The heart of a home beats in its kitchen. It’s the room that pulsates with family activity…the place where meals are prepared and shared, lunchboxes are packed, and snacks are enjoyed. We won’t even mention that it can serve as the drop-zone for an avalanche of school paperwork. Want to green-up this important gathering place with the goal to improve your family’s overall health and well-being? Sounds great, you say. But getting everyone in the household to buy into changing the status quo is not always easy. So, let’s look at a few simple ways to get your eco-friendly kitchen up and running:

Buy Local. The creation of an eco-friendly kitchen starts with feeding yourself and your family eco-friendly food. Have you ever stopped to think about how faryour food has traveled before it gets to your table? That distance is referred to as “food miles.”  The pollution that results from these “food miles” increases substantially when we consume food that has been grown half way around the world. According to the National Resource Defense Council, the typical American-prepared meal contains, on average, ingredients from at least five countries outside the United States. Think of all the energy that has been used to deliver a head of lettuce to your neighborhood store. We are talking about planes, and trains, and trucks… Oh my! By purchasing locally-grown food, you are taking the first step to create your eco-friendly kitchen.

Avoid Prepackaged Food. Take the guess work out of mystery ingredients and prepare your own meals. “Prepackaged foods usually contain more salt, sugar, and calories than those you prepare yourself,” says Victoria Getty, Director of the Didactic Program in Dietetics at IU.  “For example, a package of frozen french-fries is certainly higher in fat and salt than if you had made them yourself from whole potatoes.”

In the Fontenot family, Sundays are a day spent mostly in the kitchen, cooking and enjoying each other’s company. We then store the prepared meals in individual glass storage containers and freeze them for the week ahead. This way we know exactly how much salt, sugar, and calories are going into our food. Getting your family’s input in planning the meals for the week ahead and cooking them together is just one way to be healthier, save money, and have an eco-friendly kitchen.

Ditch Non-Stick Pots and Pans. With all this talk of food, the next important step is to pay attention to what you use to cook your food. There have been many debates about the health hazards of non-stick surfaces. The main element in non-stick cookware is PFOA and, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group, exposure to PFOA has been associated with damage to immune cells and weakening of the body’s ability to protect itself from infection. So, why take the risk?  Both stainless steel and cast iron pots and pans are a much safer alternative and they also last a lifetime. Now, that’s eco-friendly.

Avoid plastics. Plastic can seem almost impossible to avoid. What, with water bottles, plastic silverware, plates, containers, sandwich and garbage bags, it has become an integral part of modern life. But are these convenient and affordable items harboring a hidden health-related cost? According to Healthychild.com, plastics can release harmful chemicals into our air, foods, and drinks. Maybe you can’t see or taste it, but if you’re serving your dinner on plastic, you’re likely eating a little bit of plastic for dinner. Beyond the health risk, the increasing amount of plastic usage is causing an enormous amount of pollution. The war on plastic is a battle that needs to be waged in every kitchen.

Realistically, avoiding plastic altogether is nearly impossible, but with a little effort, we can make a difference. Here’s a few tips to help you cut down on plastic usage.

• No more plastic grocery bags.  Use your own cloth bags when shopping. (Don’t forget to wash them periodically to avoid raw food bacteria build-up.)
• Wash and reuse your sandwich & freezer bags.
• Use glass containers for food storage.
• Replace plastic water bottles with stainless steel.
• Recycle more household items to reduce curbside garbage.

Chemical-Free Cleaning Products. Now that you’ve established an eco- friendly kitchen, the next issue is keeping it clean. It is a very common belief that we need strong chemicals to kill germs. However, research demonstrates that cleaning products with chemicals such as benzene and formalin are harmful to our health and are linked to allergies, cancer, and a weakened immune system. There are numerous problematic chemicals found in many household cleaners. Organic cleaning products, found in most grocery stores, are a safe alternative for keeping the kitchen clean without toxins.

Like establishing any new habit, keeping an Eco-friendly kitchen takes time, thought, and effort. But once you commit to making it a part of your everyday life, you will feel better knowing that you are doing something great for yourself and your family. As Kermit has been heard to sing, “It’s not easy being green…”, but even a frog will agree that it’s the right thing to do.