The Contents of Your Kitchen, Part 2: Accessories

What’s really in your kitchen?

As a reminder, Part 1 of “The Contents of Your Kitchen” is all about appliances. You can learn about microwaves, slow cookers, and many other common appliances! Today in Part 2, we’ll be digging into kitchen accessories, from your pots and pans to your reusable beeswax wraps. As I said in Part 1, ultimately I think WHAT we cook is more important than HOW we cook it. For my journey specifically, the healthier I ate, the more time I spent in the kitchen. If you’re on a healthy eating journey as well, you may want to learn more about the appliances and accessories you’re using in the kitchen and if there are other options available.

A reminder… the most sustainable option is to use what you have!

Using kitchen utensils, cookware, and gadgets you already have will always be the most sustainable and environmentally friendly option. However, you may choose to replace some important pieces you use daily for health reasons if you decide what you currently have isn’t optimal for your family. Or since many “modern” options available are designed to be replaced instead of lasting for generations, it may be time to replace some of your existing pieces. Everyone has a different threshold for what is acceptable to them and their families. I hope you can use the information provided here with your best judgment. There is no pressure to choose the exact same options that I choose.

Cookware options

1. Non-stick: I know non-stick cookware is super easy to clean, but traditional “non-stick” pans have a teflon coating. Teflon coatings include PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as “forever chemicals”). Essentially, PFAS is a grouping of thousands of man-made chemicals. These chemicals take a very long time to break down in our bodies and the environment. This is why they are referred to as “forever chemicals.” Some, not all, PFAS substances are extremely toxic to humans. It’s important to note that the majority of PFAS substances do not have enough data on them to prove whether or not they are harmful. Some pots and pans have the label “PFOA/PFOS free”. While this is great as it doesn’t have two of the most harmful PFAS chemicals present, it essentially guarantees that a different PFAS chemical is present instead. If you want to avoid PFAS altogether, look for cookware marketed as PFAS-free. I used traditional Teflon non-stick pans for much of my adult life. I recently (in the past ~3 years) moved away from them as I’d like to avoid PFAS exposure when possible due to the known and unknown risks.
2. Ceramic coated: I was nervous about switching from non-stick to stainless steel or cast iron. Currently we use Greenpan which has a PFAS-free ceramic coating that mimics the feel of a non-stick pan. This is not necessarily the best option available. However, it was the most budget-friendly and accessible option when we were looking for new cookware a few years ago.
3. Stainless steel: It is true that stainless steel can act as a non-stick option! We also have one stainless steel pan that we use. The trick to making a stainless steel pan non-stick is heating up your pan first. Sprinkle a bit of water on your heated up pan as it’s heating. Once the water bubbles bounce around the pan instead of sizzling and evaporating, that’s when it’s ready for use. If you take care of your stainless steel cookware, it will last you a very long time. It’s also one of the safest cookware options.
4. Cast iron: I don’t own any cast iron cookware yet, but it is another great option. It’s important to take care of your cast iron cookware well. If you have a well-used and well-seasoned cast iron piece of cookware, it may also act like a non-stick pan. Cast iron can also last for generations.

Storage container options

You may have heard a handful of blanket recommendations to avoid plastic containers at all costs. But let’s get a better understanding of why plastic food storage containers may not be the best choice. 

This study focused on phthalates which primarily come from additives used in plastic manufacturing. The purpose of this type of additive is to allow the plastic to be more flexible. Generally additives in plastic like antioxidants, stabilizers, and plasticizers are not incorporated into the polymer chain itself. This means these additives are most likely to leach out when the plastic is under stress (like heat for example). 

The study evaluated the migration of phthalates to food upon heating in a microwave. It was found that phthalates can leach out of the plastic and into food. Note that ultra pure water was used in place of food for this study, which meets the Brazil Health Ministry recommendations. However, we may not be able to apply these findings to every type of food. A higher concentration of phthalates was detected when microwaved at higher temperatures. A higher concentration of phthalates was also detected when plastic containers were microwaved multiple times in a row. 

It’s also important to note that phthalates are not the only plastic additive that is potentially concerning, this is just one example. There are many common additives in plastic manufacturing for different purposes. It’s impossible to list them all and identify the health risks of each. Even if you did have a list of additives to avoid, it’s generally not possible to know what additives are used in the plastic containers you are purchasing without digging into the details with the producer and their suppliers. Because many additives can leach out of plastic under heat, this is why you’ll typically see blanket recommendations on avoiding plastic storage containers. This is particularly true when using them to heat up food in the microwave. 

