The kitchen is the nerve center of any home, where you are often at your busiest, especially around Thanksgiving and the upcoming holiday season. So, when you’re ready to move toward a more sustainable lifestyle, the kitchen is a great place to start.

Here are 7 tips to a greener lifestyle in your kitchen to consider bringing about positive transformation in your home, and in your life.

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1. Green cookbooks and diets

Green cookbooks can help you eat more healthily, expand your enjoyment of new foods, and reduce the amount of meat you eat. Eating less meat is tied to a more sustainable food economy as well as to reducing global warming.

2. Buy food with less packaging

Sometimes, packaged food is just a quicker option in a busy life. But when you can, try to buy food fresh, while reducing the need to throw out packaging. This plays into a healthier diet, and reduces the mass of landfill. The less landfill we have, the more land there is to grow food locally. And speaking of local…

3. Eat what’s in season, and buy locally

Eating in season means less road time for the food you buy, less fossil fuels burned, and fewer vehicle emissions from food trucks driving to your local supermarket. Find a farmer’s market, and discover which foods are in season from the experts. Then, buy from them using recipes from your new green cookbooks.

4. Use what you buy, and cook in bulk

A great way to go green in your kitchen is by reducing waste. Buy only what you need, and try to reduce the storage time of the food you buy. Cook in batches and freeze individual portions as needed to make sure that food is prepared before it goes bad.

5. Use green cleaning supplies

There is a great deal of eco-friendly cleaning power in simple, environmentally friendly ingredients like white vinegar and baking soda. Not every job needs harsh, manufactured chemicals. Reducing them in your kitchen cleaning can make all the difference to a greener world.

6. Evaluate your appliances for energy consumption, and replace your old appliances the green way

Find out how much your old fridge is costing you and our shared energy grid. Those old appliances can eat up your energy budget, and cost you big bucks in the long term. It may be time to replace them with energy-efficient, ENERGY STAR appliances. And if you do replace your old appliances, find a resource to dispose of old appliances safely and efficiently.

7. Seek green building materials, fixtures, and lighting

If you’re planning a kitchen remodel, see about investing in green building materials for flooring and other surfaces. See about water-efficient fixtures for kitchen taps. When you’re transforming your kitchen, this is the perfect time to work in your resolve to move toward a greener lifestyle.

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In this 21st century age of sustainability, making the most of our resources and being smarter consumers as a result is a prime mandate. Here again, the kitchen proves to be an important site in your home where this can happen.

Rob Jones is Social Media and Content manager at BuildDirect, a laminate flooring and other online building materials company. For more information about sustainable building and green lifestyles, Rob is also editor of the BuildDirect green blog.

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