Aware that the amount of food thrown away by households is far too high, we decided to give you some tips for adopting minimalism and zero waste in the kitchen.

A few days ago, we made a big decision. We’d had enough of seeing our home completely overrun with useless kitchen utensils, but also of having to take out the garbage cans too often because of the frightening amount of food waste and packaging we produce.

So we decided to take the zero waste concept a step further and adopt minimalism in the kitchen. We’re hooked!

But what is minimalism? How does it work? How can it be implemented? What are the advantages and disadvantages?

Don’t worry, we’ll explain it all and walk you through it step by step.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS TYPE OF ORGANIZATION

What is minimalism in the kitchen? Quite simply, it’s about living better and eating better with less. Why adopt this lifestyle?

This new way of living and consuming brings many advantages, not only economically, but also ecologically and in terms of health. For example,

• Reducing plastic bags and packaging: using reusable shopping bags such as totes, and switching to buying in bulk, using your own little bags to hold your food. Today, there’s no shortage of solutions for reducing packaging!
• Reducing waste: What if we told you that every year “325 pounds of waste per person. That’s like every American throwing 975 medium-sized apples into the trash – or rather, into landfills, because that’s where most discarded food ends up.”
  Worrying, isn’t it? Buy only what you need. Put an end to the dictatorship of predefined quantities, much of which is often thrown away!
• Reduce the influence of marketing: by switching to bulk consumption, put an end to the influence of packaging, a nicer design or a better-known brand. No more paying for superfluous packaging that will only fill up your garbage can.
• Reduce costs: buying smarter, and only the quantities you need, helps reduce costs.
• Discover new flavours: no more fear of having to throw away the whole pack if you don’t like the product! Buy less, “just to taste”, and try out new, ever more inventive and delicious recipes.
• Save time: No more spending hours in the supermarket aisles… You’ll finally have a clear kitchen where you won’t have to search for a whisk, and you’ll be cooking more efficiently and cleverly thanks to your predefined schedule. Say goodbye to long moments of hesitation between that beef flank steak and that chicken fillet. Sounds like a dream come true?
• Saving space: getting rid of all your kitchen utensils and superfluous garbage means discovering your apartment (or house, for the lucky ones) in a whole new light.

In short, you’ll live again!

HOW TO ADOPT MINIMALISM IN THE KITCHEN

But how can you live up to William Morris’s sage advice: “‘Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

The moment you’ve all been waiting for – the concrete one – how do you go about it?

STEP 1: AWARENESS.

For action to be effective and lasting, it’s essential that you feel concerned/touched by the problem. This requires serious investment. This will make the task easier and more effective.

STEP 2: CLEAR THE AIR, KEEP ONLY WHAT’S ESSENTIAL.

First, get rid of duplicate utensils and those you never use. For example, you don’t need to own an army of knives – just keep 3 different ones. You never entertain more than 8 people, but you have plates for 20.

Secondly, replace some of your utensils with more sustainable, more economical and more harmonious alternatives, no less!

For example:

Get rid of your aluminum foil and cellophane: As well as being disposable and polluting products, they are also bad for our health. So it’s easy to forget about them and replace them with glass storage containers, such as jars. This way, products don’t get damp and keep longer.

Stop buying paper towels. Not only does it produce a lot of waste, but you also have to buy new ones often, which ends up costing you a lot of money. Opt for reusable cloths! Much more efficient, ecological and economical.

Kettle: Why bother with a kettle when a saucepan can do the job just as well? Simply heat your water in the kettle. It may take a little longer, but it lets you enjoy the moment and act in an environmentally friendly way.

The electric mixer: Now we use a classic, longer whisk, but believe us, our little arms will thank us!

Microwaves: Use your oven or frying pans! Take your leftovers out in advance to bring them back to room temperature, then reheat them with the most appropriate tool. For example, put your vegetables in the frying pan over a low heat to reheat them without re-cooking them.

