Easy Tips For Reducing Waste In The Kitchen (part I)

by Texas Homesteader ~

There are many simple, frugal (or FREE) ways to reduce waste in your kitchen. These simple steps can make a huge impact in reducing the amount of landfill trash spilling from your home and saving you money to boot. It’s EASY, come see this handy list!

(Note: Some links in this post will take you to other related articles for further information. But links preceded with * are affiliate links. If you click and buy something I could receive a tiny commission.)

Reducing Kitchen Trash

Y’all know I’ve been on a quest to reduce our outgoing household trash for years now. We’ve been pretty successful.

As a matter of fact we’ve eliminated the need for a weekly trash pickup to haul our household trash to the dump.

There are so many steps we took to reduce our trash output so drastically including the (now 5) R’s:

Refuse,

Reduce,

Reuse,

Repurpose,

Recycle.

Today I’ll talk about a few ways we’ve been able to very easily yet substantially reduce our trash output from our home’s kitchen.

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Easy Composting For Peels, Cores & Other Food Scraps

One of the largest ways we were successful in reducing trash in the kitchen is to turn some of that food waste into something very useful in the garden.

I absolutely love my * compost tumbler – I’ve written about it lots. And yes, I love it that much.

We don’t waste much food at all at our Homestead but there are always going to be small amounts of food byproduct that will need to be disposed of – banana peels, potato peels, orange peels, egg shells and the like. Some of these items go to our goats or chickens but what to do with the rest?

I like to keep my garden as organic as possible so I make my own compost. Any kitchen waste coupled with waste paper such as envelopes from the mail, black & white newspaper, paper documents, ripped Cardboard, etc. And living on the Homestead, I have ample supply of cow manure to add as well!

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Repurposed Cloth Cleaning Rags Instead of Paper Towels

I eliminated paper towels & went to 100% cloth in my kitchen several years ago. But I used to buy those special cloths labeled especially for kitchen cleaning.

Of course that was a step in the right direction since those cloths could be washed & reused for quite some time. But I wondered why I would need a special kind of cloth for kitchen use.

So I started buying bundles of inexpensive washcloths instead. That was an even better step financially.

But I wondered… could I do even more?

As it turns out, yes – I started cleaning like grandma did – using cleaning rags instead of purchased cleaning cloths of any kind.

I like to use cotton cloth when I clean. So I’m often cutting an old cotton sock or t-shirt into squares to turn it into an absorbent scrubbable 100% cotton cleaning rag for FREE.

I’ve found there are actually Many Uses For An Old Sock. So using it for kitchen cleaning was a natural next step for me.

These cleaning rags have also taken the place of paper towels. Although this was a hard one initially for RancherMan, gradually he got used to grabbing the cloth rags instead of paper towels in the kitchen.

And once they have completed their next life as kitchen cleaning rags RancherMan gets them to use in his workshop. So that’s helped his paper towel withdrawal symptoms a lot.

Those workshop rags can be used to wipe down something greasy & then just be thrown away. I don’t have a problem with this disposal since these rags have migrated down the line in their duty responsibilities: sock – cleaning cloth – shop rag – before finally being thrown away.

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Eliminate Paper Napkins With Soft Cloth Napkins

The green cloth napkins in the photo above have done their job for over 25 years now and they still look new.

Cloth napkins are very inexpensive to buy. And since they take up very little space in the washer I just toss ’em in with our regular laundry. No extra cleaning cycles needed! So once they’re purchased they are ready to serve for many years.

I even made some adorable red/white gingham napkins from a thrifted tablecloth. I absolutely love them, and all 9 of my new napkins were made with only the $1 cost of that tablecloth. Yep, one buck!

Occasionally I’ll have a guest ask in wonderment “You mean, you don’t have ANY paper napkins??!!” LOL.

So I do save that one wayward extra unused paper napkin that would have been thrown away when we occasionally stop for a quick burger.

Then I bring it home & tuck it neatly into a container in my kitchen so that when a visitor needs a napkin I can pull one out! LOL

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Repurposing Glass Jars

Dehydrated produce takes up very little space in my kitchen and it takes no additional energy to store. I use clean glass jars to hold my dehydrated veggies.

Not only do they look beautiful on my pantry shelves, but their glass-jar containers have been repurposed from other food products. No need to buy specialty storage jars!

