cooking times by more than half, thus saving a good deal of energy, not to mention precious time.  They also lock in the nutrients in your food.  There is no need to fear using them anymore.  New models are packed with safety features.

Bamboo Utensils

I bought my first bamboo utensil, a few months ago and I love it.  Since bamboo regrows quickly, it is considered a far greener option than wood.  It also doesn’t require the level of processing that  metal and plastic utensils do.  Bamboo has natural antibacterial properties, and is extremely strong. 

There are many different bamboo utensils available these days, but of course bamboo is not a replacement for a metal spatula to scrape up browned bits in a pan.  When you can’t use bamboo, just keep in mind rule #1 durability.  A cheap spatula or tongs will end out needing to be replaced, good ones will last for many years.

As we move away from our disposable society, we will find there are many benefits in buying things to last.  Not only will buying quality items, like the ones I’ve discussed above, be better for our environment, but will save money in the long run, and make the experience of cooking itself more pleasurable.