Reducing Waste in the Kitchen Part II - Food Storage

I was messing around in the fridge yesterday making P his lunch and noticed some other ways we reduce waste and plastic use and reuse in the kitchen and thought another post was in order! Part I can be found here

Food Waste
Storing leftovers can really cut down on food waste and also help keep the grocery budget under control, how much food do you throw out that could have been reheated or turned into something else at the next meal? Or sent with your husband for lunch?

There are lots of storage options; Tupperware, Pyrex, jars, Ziplocs, aluminum containers, stainless steel... We choose to keep away from the aluminum and plastic storage options even the 'safe' ones because their safety really just isn't known. Over the last couple years we have been phasing out our old plastic Tupperware and replacing it with glass Pyrex containers. While the lids are made of one of those 'safe' plastics they very rarely touch the food and we never reheat with it on so we are more comfortable with that option. Besides being non-toxic, glass containers also wash up easily and ours still look brand new to this day! I also love that they do not stain like Tupperware will tend to do when you store things like chili or spaghetti sauce in them.

Pyrex containers can be pricey, we started by buying a few when we found them on sale. Kohl's has them on sale quite often and you can combine a sale and a coupon or two AND earn Kohl's cash for every $50 spent making them more affordable for those on tight budgets! Pyrex can be used in the fridge, freezer, microwave and oven, just be sure not to put a frozen glass container in a hot oven, that could be disastrous! I use them in the freezer to store meatballs, burrito filling, tortillas balls and sliced bananas and for all sorts of things in the fridge

I also love to use jars from things like tomato sauces for storage. This saves another jar from the trash and also saves us a little money because I would have to buy (and store) more Pyrex otherwise. Most of mine are in the freezer... the lids of these jars DO contain BPA though so be careful not to put them in the dishwasher or put anything warm in the jar and make sure nothing touches the lid and you're good to go. That jar on the top shelf has whole flax seed in it, if you store it whole and grind as needed it is higher in nutrients and will also keep longer, ground flax seed tends to spoil a bit faster. And this one in my pantry holds popcorn we buy from bulk bins -- another way you can cut down on waste and costs in the kitchen

Stainless steel is also great for storing food items. I love love love stainless steel, it's so shiny and sleek! I use these to store bulk oats and flour in, and the smaller canister kind that you can see in the above photo has 2lbs of dry active yeast in it for bread making and all that good stuff

Used for storing flours and oats

Food storage containers allow us to buy in bulk and to store leftovers helping us save big on monetary and environmental waste in the kitchen. I have a favorite smaller way that we save too!

Tea! I love tea!
As I've said, I buy my tea leaves loose and in bulk bags from my Frontier co-op. I didn't say what I do with them though. I started out using a set of reusable cotton tea bags from Frontier, they worked well, but they were a pain to use honestly, they required washing, and they were a bit messy to empty. Now I use a stainless steel tea ball from Frontier, it's dishwasher safe and was only $2! I love it and love that it saves on all those little tea bags that would otherwise go in the trash, which, are bleached by the way ;) 

Please excuse the little bit of milk I left behind, I am enjoying a cup of yummy English Breakfast right now!

What are your favorite 'green' ways of storing food or cutting down on waste in the kitchen?