Many of us striving for a greener lifestyle are familiar with eco-friendly home products and décor but we rarely give a second thought about cooking. Considering we spend a good deal of time in the kitchen making food, small changes to our cooking styles can have long term beneficial effects. Here are some tips to go green with your cooking:

Use Local Ingredients

By purchasing locally grown fruits and vegetables, not only are you supporting your local farmers but you are also helping the environment. The long distance transport of food consumes fossil fuels and generates a lot of pollution, which can often be avoided with local alternatives. If you live in California, why buy oranges shipped from Florida when you have local California oranges available?

Buy in Bulk

Buying in bulk reduces the amount of packaging material we throw away each year. Most of us have no doubt seen "convenience sized" gone to the extreme with snack bags containing a handful of chips to individually wrapped cookies. Imagine how much of that non-biodegradable packaging goes into landfills each year? When possible, especially for snacks, buy food in bigger packages and split it up in plastic containers for easy storage until use. You'll not only cut down on waste but also save some money as well.

Use Lids When Cooking

By using lids that close tightly over the pot or pan, you will minimize heat loss and use less gas/electricity to cook your food in a faster time. I'll be the first to admit that I'm guilty of constantly cooking with open pans and pots, due to wanting to keep an eye on my frying food or boiling pasta, but this could be solved with see-through glass lids.

Use Passive Boiling

After hitting the boiling point, pots and their contents stay hot for a long period of time even after you turn off the stove. Instead of boiling your food and quickly draining it, turn off the stove earlier and let the passive heat continue to cook the food until it's done. I usually take a pot of boiling pasta off the burner five minutes before it's ready and use the already hot element to cook the sauce. By the time I'm done the sauce, the pasta is cooked thoroughly.

Cut Food into Smaller Pieces

Smaller pieces cook much faster and use less resources than cooking things whole. I used to be guilty of this when frying up a meal of chicken breasts or pork chops straight out of the package, which took up to fifteen minutes. After cutting them down into smaller pieces, they cook in less than seven minutes now.

Make Extra Servings

Most meals take just as long to cook if you were making two portions instead of one. For some types of food (meatloaf, pasta, soups), it's a good idea to make extra portions that you can store in containers in the fridge or freezer for a later meal. It'll save time and you'll use little to no extra electricity doing it. Many foods will still taste the same when heated back up.

Boil Only What You Need

By keeping an eye on how much water you put into the kettle, you can save a lot of electricity and time while reducing your water consumption. All too often I find myself boiling too much water when making tea. More water means more time and power needed to get it boiling. Afterwards, the remaining water will only be poured out or need to be reheated again due to it cooling before I finish my current cup of tea. Alternatively, you can use a microwave to boil single cups of water. It's surprisingly fast and energy efficient.

Use Oil

Many cooking sprays contain a lot of addictives, including chemical propellants. A healthier and greener alternative is good ole canola oil. Often overlooked and overshadowed by olive oil (also a very healthy alternative), canola oil contains a lot of healthy fats, has a high burning point, and won't add any overpowering tastes to your food. For convenience, just invest in an oil dispenser that you can leave by the stove.

Buy a Faucet Aerator

A faucet aerator costs less than $5, are widely available at pretty much every hardware store, and can cut up to 50% of your home's water consumption. Most homes waste thousands of gallons of water every year through the kitchen sink and by screwing on an aerator at the end of your tap, you can reduce the amount of water that flows straight into the drain. Turning the tap off when peeling vegetables and scrubbing pans can also save a lot of water.

Use Eco-Friendly Cookware

From switching to organic bamboo plates and bowls to eco-friendly pans, there are a lot of alternatives for greener cookware. Cast iron pans, for instance, contain less chemicals than nonstick painted cookware and will last a lot longer. We have a post with more information on eco-friendly cookware here.

Grill Your Food in the Summer

A grill uses a lot less power than a stove and who doesn't love barbecue? In addition, it also moves heat out of your home, making your air conditioner work less. Win-win situation.

Compost!

It's no secret that we here are big advocates of composting. When prepping food, why throw away your vegetable trimmings when you can compost them for use in a flower or herb garden? Most modern kitchen compost units are pretty inexpensive, easy to use, and don't give off any smells.

Invest in an Energy Efficient Oven and/or Stove

As stated in one of our previous posts, convection ovens are more effective than conventional ovens and use up to 20% less power to cook your food. If you use your oven to cook a lot, this could save a lot of money and recoup the price difference in the oven quite fast.

In terms of stoves, the most efficient type is the induction stove. These are flameless and transfer heat directly to the metal pan. The advantages are that they use a lot less power, are much easier to clean, and are a lot safer as there is no open flame or element. The actual stovetop will not transfer heat to non-metallic objects, which means you won't get burned even if you put your hand directly on the stovetop. The disadvantages though, are that they cost significantly more and will only work with metal cookware (no glass or ceramic).

For more green cooking info, check out these books:

Cooking Green: Reducing Your Carbon Footprint in the Kitchen--The New Green Basics Way

The Green Kitchen: Techniques & Recipes for Cutting Energy Use, Saving Money, Reducing Waste