A Bluedot Guide to a Low-Waste Kitchen

Most kitchen waste does not come from dramatic excess. It comes from small lapses in visibility: the leftovers hidden behind the oat milk, the duplicate jar of tahini. It comes from ambition: a new set of food storage containers that you think will finally force you to do a pantry clean-out. It even comes from optimism: those fava beans at the farmers market can’t possibly take as long to shell as everyone says, right? 

None of these instincts are bad. Quite the opposite. But a few thoughtful systems can help you eat more of what you buy and keep your kitchen organized, regardless of whether you’re an ambitious cook, an enthusiastic shopper, or simply someone who’d rather eat Tuesday’s takeout than suggest your kid submit it to the science fair.  

A lower-waste kitchen isn’t about minimalism, a picture-perfect pantry, or even about the abstract concept of doing your part for the planet. It’s about reducing decision fatigue, getting dinner on the table, and not accidentally buying a third bottle of soy sauce. Here’s where to start. 

What’s the Problem, Anyway? 

According to the United Nations, food waste accounts for 8 to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. That’s on par with passenger cars, at about 10%. 

Roughly one-third of all food produced globally goes uneaten, and as Bluedot Living’s eco-advice columnist, Dear Dot, has noted, food waste is generally considered worse for the planet than food miles because it wastes not only the food itself, but also all the water, labor, energy, fertilizer, and transportation required to produce it.

But kitchens generate waste in countless smaller ways, too. Plastic produce bags multiply beneath the sink. Cleaning products come wrapped in layer after layer of packaging. Trendy cookware gets replaced when it underperforms. Half-used ingredients quietly expire in the refrigerator while new ones come home from the store.

The encouraging part is that many low-waste kitchen habits also make kitchens more pleasant to cook in. A refrigerator where ingredients are easy to find wastes less food. A pantry organized around foods people actually eat saves money. Durable cookware often performs better than disposable alternatives. 

Your First Shop: Your Own Kitchen 

The most sustainable groceries are the ones you’ve already got. 

Before heading to the store, take a quick inventory of the refrigerator, freezer, and pantry. If keeping track of ingredients feels like a constant struggle, a little structure can go a long way. Designating certain areas of the fridge for specific categories makes it easier to see what you have. Try to reserve a spot for leftovers so they always live in the same place. Pull ingredients that won’t last long out of drawers and place them front and center — ideally in the same place every time, or even blocking frequently used items like favorite beverages. The specifics matter less than the consistency. When you open the fridge, the foods that need to be eaten first should be impossible to miss.

While it can be a bit laborious at first, a “fridgeventory,” (our Marketplace editor’s term), can be a helpful way to keep track of what’s in the house. During the Covid-19 pandemic, when she was shopping less, she created a large categorized list of all the food in the house, printed it, and taped it to the fridge. Every time she cooked a box of pasta or zoodled a zucchini, she’d scratch it off the list. The first fridgeventory took some effort, but updating it weekly became easy and helped save time — and food — in the long run. 

If that all sounds too overwhelming, try using a whiteboard or notepad with the categories Don’t Forget, Cook, and Buy, and keep it on or very near the fridge. Don’t Forget is for items that might go bad, Cook is for meals to prepare during the week, and Buy is for a shopping list. 

Meal plans don’t have to be elaborate and can change as inspiration strikes. But making a rough plan for a few dinners each week makes shopping far more efficient and reduces the chance of buying ingredients that won’t get used. 

Those who love project cooking and tend to shop with their eyes may benefit from calendaring cooking times. If summer’s first peaches are calling your name, look at your calendar and decide if you actually have the time to make that pie. If you do, actually schedule it on your calendar, and add it to your list of things to cook during the week. 

Shop More Thoughtfully 

A well-planned grocery run can help reduce the environmental toll of both food waste and food packaging. 

Come prepared with a shopping list, reusable grocery bags, reusable produce bags, and other empty containers if needed. When possible, seek to reduce packaging. The produce aisle is a great place to start. If your grocer has bulk bins, consider using them for staples such as grains, beans, nuts, olive oil, honey, spices, looseleaf tea, and even some household cleaning products.

