Your kitchen in zero waste mode: tips, recipes and tutorials

• Replace plastic food wrap and aluminium foil by washable and waterproof bowl covers or beewraps

• Recycle your plastic bags and replace them by a resistant bag and reusable bulk bags.

• Store your loose food in Tupperware's or even better in  glass jars that you save. Le Parfait jars have been around since the dawn of time and after being shunned for a few decades, they are back in fashion.

• No more plastic straws, use stainless steel stainless steel or bamboo straws instead

• Replace baking paper with a silicone baking mat or butter the baking trays of your oven. 

• Going to washable "paper" towels is much easier than it seems, hang a net for dirty clothes instead of your now useless bin

• Make sure you have 2 boxes of towels,one for the clean (and well ironed) tissues and one for the dirty ones

• Use a washable linen coffee filter or reusable capsules for your nespresso machine
  

• A dish brush made of wood and agave fibres is much more sustainable than brushes made of plastic and synthetic fibres.  Give it a new lease of life by running it through the dishwasher from time to time 

• Make your Tawashi sponges up in order to stop buying dozens of synthetic sponges

• The super-polluting washing-up liquid can be replaced by  a brick of Marseille soap, liquid black soap  or Marseille soap in a pump bottle. 

• Disposable tea bags are transformed into fabrics bags to be filled with  your best teas bought in bulk

• Shake up your habits by replacing the heavy bottles of water you have to carry every week with Brita jar, a glass, stainless steel lunch boxes or ceramic water bottleIf your water tastes bad, use a binchotan or even better a water dispenser in your kitchen.

• Your dishwasher won't mind if you use  powder instead of caps and you can even make your own dishwasher powder

• There's a sustainable  stainless steel lunch boxes and for teenagers, think of the boc'n Roll, wich is much more fashionable and fits in your pocket after lunch (not in the trashbin...).

• Spreadable butter in a tub becomes farm butter in a Breton butter dish or water butter dish
  

This list is not exhaustive but it gives you an idea of the many alternatives that will empty your bins.  Be creative, you will also save money. 

2. Buy quality and durable utensils

In your kitchen as well as throughout your house, choose wooden, stainless steel or glass utensils.  Say goodbye to plastic!  These noble materials do not give any taste to your food and will not end their life buried in the ground or in the oceans as micro-plastics but will be recycled at the very end of their long life...

Choose a  water bottle and take it with you on your trips.  The plastic water bottle is no longer popular! Get a glass bottle  and reuse it many times.

Kitchen utensils for stirring, mixing, beating and licking should be made of  stainless steel lunch boxes and wood rather than plastic, and one of each is sufficient.

Extend the lifespan of your  chopping board by choosing a wooden one to last a lifetime and avoid plastic cuts in your food.

4. Buy loose and cook simple meals

A lot of waste is produced when you buy your food, go for  zero waste shopping by favouring local and seasonal products. Transform your kitchen with shelves full of handy jars that are always at your disposal. 

Cook simple things, enjoy the taste of steamed or oven-baked vegetables. Cupboards full of spices, oils and vinegars that you only use once don't make sense.

On the internet, there is no lack of ideas for zero-waste recipes : Moroccan lentils, zero waste pasta, lacto-fermentation, pasta with pesto sauce etc

Avoid expensive, over-seasoned ready meals of which ingredients are anything but healthy. 

Cooking becomes an enjoyable activity when you share it with others or when you share what you have cooked.