Practical helpers
These sustainable kitchen gadgets save time and avoid waste
There are many practical gadgets for the kitchen that make everyday life easier
© Csondy / Getty Images
Even the simplest dish requires effort – from preparing it to cleaning up the traces. With the right kitchen gadgets, you can save yourself a lot of work steps in the future and at the same time produce less waste.
In Germany alone, almost 13 million tons of food are thrown away every year – that’s an average of 85.2 kilograms per household. However, the total is not only made up of food that has expired (although it usually has a much longer shelf life), but also of leftovers. For a long time, the reason for this was the convenience of many people: instead of packaging their food in such a way that it can be reused, they preferred to throw it away. Due to the increasing awareness of sustainable products, however, there are more and more kitchen gadgets that offer you the opportunity to make food last longer in just a few simple steps – and at the same time produce less waste.
1. Silicone lids for bowls, mugs and cans
In most households it is normal to store opened food in the refrigerator. To prevent them from drying out, they are often covered with cling film or aluminum foil – both products then end up in the garbage. Dishwasher-safe and extremely stretchy ones offer a sensible and significantly more environmentally friendly alternative silicone lidthat are durable and leak-proof. They are simply slipped over bowls, glasses, cans, pots, pans or melons and can then be reused.
2. Oilcloths for food
Just as useful as they are practical are waxed cotton towels, which are used like cling film or aluminum foil, but are made of 100 percent cotton, organic beeswax, organic jojoba oil and natural tree resin – which means they have antibacterial properties. In addition, the oilcloths be washed and reused after use. This means you produce less waste when you need to wrap, freeze or wrap food. To activate the wipes, simply rub them between your hands and warm them up.
3. Bamboo kitchen roll/all-purpose towels
Overuse of paper towels causes up to 3,000 tons of them to end up in landfill every day. If you still don’t want to do without your kitchen roll, you can use all-purpose towels made of absorbent bamboo fibers: they are antibacterial, hypoallergenic and antimicrobial. The roll consists of a total of 20 towels that can be washed up to 100 times – after each wash they become even softer and more absorbent! But what’s even better: one bamboo roll can replace up to 60 conventional paper kitchen rolls and protect the environment.
4. Reusable baking paper
Did you know that baking paper is not only made of paper, but usually also contains silicone? The disposable product is used and thrown away in millions of households as a matter of course, although reusable ones have been around for a long time baking pads made of Teflon, which are heat-resistant, non-stick and even dishwasher-safe. You can even custom trim these to fit the baking pan you want. As a result, you produce less waste and save yourself the purchase of baking paper.
5. Food Storage Balls
Do you know that too? You peel more onions or garlic cloves than you actually need – and don’t want to throw away the leftovers, but you don’t want to store them in the fridge either. To avoid the strong odor that would slowly spread through the kitchen, the food ends up in the trash even though it’s still good. To avoid this in the future, simply use cling balls: The tightly sealed halves keep your refrigerator odorless and the food you have opened will remain fresh. And can be reused the next time you cook.
6. Reusable toast bags
If you have one Toaster own, then you have surely stood by cursing to scrape a burnt slice of bread from the grille. This is not only annoying, but also unnecessary – with the reusable ones toast bags you can toast the slices easily and without crumbs in the future. The bags are particularly useful when you want to make a sandwich with cheese in it. Thanks to the Teflon coating, the sandwich can be heated in the toaster without having to scrape the melted cheese out of the device. You can even heat a slice of pizza in it.
7. Stainless steel soap
Many foods such as onions and garlic, cheese and fish have a strong inherent odor that lingers on our hands for several hours after each touch. This is not only very unpleasant, but also smells like it. To counteract this, many people use chemical soaps that are supposed to neutralize the smell – and thereby produce a lot of plastic waste. There is a stainless one stainless steel soap just as effective and on top of that also long-lasting and environmentally friendly. All you have to do is rub the soap between your hands under running water for a few seconds to remove the odours.
8. Reusable straws
By 2021 at the latest, you will no longer be able to buy straws made of plastic: from this year, single-use products will be banned in the EU. In Germany alone, 40 billion plastic straws are used every year. Straws made from reusable materials such as stainless steel, Glass or silicone. They’re easy to clean, offer the same drinking experience, but don’t pollute our oceans.
9. Melon slicer
As delicious as watermelons taste, it is also difficult to chop them: With a knife, the slices or pieces are often cut out too generously, so that a lot of the pulp ends up in the trash. Watermelons, honeydew melons, papaya and pitaya can be filleted much faster, easier and cleaner with the melon slicer made of high-quality, food-grade stainless steel. In just a few seconds you can cut evenly sized pieces from a wide variety of fruits – and without much effort or loss of fruit pulp.
10. Avocado slicer
Here, too, the consumption of the delicious pulp involves work, which you can save yourself if you have one avocado slicer use. You first remove the core and then cut the inside into six parts – which are immediately ready to serve. The device is dishwasher safe and has an ergonomic silicone handle so that it fits firmly in your hand and you don’t slip when you want to cut the avocado.
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