That said, buying in bulk is only helpful if you’ll actually use what you buy. Large quantities can reduce packaging and lower costs, but they can also lead to waste if ingredients go stale before you get to them. 

In the spice aisle, shoppers are often confronted with a choice between a large plastic package and a smaller glass jar. The larger package usually costs less per ounce, but spices — especially pre-ground ones — have a surprisingly short lifespan. Saving a few dollars isn’t much of a victory if you’re left with flavorless bay leaves and cinnamon that tastes like dust. We’re partial to these direct-harvest, ethically sourced spices. Nuts and seeds are another tricky category, as they spoil quickly due to their high fat content; store them in the freezer to keep them tasting fresh. 

It’s also worth looking for products that do more with less. Concentrates eliminate much of the water that gets shipped around the country in bottles, cartons, and pouches. JOI makes concentrated oat, almond, and cashew bases you can blend at home, so you don’t need to buy milk by the carton. (One of our editors, a former barista, also says that it makes the best foam of any plant milk she's ever tried.) Better Than Bouillon applies a similar idea to stock, replacing bulky cartons with compact jars that take up less space in both the refrigerator and the recycling bin. 

Another category worth exploring is upcycled food. Misfits Market is well-known for rescuing cosmetically imperfect produce that might otherwise be discarded. The Upcycled Foods Association certifies products using ingredients that would traditionally be overlooked, underutilized, or diverted from the food supply. Barnana, Daily Crunch, Smash Foods, Pip’s Heirloom Snacks, and even Shameless Pets dog and cat treats all bear the Upcycled Certified stamp. By creating a market for these ingredients, these companies help reduce waste further up the food chain.

Store Food So You Actually Eat It

Once food makes it into the house, thoughtful storage can help reduce waste, save time, and make ingredients easier to use.

That doesn’t necessarily mean buying a whole new set of containers. In fact, the most sustainable storage system is often the one you already own. What matters most is finding the right storage solution for the right task.

It’s now easier than ever to make single-use plastic zip-top bags a thing of the past. Washable, reusable cloth and linen bags, such as those from Marley’s Monsters, work particularly well for dry goods such as nuts and pretzels. Lunchskins single-use paper bags are a practical option for sandwiches and school lunches, particularly if there’s a good chance the bag won’t make it home again. For freezer storage and other situations that require a sturdier seal, home- and commercially compostable zip-top bags can fill many of the roles traditionally handled by plastic.

Reusable containers are excellent for leftovers, meal prep, and pantry organization. Beeswax wrap (or its vegan equivalent) works particularly well for half-used vegetables, blocks of cheese, loaves of bread, and other items that don’t need an entire container to themselves. They take up very little space, adapt to awkward shapes, and can be reused hundreds of times. Mason jars work well for storing both liquids and dry goods. Clever lids even allow you to use the jars to grate cheese, shake cocktails, pit cherries, and more. 

Whatever products you use, consistency matters more than perfection. If the Parmesan always goes into the honeycomb-patterned beeswax wrap and you always cover onion halves with the veggie-print wrap, and you put everything back in the same place, you'll always find what you need.

Cook More Flexibly

Many people think reducing food waste means becoming a more ambitious cook. In reality, it often means becoming a less rigid one. Even the best-laid plans change, and that’s where flexible cooking comes in.

One of the easiest ways to waste less food is to learn a handful of what we like to call riffable recipes — dishes that can absorb whatever happens to be in the refrigerator. Grain salads, fried rice, and pesto are all excellent examples. Once you’re comfortable with the basic formulas, the specific ingredients become less important.

The freezer can be equally valuable. Bread freezes beautifully. So do many fruits, vegetables, sauces, stocks, soups, cooked grains, and leftovers. Freezing food before it reaches the point of no return often buys enough time for a future version of yourself to figure out what to do with it. August’s soft peaches can become dreamy November smoothies or popsicles. Leftover gravy can make a future store-bought rotisserie chicken feel almost home-made.

