As responsible citizens of this planet, we can start off with making our home a more eco-friendly place to live in. To me, the kitchen is one of the busiest spots in any house, so let us start with what steps we can take towards building a greener kitchen.

In this article, I will be talking about how can we create an eco-friendly kitchen with the emphasis on food and cooking.

1.  Cook Smart

Of course, cooking is what we do in the kitchen most of the time! Here are a few tips to cook smart and reduce the waste of energy.

• Whenever you boil something (including water), use a container with a tight fitting lid and keep the lid on so that the heat does not escape and the boiling takes place quickly and more energy efficiently. Cooking without a lid allows all the heat to escape and the process will take a much longer time (and will use three times more energy) than if you kept your lid on! 

• Another tip for boiling - If you are boiling vegetables or pasta, once the water reaches the boiling temperature, turn off the stove and let it cook in the hot water with the lid on. You will be saving much more energy this way than by just letting it cook with the heat on and the lid on.

• If you are cooking small sized meals, try to use the microwave or a toaster oven instead of the conventional oven. Studies have shown that this will reduce the energy consumption by about 50%.

• If you do need to use the stove top for cooking, always try to match the size of the pot to the size of the burner. For example, if you use a 6-inch pot on an 8-inch burner you would be wasting about 40% of the burner's heat.

• In the summer, try to use the microwave more often as this will reduce the heat in the kitchen, which in turn will reduce the air conditioning needed to keep your kitchen cool.

• Pressure cookers reduce cooking time by about 70% and hence are a great way to save energy.

• The use of preheated ovens is becoming more and more obsolete as newer ovens are entering the market which do not require preheating at all! They reach the desired temperature very rapidly and dishes can be placed in the oven almost immediately after you turn it on. Also, you can switch off the oven 5 or 10 minutes early and let the dish cook in the residual heat.

2. Choose Long Lasting Cookware 

Choosing the correct type of cookware can have a considerable impact on creating an eco friendly environment within your home. Here are some tips.

• Non stick cookware has a lower useful life than stainless steel or cast iron. Hence, instead of investing on cheap non stick utensils which you will need to get rid off in a few months, buy sturdier utensils made of stainless steel and cast iron. They may be more expensive but will certainly prove to be more efficient in the long run.

• Avoid using plastic cutlery and utensils altogether. But if you must use them, try to stick to cookware made of biodegradable plastic.

• Cheap wooden cutlery is again a "no no" because they may rot and start smelling or develop molds and fungus. Instead, use bamboo utensils which are lightweight, strong and more eco friendly.

• Purchase high quality knives which can be sharpened by hand.

3. Minimize your Trips to the Local Market

Take a look at these ideas for keeping your trips to the local supermarket as minimum as possible so that you are saving both time and gas.

• In order to minimize wastage of food, plan your meals in advance and buy most items in bulk. Make a list of all the items you usually consume in a month and bring them all at once when you visit the supermarket. 

• Avoid consuming ready-to-eat or frozen meals. Buy fresh items from the farmer's market and develop a healthy practice of cooking at home so that you will know exactly what is going in your food.

• If you have space, start your own kitchen garden and grow your own fruits and vegetables using your composted kitchen waste as a fertilizer.

4. Consume Less Red Meat

The fact that we are eating more red meat and poultry has definitely taken a toll on the environment. In fact, the consumption of red meat is one of the major causes of global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions. And the startling find (according to the U.N.) is that the livestock sector accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than the transportation sector. 

When farm raised cattle belch, they emit methane gas which traps more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide and livestock manure is a source of man made nitrous oxide which is 300 times more potent as a global warming gas than carbon dioxide. 

So, considering the benefits to your health and the environment, try to stop or reduce eating red meat. If you absolutely cannot do without non-veg, replace red meat with fish on some days, which is a much healthier option.

To conclude, we can see that the little things which we may overlook during the day to day running of our lives can have a substantial impact on our environment. I will be covering the other aspects of making a 'Green Kitchen' in my next article, Ways To 'Go Green' In Your Kitchen - Part II .