Australian Natural Health Magazine

Blogger Tammy Logan shares her top tips to keeping your kitchen sustainable.

We’re inspired by the efforts of blogger Tammy Logan from Gippsland Unwrapped. A trained conservation biologist and community engagement practitioner with dairy farming roots, Logan and her family (two adults and two young children) are currently doing their best to live a plasticfree, waste-free life in rural Victoria.

Here Logan shares top five tips for maintaining sustainability in your kitchen:

1. Reduce food waste by planning a menu and writing a shopping list. This way you are more likely to eat everything you buy and you will know which bags and containers to take shopping with you (see next tip). Any food scraps that you do end up with need to be composted.

2. Reduce food packaging by taking containers and jars to collect meat, fish, cheese and small goods from the butcher and delicatessen. Take cloth bags to collect bread from the baker, and find stores that sell staples like flour, sugar, rice, and nuts from bulk food bins so you can use your own bags.

3. Avoid as much plastic as possible. Buy or make reusable food covers, store food in glass jars or stainless steel containers, and choose biodegradable cleaning cloths and scrubs that can go in your compost when you are done with them.

4. Simple, natural cleaning products like soap, vinegar and bicarb soda can be used effectively everywhere in the kitchen. You can also buy detergents from bulk and health food stores using your own reusable bottles.

5. Grow your own food (herbs are a good place to start) and choose local, seasonal and ethically produced food. This will reduce energy use associated with the transportation of food and improve.

For Logan's full story and the ins and outs of keeping your kitchen with six simple steps, grab the June/July edition of Australian Natural Health Magazine.