Issues > September/October 2005 (#110) > Household Tips to Keep Your Health and Your Savings Intact

Household Tips to Keep Your Health and Your Savings Intact

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Kitchen

Before it gets to your dinner table, produce travels an average of 1,500 miles, burning needless gallons of fuel when so much can be bought locally in season. Choosing local and organic fruit and vegetables will also cut out petroleum-derived synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Buy in-season produce and organic grains in bulk to save trips and use your local farmer's market to make sure food travels a shorter distance from the farm to your plate. Sad when the summer's bounty comes to an end? Freezing fresh fruit is an easy way to keep them available when out of season. See "Freezing and Conserving Local Produce" in The Green Guide #110.

Petroleum-based plastics are all over kitchens, from vinyl floor tiles to storage containers and handy wraps. But the phthalates used to soften plastics and vinyl enter the air and our food, affecting the hormones of developing children. Choose phthalate-free, recyclable containers and wraps such as Gladware containers, Tupperware's freezesmart line and Glad Cling Wrap. For phthalate-free kitchen floor tiling, iFloor's cork tiles and Forbo Marmoleum natural linoleum tiles are good choices. For more, see the Flooring and Plastic Containers Product Reports.

By making more home cooked meals using fresh ingredients, you'll be reducing your consumption of unnecessary quantities of sodium, sugars and processing aides. It's also a great way to reduce packaging waste, energy and money.

To cut down your energy bill, pick Energy Star-certified appliances, such as Sun Frost's R-19 Refrigerator, which is 53 percent more energy efficient than conventional models, and Asko's D3531XLFI dish washer, which is a whopping 159 percent more efficient than regular models. That takes a big chunk out of the greenhouse gases produced by powerplants making the energy we use.

For more energy-saving tips, see "Cutting Costs in a Fuel-Scare World."

Thinking yet about the holidays? Consider buying an organic turkey, now available in most supermarkets. And organic wines like Badger Mountain's 2004 Johannesburg Riesling, a great gift, are coming into their own. Certified organic and fair-trade chocolate, which are grown in ways that don't harm the rainforest and return a fair price to the farmer, are also yummy. Try Endangered Species Chocolate Company's chimp mints. For more gift ideas, see The Green Guide's Top Product Picks special year-end buying guide issue, with over 100 healthy, eco-friendly product ideas for your home and family.

Under The Sink

Cleaning supplies and pesticides are major sources of indoor air pollution, releasing chemicals that can provoke respiratory problems and asthma attacks. Choose simpler ingredients like vinegar, lemon juice and baking soda for your cleaning needs, or choose from among the growing number of safer brands, such as Seventh Generation, Ecover and Dr. Bronner's now available in most major supermarkets.

Keep pests away by sealing all cracks and entry points, cleaning all foods and residues that could attract them and fixing any dripping taps that provide pests with water. Boric acid can help keep down roaches, or try a Victor Insect Monitor pheromone glue trap to lure them to their doom (but keep both boric acid and glue traps away from pets and children). The Green Guide's Household Cleaning Supplies and Pest Control Product Reports give more tips and product advice.

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