I also reuse wide-mouth jars for leftovers in my refrigerator. Since it’s easy to see through the glass to see the food inside, much less leftover food gets wasted.

I pop the last of that chopped onion or the leftover serving of meatloaf into a wide-mouth glass jar. It’s right there in front of me when I open the fridge to see what’s for lunch.

And lastly I use the clean empty plastic peanut butter jars for freezing homemade broth & Ranch-Style Beans.

We always have a supply of plastic peanut butter jars and this gives them one more use before being recycled.

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Easy Ways To Reuse Plastic Bags

Y’all know how much I hate plastic! But it seems it’s almost impossible to get away from it these days. So if I’m going to have to bring plastic into my kitchen I’m going to make sure it’s used to it’s fullest.

I reuse the plastic bag that some of my other food comes in. Anything from popcorn bags, heavy zippered cheese bags, tortilla bags and the like. A quick rinse and dry, then they’re folded to await their next usable life.

The larger ones I use to hold homemade bread to keep it nice & fresh. And the smaller ones are used to hold individual servings of entrees going to the freezer.

For instance I’ll tuck a serving of meatloaf into each of several small bags, then place them all in one large freezer bag, pop in a label (because you know all frozen chunks of food look alike) and into the freezer it goes!

Now it’s easy to pull out a meal-sized serving of homemade meatloaf & place it in the fridge the night before. And a homemade supper the next night is quick & easy.

Plus those blasted plastic bags I’ve been forced to accept with my food items have received another use before finally being thrown away.

Even MORE Ways To Reduce Kitchen Waste

WHEW! This is turning into a super-long post. I told you there were lots of ways to reduce trash in the kitchen!

So check out Reducing Waste In The Kitchen, Part II for five MORE ways to reduce trash in the kitchen.

And please weigh in – what are YOUR secrets for reducing waste? C’mon don’t be shy, we can all learn from each other.

~TxH~

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37 thoughts on “Easy Tips For Reducing Waste In The Kitchen (part I)”

Rosie (@greenrosielife) at

Yes yes and yes to all of these suggestions – these should be shown to everyone until we all do them. They are not difficult yet the combined effect on the planet would be huge if everyone started reducing their waste. #WasteLessWednesday

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Alicia Owen at

Great tips! My weakness is paper plates and paper towels. :/ I really need to make some of those un-paper towels. As far as the plates, well, I just really hate washing dishes and need to get over it. lol Other than that, we compost, feed the animals leftovers, and recycle, so we usually only have 2 trash bags every 2 weeks, if that! Thanks for sharing on the Clever Chicks blog hop.

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Judith c at

I started my mission years ago by not buying paper napkins. We use cloth, some were inherited from my mom’s wedding gifts from 1951. Then I moved on to no more paper plates, our silverware was being thrown out with the plates!! Teenagers, that’ll teach them. Now I just have to break the hubby from paper towels. One of these days I’ll just have to tell him they quit carrying them at Sam’s like the plates.

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busygreenmum at

We do most of these too – but I particularly like the sock idea – never thought of cutting them open like that 🙂 #wastelesswednesday

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Bobbie at

Great ideas here, Tammy.
I have a few that you might like. I know that you have chickens. I “assume” that part of your chicks diet is shells. I have been saving eggs shells and using them this way. When we have eggs or I’m baking, etc. I rinse the shells. Lay them on a cooling rack (small ones I’ve picked up over the years from second-hand stores for cooling cookies and bread), stick the rack of shells under the wood stove to let them dry (until crisp). I purchased a tiny (Walmart, cheap coffee grinder, under $10) just for eggs and banana peels. I put the dry egg shells into a bowl, crush them with my hands and put them in the little coffee grinder cup. Bingo-bango………out comes lovely, fresh, grounds shells for your chickens. Shells are excellent for chickens, but we don’t want them to know they are THEIR egg shells or they will start picking at their own eggs. Another use for these ground egg shells — I store them in a big glass container.
To this container I add banana peels (dried the same way, under the stove on racks). I crush the dried peels in a bowl, add to the grinder and poof! Wonder ground banana peels. The banana peels and egg shells are added to each plant we put in. Dig your hole, put in a good handful of your ground peels and shells, mix with the soil and plant your veggie or plant as normal. NO MORE BONE MEAL NEEDED HERE!
This is easy, even if one doesn’t have a wood-burning stove. You can do this the same way in the oven (on low). Or better yet, wait until you used your oven for baking, then after you pull your dish out, stick in your rack of peels and/or shells and use the heat that goes to waste while the oven is cooling. We also save walnut shells and use them in the garden (for walkways).
I’m picking up some awesome new tips here today. Thank you everyone for contributing along with Tammy and sharing your knowledge with others. It’s truly appreciated here.
Bobbie