Of course, it’s not a question of throwing away all the utensils you no longer need (unless they’re broken, of course), but of giving them away, for example.

STEP 3: PLAN YOUR MENUS.

We can hear you from here, “What’s that got to do with it?”, “It takes a lot of time”. We’re sorry to tell you that this is an essential step in the process.

In fact, by planning your menus for the week, you’ll know exactly what ingredients and quantities you’ll need. You’ll save a lot of time because, once you’re in the aisles, you’ll know exactly what to take and won’t have to go back because you forgot. You’ll also save money because you won’t splurge on superfluous products, and you won’t buy too much (which will automatically end up in the garbage can).

Yes, it takes a bit of organization, but you’ll see, once you understand the benefits it brings, you’ll quickly get the hang of it.

Now that you’ve got a nice schedule, it’s time to shop efficiently!

STEP 4: CHANGE THE WAY YOU SHOP.

Although we live in a country where there’s no shortage of food, we’re often afraid of not having enough, so we buy in large quantities because “you never know”, “it’ll always be useful”, “it’s on special offer, why deprive yourself”.

We were the first to get into the habit of doing this. Our kitchen was always full to bursting with things we often didn’t have the time or opportunity to eat. And let’s not even talk about the astronomical amount of waste this way of doing things generates.

There’s a simple solution to this bad habit: buying products in bulk. As mentioned above, this involves buying products without packaging. It’s up to the customer to serve themselves directly from the dispenser, according to the quantity they need. This makes it possible to take only the quantities needed, thus avoiding unnecessary waste and food wastage. This mode of operation also allows you to use reusable bags (supplied by the store or made by you), a guaranteed zero-waste experience!

What’s more, studies have shown that, for 500 comparable products sold in the same store, the price difference is between 15% and 49% in favor of bulk. Lower prices are made possible by the fact that product handling is reduced to a minimum, and packaging costs are eliminated.

The novelty will surely make you want to take a little of everything. Why not, but don’t make the mistake of taking too much. Take a small quantity of each product you like, taste them at home, and you’ll have plenty of time to come back and buy the ones you really like on your next shopping trip.

The second mistake to avoid is taking a product that’s about to expire just because it’s on special offer. If it’s not on your menu, you run the risk of buying it for nothing and having to throw it away.

Cheaper, greener, inspiring – what are you waiting for to go and cook it all up?

STEP 5: CHANGE THE WAY YOU COOK.

Now that you’ve finished shopping, all that’s left to do is cook all those goodies! We’re sure your mouth is watering already!

But as you can imagine, there are 2 or 3 things to remember if you want to be a champion of minimalism!

The basics of zero-waste cooking:

Prepare the right proportions.
Make maximum use of ingredients (peelings, etc.).
Never throw away leftovers.
If you eat organic vegetables, brush them and don’t peel them, or keep the peelings. You may be surprised at the possibilities they offer. For example, you can make chips from tomato skins, or fry leek rootlets – a real delight.

It’s also very important that you don’t make the mistake of throwing away your leftovers. You can eat them the next day or freeze them. Believe us, you’ll be very happy to find them again on a lazy evening.

It’s also possible to use them in a completely different way, in a completely different recipe.

CONCLUSION

You’ve become a true expert on minimalism in the kitchen. You’re the queen of zero waste, the shopping champion, the king of cooks!

We’re well aware that it’s a real change of habits that you’ll have to adopt, and that it may take time and effort at first.

But once you adopt the right reflexes, you’ll see that it saves you a considerable amount of time and money. We guarantee you won’t be able to do without it. So get started now!

Once you’ve cleared the air, you’ll feel truly relieved and better inside and out. You’ll have more time for yourself, but also for your family and friends. You’ll be able to introduce them to new flavours, new recipes and impress them. You’ll be happy to share your new finds, and you’ll no longer be ashamed of your overcrowded apartment.

What do you think? Have we convinced you?