Unexpected places plastic is hiding in your kitchen

PART 1: Cookware

“We bring the reusable plates, you bring the food and the festival” is the boiled-down version of our business pitch. The mission of Green My Plate is to directly reduce the amount of plastic that comes with food at festivals and events. But, now we are asking, what about the amount of plastic that comes with all the food you cook up at home?

High fives for already using a reusable plate (if you’re not, hit us up right now and we will send you one of our plates for free!) but, sadly, that’s the easy part. The hard part is eliminating plastic from all the unexpected places it’s lurking in your kitchen... 

Not to worry though, your friends at GMP are here with a new series of blog posts to help open your eyes to see the small actions you can take in reducing your personal demand for plastic products. 

Cooking Utensils

Hi, I’m Amanda, I’m (newly) 30 years old, and for the past five years I have had a favourite spatula. Hear me out - it is a perfect size, feels smooth to touch, smells nearly as good as the food I cook, requires minimal cleaning, and quite frankly, it’s a work of art which was hand-carved from Lappish birchwood. 

Now, can you say that you are as excited about your spatula as I am about mine? I’m going to presume your answer is No. 

The thing about your regular plastic cooking utensils is that when they’re mixed with heat, the plastic weakens and the particles end up in your food. “Fried eggs seasoned with microplastics” isn’t usually the garnish people are looking for, but oftentimes it is the reality. Looking on the bright side of life, you can always turn to your plastic cooking utensils to reminisce about bygone meals - perhaps a bolognese you slow-cooked for 3 hours for that authentic Italian flavour, or a stirfry where you actually managed to heat the oil up to temperature - orange stains and/or melted bubbly edges are evident on many kitchen utensils and serve as reminders of not only good food but also, unwittingly, of plastic ingestion.

Microplastics in food is a macro problem with unknown health implications. And the harsh reality is that they’re entering your food at every stage of its processing and cooking. Replacing your plastic cooking utensils with a more natural alternative may be a small drop in the ocean, but every step taken to prevent plastic in this world helps turn the tide. 

If it is time for you to find a spatula (or any other cooking utensil) to love, then look back to the future for plastic-free alternatives: wood, bamboo and stainless steel cooking utensils are all easy finds. For extra karma points, support a local woodwork artist and get yourself your own wooden spatula worth writing a blog about. 

Disclaimer: I actually bought this spatula for my bf as a Christmas present (yes, I am a CATCH) but have since decided to claim it as my own because I love it so much! 

Chopping Board

The plastic variety definitely puts the chop in chopping board. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a plastic chopping board that hasn’t been savagely patterned from every time a knife touches it. Does the thought of all the germs which live in those knife lines freak you out too? Or is that just me? Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I’ve never seen a good looking plastic chopping board, and that it blows my mind how quickly they ruin and need replacing.

If it’s time to give your plastic chopping board the chop (trust me - it is.) then a nice sturdy hardwood one is the best alternative. Wooden boards are naturally anti-microbial, don’t dull your knives, can be cleaned with just water, and give out those farmhouse kitchen vibes you begin desire as you near your 30s. Glass is also a great plastic-free alternative - easy to clean and non-toxic. But take into consideration the sound of the knife hitting the glass when chopping and their sometimes slippery surface - both of these things I’m a bit sensitive to, hence my preference for the wooden variety. 

Non-stick Cookware

Have you seen the film Dark Waters (2019)? If not, watch it to become scared stiff of the marketing phrase ‘non-stick’. You may or may not be surprised to hear that the part of the pan which stops your food from sticking to it is a plastic coating. 

There seems to be a lot of conflict on the interwebs regarding the safety of non-stick pans: some websites say avoid at all costs, others saying it’s safe up to 500 degrees... yet, that its toxins will still kill any bird which happens to be in the same room. TBH, will all these discrepancies, it makes non-stick cookware a No from me. 

To figure out the best alternatives for you, you need to start dreaming up your fav meals and think about how you cook them - there’s not really a one-pan-fits-all alternative (hence why non-stick pans were created in the first place). A well-seasoned cast-iron skillet is a great allrounder, but, like all life investments, it requires a new way of thinking, hard use and regular maintenance before it’s natural qualities begin to take effect. Looking for a more affordable alternative? A ceramic or stainless steel frying pan may be the one for you.

If you regularly roast a simple glass dish is an easy solution to non-stick roasting tins. Reusable, silicon, non-stick baking mats also exist, but the one which I experienced gave my oven and vegetables a toxic-fumey smell and was so difficult to clean that I had to throw it out after a few months anyway. If you have a particularly messy meal and don’t have the Green My Plate team on standby to do your dishes, you can occasionally use parchment paper as a non-toxic and non-stick layer. But, our number one recommendation, of course, is to just use a little more elbow grease. 

Stay subscribed for more plastic-free tips. And, before you go check out your basket of new plastic-free cookware, make sure that the cookware that you already have has reached the end of its lifespan before replacing it - don’t for that the first R is Reduce!