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Angela at

I found you on Pinterest and I love this post! Recently I have been really trying to reduce our waste and watch what we are throwing away as well. A few years ago we went to all cloth napkins and towels for cleaning. Another tip I didn’t see mentioned is that I save cereal bags, wash them out and use when in need of wax paper. They work great if you need to crush cookies/ crackers because it’s thicker than a Ziploc and doesn’t break up as easily. I also save bread/ bagel/ bun bags for my homemade bread.
Now I’m going to search the rest of your blog =)

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1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  Well I’m so happy you stopped by Angela! I repurpose the cardboard box that was previously a freezer ziplock bag box. I’ve pulled the top off of so it’s wide open. I store all kinds of bags there waiting to be reused – bags from rice, bread, cereal, etc. Right now it’s bulging at the seams so I’m starting to be pickier about what bags I save now, but I haven’t bought bags in years – there’s always a plastic bag coming into the house from food we purchase. (did I mention how much I hate plastic bags?? LOL) ~TxH~
  
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Kristy as Giftie Etcetera at

I use a few plastic bags, but mostly I’ve moved to reusable snack bags (with velcro closures). They are good for fruit or dry snacks.

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Jenny @ Unremarkable Files at

I love the evolution of sock to kitchen rag to oily garage rag! There’s something so satisfying about using something completely up, then repurposing it and using it completely up, then repurposing it again.

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JW at

Oh my, if you saw what I just cleaned my a/c return with, you would probably think I am nuts. I just hate throwing cloth away. While I am folding laundry, I look for tee shirts, socks, underwear that needs to be tossed, but instead I use them to clean with. Oh by the way, I cleaned my a/c return with a pair of underwear of my husbands that has seen better days. Hey, they were clean, but not usable for what he needed. You have a wonderful blog and I enjoy reading your posts. Have a blessed day. Joi

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Jane at

I just saw this article on the blog hop. I love the ideas you and your readers have shared. Here’s a few I can add as well. 1) When removing labels from jars/bottles you want to re-purpose, soak off as much of the label as you can – in order to dissolve the glue without using chemicals, try smearing on some peanut butter (yes, the stuff you put on bread for a PB&J). I think the oil in the peanuts helps dissolve the glue. Let it sit for 15 or 20 minutes then scrape off – it works most of the time for me. 2) Instead of buying linen napkins, try buying a stack of inexpensive washcloths (I get them on sale at Walmart or other stores in a bundle) – they are soft and easy to wash. When they get pretty raggedy I use them for cleaning. 3) I cut up old t-shirts, make t-shirt yarn out of the body of the shirt and then crochet things like scatter rugs, a cat bed, placemats or dishcloths. The sleeves get recycled to use for odd jobs such as cleaning up spills, dusting, and I use then for cleanup when painting and then toss them. 4) If you use plastic containers for refrigerator storage you know that they get really nasty looking when they have tomato sauce, etc. in them. After transferring any sauce to a pan to reheat (never put plastic in the microwave) in order to get the container to not stain red, put a few drops of dish washing detergent inside and using COLD water and an old cloth, wash out the container. For some reason hot water will set the stains but cold water will not if it’s not already stained. 5) I had an aunt who would take the waxed paper liner out of the cereal boxes, flatten them out and wipe them with a damp cloth and reuse them to store cookies, etc. in. They worked great for anything you would use waxed paper for – do they still line the cereal boxes with it? I haven’t bought cereal in ages.

I guess I’m in the minority here – I’m 68 and have always tried to be as frugal as possible. I find it a challenge and you young girls always come up with some really interesting ideas. Keep up the good work!

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Brandi Clevinger at

I want to get a compost tumbler. We are a large family and I feel as though those food scraps could be much more useful other than the trash.

I also reuse my glass containers. I read a tip earlier today that says to paint all the lids the same color. I’m going to do that to make it more uniform.

I found your post at Inspire Me Mondays!