It’s also worth paying attention to your scraps. A bag you slowly fill with limp carrots, celery bottoms, herb stems, and poultry bones can become the base of a wonderful homemade stock. Yellow onion skins will give that broth a wonderful golden color. Parmesan rinds add a savory note to soups, beans, and pasta sauces. 

Not every peel, stem, and bone deserves a second act, but many do. Learning to use up what you’ve got can be fun, and there’s no need to drive yourself nuts trying to find a use for every single component. 

Compost What You Can’t Use

At some point, every kitchen generates scraps that truly have reached the end of the road. Composting is the best way to deal with them. 

When food decomposes in landfills, it generates methane, a greenhouse gas that can trap more than 120 times as much heat as carbon dioxide. Composting food scraps instead of tossing them in the trash allows nutrients to return to the soil while avoiding many of the emissions associated with landfill waste.

The best composting system is the one you’ll actually use. Many households find that a countertop or under-sink compost bin makes collecting scraps simple and convenient. We also like a lower-tech approach: keeping a compostable bag in the freezer and adding scraps as they accumulate. Alternatively, a freezer-friendly compost bin designed to clip onto a drawer can make collection just as easy. Once full, the contents can be transferred to a backyard compost pile or municipal compost collection program.

Before collecting scraps for municipal compost, check your local regulations. Some facilities can process items such as meat, pits, scraps, compostable packaging, and more, while others cannot. Only compost items that will actually break down in the system where they’re headed. 

Don’t Get Too Creative with Cookware

Ads for beautiful cookware seem to be everywhere these days, but unfortunately, design often seems to take precedence over durability. Cookware should last for years, if not decades or even longer. Because of that, we’re partial to the classics: cast iron, enameled cast iron, and stainless steel. These materials have been trusted by home cooks and professional chefs for generations. With proper care, good cookware can last a lifetime.

Nonstick cookware occupies a more complicated place in the conversation. Traditional nonstick Teflon-coated pans are undeniably convenient, but the coatings are easily scorched and scratched, raising concerns about both product longevity and potential health impacts. Teflon may negatively affect health. Newer ceramic nonstick cookware avoids some of the concerns associated with traditional nonstick coatings, but we haven’t yet found a brand that delivers long-lasting performance. If the pan ends up in the trash because its surface seems to attract, rather than repel, scrambled eggs, then that’s created unnecessary waste. 

We recommend investing in a few durable pieces you’ll use constantly. A good cast iron skillet, a sturdy stainless steel saucepan, and a reliable Dutch oven can handle an astonishing range of kitchen tasks, and you may even end up passing them down to your kids and grandkids. 

Clean Up With Less Waste

For dishes, start with the basics. A solid dish soap eliminates the need for another plastic bottle. Pair it with a plastic-free dish sponge or brush, and you’ve already reduced a significant amount of kitchen waste.

If you use a dishwasher, choose a powder such as this Bio Enzyme Dishwasher Detergent, which uses enzymes that target proteins and food residue to get dishes remarkably clean. As Dear Dot explains, pre-rinsing is often a waste of water. You’ll also save water by using the dishwasher instead of doing the dishes by hand. We recommend against using pods, which are held together by a material called polyvinyl alcohol that may contribute to microplastic pollution in our waterways. 

For everyday cleanup, try to reduce your dependence on paper towels whenever possible. Traditional dishcloths are kitchen classics for a reason. Spongy, absorbent Swedish dish cloths make quick work of spills and can be tossed in the dishwasher or washing machine when they need cleaning. Reusable paper towels can fill many of the same roles as their disposable counterparts. You don’t need to go cold turkey. For instance, one of our editors keeps recycled paper towels for pet accidents and patting dry meat and seafood; for everything else, she chooses a reusable option. 

Just as concentrated foods eliminate much of the water shipped around the country, concentrated cleaners do the same. A waterless cleaning concentrate allows you to refill the same spray bottle repeatedly rather than purchasing a new one every time you run out. You can even make DIY cleaning wipes.