Making the Kitchen More Sustainable

I read a blog entry on the same topic a while back, and wouldn't you know--I couldn't find it again?

But just the title alone got me thinking. And the first question that came up was, "Well, how is my kitchen NOT sustainable right now?"

The answer came seemingly from my grandma. "Where is your pantry?" I hadn't been really storing anything with intention. And it occurred to me that I didn't know how. And my trash confirmed it. No wonder I get so much guilt out of ordering in, look at all the styrofoam I'm putting out from these containers! I need to cook more, but don't we all? But what if the power DID go out with all these storms. "Sustainable" might mean more later on, but at the starting point, it simply means usable, readily available, and with the least amount of waste.

A friend of mine said that her grandma always used Labor Day to sort of take inventory of her pantry and replenish her storage. So I decided to use Labor Day 2009 to get started.

Now, when you want a website about food storage, and how long things last, and how much of it you should buy, you get a pretty polarized set of results. And even though I found this first one WAY over-survivalist, I really liked the perspective it gave me. Behold---the motherload:

http://www.survival-center.com/foodfaq/

Hey, if you are like me, and you need science to back up whether or not you should re-use cooking oils, you'll find that food faq VERY informative.

The next one I liked comes from a duo of writers who just wanted a system for optimal food-storage, so they offer free printable spreadsheets and a system of self-inventory: a food-storage calculator and a baby-steps checklist:

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/babysteps/step-4-long-term-food-stor...

When I started looking for recipes from which I could work backwards, I found this one to be the right catalyst:

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/clay55a.html

Jackie Clay gives some important advice in the above article. She notes that it's important to try different recipes to see if your family will like the food you make out of pantry items before you go making them in tough times. Why store and make food if you struggle to eat it? For the pain of survival?

So I started with our favorites around the house: spices, pasta, lentils, rice, oats, beans, and bean soup mixes. Got some great jars, and realized that once I put them inside something unlabeled, I got really insecure about what I had to work with and how long it had been in there. I found this:

http://www.foodinjars.com/2009/04/06/tip-labeling-storage-jars/

Wow. I am really missing Grandma when I have to look up things like that, but I'm really grateful I found the article. I labeled all my jars with a Sharpie, and wrote the current date on the outsides.

Now, it's still not my Grandmother's pantry, but it's a start. And we are already cooking from the stash and replenishing jars, so I know we are on to the right ingredients!

Now, why is this more sustainable? The more I do this, the more I can shop towards my goal of buying my food locally and storing it. I'll get more comfortable with spices, and which ones I like the most, and I'll know how much "bulk" to buy them in.

Although the food storage is the most important part of my vision for my kitchen, I have realized how many utensils or gadgets we may have that are completely unnecessary, one-task items. Ranging from hand-tools to food-processors, most kitchens today are guilty of having gadget lust. And if the gadgets are not biodegradable (i.e. wooden spoons), and you can't see these items out-lasting you and being passed down to YOUR grandchildren, maybe it's time to re-assess its value and remember the end of that product is likely a landfill.

So to decide which gadgets can be regifted or donated, we've put most of them in a shoebox. And if they are not taken out of the box to be used, then whatever is still in the box after a year is unnecessary.

Because Labor Day still wasn't enough time to earn the wisdom of my grandma, I found it easier to imagine larger amounts of storage with the help of these resources. We hope that if you have some ideas or convenient nuggets of wisdom, you will share them with us here!