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Texas Homesteader Post author at

Reusing plastic containers/bags sure helps us keep our trash down. I remember wondering, if you’ve already got a large plastic bag, why wad it up & throw it in another large bag to dispose of it? ~TxH~

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Life Breath Present at

All wonderful tips and ones I use quite frequently. We’ve been without paper in the kitchen for quite some time. I do need to make specific napkins though….I’ve never thought to reuse certain plastic containers/bags and I’m going to have to give that tip a try! 🙂

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JES at

I am loving this new series! We do a lot of similar things… It’s funny because when someone comes over and they have a spill and I reach for a split open old refurbished sock, I do get the weirdest looks 🙂 Let’s see, here are more ideas: I freeze up any extra coffee in cube trays and make blended coffee drinks in the summer. Glass taco sauce bottles are cleaned up and used to store homemade tinctures and such. And we buy a lot in bulk which eliminates excess packaging. Nothing glass gets thrown out, like you, they are wonderful storage containers, drinks on the go cups, etc… I am saving all my empty tin cans (from tuna and such) for when we make our tallow candles too… Thanks for sharing this week on the Art of Home-Making Mondays!

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Gentle Joy at

Great ideas! We do many of these… it used to be a joke with extended family… they would tell each other to make sure to bring your own paper towels to my house because I didn’t buy paper towels! I have started buying them again, but we use them very very sparingly… like we only go through a couple of rolls a year. 🙂 Thank you for the great post.

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sheri at

One of the big toss aways in our kitchen used to be plastic wrap for covering leftovers. We no longer buy it- jars work great, or if something is in a big bowl we just top it with a dinner or salad plate “lid” and it keeps nicely in the fridge. Likewise store veggies wrapped in damp towels instead of in veggie bags. Some get a little limp, but they cook up fine. Love finding ways to eliminate plastic.

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Marla at

You have some great ideas here on stop waste which our society seems to waste so much unnecessary items. Living to support the environment and healthy I believe is part use of everything we can and reusing to the fullest. Thanks for sharing. Visiting from 4 Seasons Blog Hop.

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Kristina (The Greening Of Westford) at

I love the sock as a cleaning rag idea! I never thought of that. I took an old bath towel that was starting to fray and rip and cut that up. Works great! I haven’t’ bought microwave popcorn in years. I pop my popcorn in a paper bag (always one that I have saved form something else) in the microwave. We also use resuable “snack” bags instead of the traditional zip top plastic baggies for snacks. Some I purchased, some my mom made out of scrap fabric and some velcro.

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Allison Wiberg at

The container idea is a great one that I haven’t really been doing. Thanks for the tips!

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CTY at

I like the way you term the migration of duty– the ” rags have migrated down the line in their duty responsibilities” I do that too. My best example of migration is listed below.
I do a lot of crossword puzzles and also sudoku (although I prefer crosswords). The filled books I leave hanging around for when my granddaughter (under 2 yrs. old) visits. She likes to scribble in them. When she finishes with them I tear them into shreds and toss them into the compost bin. I only buy the books that are like newsprint. The covers are used for making stencils for craft projects or for little sloppy projects as place mats.

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Carol at

I do give my chickens kitchen scraps. I don’t consider it wasting as they turn it into beautiful eggs for us.
I did however find not using paper towels a habit hard to break. I took some worn towels and cut them up to rag size. I did sew a seam at the cut part. I have not been reusing my bags as much as I should be. I am going to try harder. Thanks for the tips! Keep them coming ! I am always looking for more ways to reuse.

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Diane Barnard at

Using smaller, repurposed plastic bags for small servings and then placing them all into a large freezer bag is sheer genius:)
How do you wash the plastic peanut butter jars? I’ve not been able to, easily, get them clean enough where they don’t look greasy.

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1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  Diane, I have an amazing rubber spatula that gets out a surprising amount of peanut butter from an “empty” jar & I scrape it until it’s VERY empty. Then I pull the label off (It’s only glued on the seam) and put it in the dishwasher. Since there’s precious little product left in the jar the dishwasher gets it squeaky clean for me. ~TxH~
  
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2. ladyhawthorne at
  
  I find soaking the peanut butter jar overnight with dishsoap & hot water will loosen up and residue and it washes out fine either in the dishwasher or by hand if I use an extra squirt of soap.
  