We primarily use glass containers for all of our food storage. Because we don’t quite have enough, we still use plastic containers to store food occasionally. We try to let food cool down completely before transferring it to a plastic container. We also avoid reheating food in a plastic container to avoid placing the containers under stress while in contact with our food. 

Kitchen utensil options

The same concern with leaching of additives out of plastic containers also applies to cooking utensils because the utensils are usually coming into contact with hot or warm food. Wooden, stainless steel, or high temperature silicone may be better options.

Wooden or bamboo utensils are great for your health and the environment, but they can be difficult to clean. Stainless steel will last you a long time and is thus great for the environment. They can scratch your pots and pans depending on what type you have, so you’ll want to be careful about when and where you use them. Silicone is also a great option, but be cognizant about the temperature limitations and the temperatures you will be cooking at. Additionally the silicone heads often detach from the handle for better cleaning. It’s important to detach and clean thoroughly as this is the perfect habitat for mold to grow.

We actually use a mix of all of these utensil options. We only have one spatula and it’s plastic. While we have a few stainless steel utensils, we currently have ceramic-coated pots and pans so we mostly avoid using steel utensils to prevent scratching. Our go-to’s are silicone and wooden utensils when we can.

Tableware options

I’ll keep this section short because we’ve already talked through the details of most of these options. Plastic plates and utensils may not be the best option, even if they are reusable. Many foods we eat are warm and as we’ve discussed, this will increase the migration of additives within the plastic to your food. Additionally, microplastics can be a concern. For example, small pieces of the plastic plate could break off while you’re cutting into your chicken, and then you could ingest that plastic.

An obvious suggestion but worth mentioning nonetheless. Avoid disposable options when you can! The only time we buy disposable options is when we are hosting a large party and don’t have enough tableware for everyone. Otherwise, we use our reusable tableware options. If you host a lot of large parties and hate all of the disposables you’re using, consider going to a thrift store and picking up a random assortment of tableware that you can use for parties. It will be cheap, it won’t matter if someone accidentally breaks them, and you’ll prevent waste!

“Environmentally friendly” kitchen gadgets

You don’t need a lot of fancy or new “environmentally friendly” things in your kitchen. The most environmentally friendly thing you can do is to use what you already have (as long as you’re comfortable with it from a health standpoint). In the beginning of our journey to be more environmentally conscious we purchased a few things and received a few items as gifts that we thought would help. Some were great and others were unnecessary. 

One of the first things we bought was reusable silicone baking mats. They were great at first, but they are really hard to clean (or we did a really bad job at cleaning them). They got discolored and sticky after multiple uses. I think if they were used purely for baking cookies they would have been fine. We were using them for roasting vegetables and potatoes with seasoning and olive oil. The small divots in the mat are the perfect spot for residual oil and seasonings to build up. We rarely use the mats anymore and realized we could have used our Pyrex baking dishes which are much easier to clean.

We purchased a reusable coffee filter that we use every day. This is something that I would go back and purchase again because it’s a daily use item and has cut down on disposables. We also purchased silicone bags as a replacement for ziploc bags. This is arguably unnecessary for us as we typically just pack lunches in Pyrex containers with lids. The silicone bags have come in handy though for hiking or traveling snacks because they are lighter and easy to squeeze in a pack.

Someone gifted us beeswax wraps (saran wrap replacement) and “un-paper towels” (a reusable cloth that’s a paper towel replacement). We had already eliminated saran wrap anyway. In my opinion you can just use a Pyrex with a lid, so the beeswax wraps were pretty unnecessary. We tried to use them occasionally and found they don’t seal that well. The un-paper towels are cute and they certainly keep us from having to do laundry as often because there’s so many of them! However, we could have used old t-shirts, rags, etc. rather than buying something new.

Your kitchen swaps

If you missed Part 1 of “The Contents of Your Kitchen,” you can find your appliance swaps there! I’m sure there were many kitchen essentials I missed in this two-part post, but hopefully I’ve covered the most popular. 

Here’s your reminder that you don’t have to be completely “non-toxic” or have the best appliances and kitchen essentials to consider yourself health- or environmentally-conscious. My goal is to learn what I can, and make conscious decisions for my family in my specific situation. I hope you’ve learned something new in this series. 

Do you have a favorite kitchen swap that I missed? Do you have your own “environmentally friendly” kitchen swap story? I’d love to hear your experiences in the comments below!

SOURCES:

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3924457/
• https://www.fda.gov/radiation-emitting-products/resources-you-radiation-emitting-products/microwave-ovens
• https://interestingengineering.com/science/how-do-microwave-ovens-work
• https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/12/08/563808879/can-your-ceramic-cookware-give-you-lead-poisoning