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Karen at

This happens to be one of my favorite topics. Don’t feel silly about nabbing the stray paper napkin… I do it too! 🙂 I made the commitment several years ago to never buy any more garbage bags. Since I collect bags of leaves in the fall, I recycle the useable ones for our trash and always have plenty. I also use fabric bags for grocery shopping. Guess I have your same plastic phobia. And one of the many other things I do is reuse the dish washing water in my dish pan for mopping and/or flushing the commode.
Great post!! Looking forward to hearing more.

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Marlene at

From the looks of your pantry it seems you dehydrate a wider variety than what I’ve been doing. I’d love to know some of the things you have dehydrated. blessings, marlene

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1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  Well let’s see Marlene – I’ve got dehydrated cubed carrots, potatoes both cubed & shredded, green beans, yellow squash, zucchini, onions both purple & white, kale, tomato slices, tomato powder, veggie bullion powder, purslane, celery both ribs & leaves, jujubes diced & shredded and apples in slices, diced and shredded. I’m really loving the dehydrating thing and next year I’ll focus on dehydrating much of my garden excess. ~TxH~
  
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Melissa Mazzanti at

I have a question… I’ve tried to reuse old jars but I can’t get lingering smells and tastes out of some of them i.e. Pickle and salsa. Even when I use bleach, once I put the clean lid on my jars get that smell and taste back. What do you do to eliminate that problem? Also, how do you get the labeles off without leaving a resadue?

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1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  Melissa, a stint in my dishwasher and a thorough air drying usually takes care of any residual food aromas in my repurposed jars – even pickles. Here’s my trick for the labels – get a very wet rag saturated with very hot water (I put it in the microwave for a few seconds) Then lay it across the label and put a tea towel over it and allow it to sit for about 5 minutes. This softens the glue holding the label on & usually I can use a tab from a loaf of bread to scrape away label and almost all of the glue. A quick soap & water scrubbing usually removes the rest of the glue residue but if not I spritz some WD40 on it & that almost always does the trick. Then I just put the jar in the dishwasher & it comes out squeaky clean. ~TxH~
  
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  1. Melissa Mazzanti at
    
    I wanted to start dehydrating. What brand and model do you recommend for a dehydrator?
    
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    1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
      
      I’ve got a regular household one that I borrowed from a family member but I’m looking into buying this one –> http://amzn.to/1cVDNXT ~TxH~
      
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  2. CTY at
    
    If a jar has a lingering smell I was it best I can & let it dry completely and then crumple up as much newspaper as will fit in the jar and put the lid on. I then put the jar on the shelf & forget about it for a while. This usually works. It works for plastic too. If for some reason it still smells, grab a brick of charcoal & try again.
    
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2. Becca @ The Earthlings Handbook at
  
  Make sure you are letting the lids dry thoroughly. However, some of them will retain an odor–it soaks into the soft stuff on the inside of the lid that makes the seal. My solution to this problem is to use salsa and pickle jars for my spicy leftovers, for storing half a raw onion, or for foods like dry beans or rice where the smell won’t be a problem. The jars from peanut butter and other mild foods are for storing milder foods.
  
  Goo Gone is a great solvent for removing stubborn labels.
  
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Candy C. at

These are all great ideas! I particularly like the socks into cleaning rags into shop rags. My hubby is TERRIBLE about using paper towels! The only time he will use the hand towel under the sink is when I’m standing right there watching him! LOL!! Buying in bulk is another great way to reduce trash., so is cooking from scratch. We hardly ever have cans or jars in the trash. 🙂

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MBP at

I have a unique way to help keep from wasting food. I live alone and like to cook, so I end up having to eat the same meal multiple times (sometimes freezing it in meal-size portions). My adult son is on a very tight budget and also cooks just for himself, so once or twice a week I donate my leftovers to him (I still usually eat at least one portion of the leftovers myself). That doesn’t particularly save me any money, but I don’t have to eat the same meal after it has lost its appeal or feel guilty about waste (and my son really appreciates it). Maybe others have a friend, relative or elderly neighbor that would appreciate prepared food occasionally.

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1. Becca @ The Earthlings Handbook at
  
  Yes! My friend just had a “soup swap” party where everyone made a big pot of soup and brought quart containers to trade. Unfortunately I missed it because I was sick; I would have loved to try all those new soups while sharing one of my favorites.
  
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