Everyday Kitchen Habits That Support a Healthier Home
Living sustainably doesn't have to mean overhauling your entire lifestyle and home.
Often, the most significant impact comes from small, consistent choices in everyday spaces—like your kitchen. The kitchen is a hub for energy consumption, food waste, and packaging, making it the perfect place to start making eco-friendly shifts that save you waste, money, and time.
At Country Life Foods, sustainability isn't just a buzzword—it's our mission. Our organic, bulk foods and eco-conscious product options make it easier to live responsibly while still enjoying nutritious, delicious meals.
Here are 14 practical, achievable ways to build a more sustainable kitchen—and how Country Life Foods fits right in.
14 SUSTAINABLE KITCHEN PRACTICES
1. Swap Single-Use Storage for Reusable Solutions
Plastic sandwich bags and disposable containers add up quickly in landfills. Reusable options like glass jars, stainless steel tins, or silicone food huggers are durable and keep food fresher for longer. Even cloth bags can work well for bread or produce.
Country Life Foods tip: Our bulk beans, nuts, grains, and more are perfect for decanting into jars and labeled storage buckets. Not only does it reduce plastic, but it also helps you stay organized and see exactly what you have on hand.
2. Compost Food Scraps
Landfills aren't designed for food waste—without adequate air circulation, scraps can take years to decompose. Composting diverts food waste and can create rich soil for your garden.
Start small with a countertop compost bin, or try a backyard pile or worm bin if you have more space.
Why it matters: Composting keeps methane (a potent greenhouse gas) out of the atmosphere while nourishing your garden naturally.
3. Be Clever With Kitchen Scraps
Before you compost, ask: Can I reuse this?
- Citrus peels make great natural cleaners or can be candied for desserts.
- Leftover bread becomes croutons or breadcrumbs.
- Stale tortillas made into homemade chips.
- Veggie scraps turn into flavorful stock.
- Apple peels dry into a healthy snack or tea flavoring.
Read more: Easy homemade broth with your kitchen scraps
4. Choose Minimal Packaging
Packaging often accounts for a significant portion of household waste. Opt for brands that minimize or eliminate unnecessary packaging or that use recyclable and compostable materials.
Country Life advantage: Our bulk food options cut packaging to a fraction of what you'd find in traditional single-use containers. Less waste, better value.
Start your bulk food shopping here!
5. Buy in Bulk, Store Smart
Buying in bulk not only reduces packaging but also saves trips to the store, cutting down on expenses, fuel, and emissions. When stored properly, your food will remain fresh for months, even years. Airtight pail buckets or sealed jars keep pests and moisture out.
Food storage solutions: We offer high-quality, food-grade pail buckets designed for long-term storage of grains, beans, seeds, and more.
Read more: A guide on storing bulk foods safely
6. Reuse Everyday Items
One of the simplest sustainable swaps is rethinking disposables:
- Cloth napkins and dish towels instead of paper towels.
- Stainless steel straws instead of plastic ones.
- Refillable water bottles instead of single-use plastic.
- A durable French press instead of disposable coffee pods.
Mindset shift: Instead of buying something new, ask yourself: Can I repurpose what I already have?
7. Use Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products
Harsh cleaners not only pollute waterways but can also linger in your kitchen environment. Switch to more eco-friendly alternatives, such as Castile soap, Sal Suds cleaner, or DIY solutions (like vinegar, baking soda, and lemon).
Country Life approach: We strive to stock organic and natural products whenever possible, promoting a lifestyle that supports sustainability through food, home care, and wellness.
Read more: Natural home cleaning to keep you and the environment safe
8. Grow Herbs and Sprouts
Grow your own herbs and sprouts to add more nutrition to meals, and reduce the need for store-bought clamshell packaging.
Sprouting beans, seeds, or lentils at home is a cost-effective way to provide nutrient-dense food in just a few days. Not to mention the satisfaction and excitement you get from enjoying produce you've grown yourself (without pesticides!)
Easy nutrition: We stock a wide variety of sprouting seeds and beans, perfect for creating your own mini indoor garden. We especially love the Sprout Spout to grow your own sprouts at home!
Read more: How to grow sprouts at home, with 12 of the best sprouts to eat
9. Bake Your Own Bread
Bread baking is not just nostalgic, healthier, and yummier—it's also more sustainable if bread is a regular item of your family's daily meals or you're an avid baker. Making your own means no plastic bread bags, no unnecessary preservatives, complete control over the ingredients, and fewer trips to the store.
Pro tip: Our selection of organic whole wheat, rye, spelt, and specialty flours makes it easy to bake hearty, wholesome loaves at home.
Read more: Homemade vs. store-bought bread: the major differences
10. Make Your Own Flour
One often-overlooked way to reduce waste is by grinding your own flour at home. Bulk whole grains and beans (such as oats, wheat berries, or soybeans) can be stored for months in airtight containers. When you want to bake something, you can grind your own flour and get fresher, more flavorful, and often more nutritious flour, reducing the need for buying multiple smaller flour bags.
Pro tip: Grind larger batches at once and store your flour in airtight jars, pail buckets or the freezer—this balances sustainability with convenience while keeping everything fresh.
*A note on homemade flour and sustainability: If you only use flour occasionally, buying a large bag of organic flour in bulk may be more efficient and still eco-friendly than milling your own.
Read more: 17 Substitutes for all-purpose flour in baking
11. Choose Dried Legumes Over Canned Ones
Canned beans are convenient, but they come with a cost: metal cans, plastic-lined interiors, and the energy required for canning and shipping heavy, water-filled products. Dried legumes, on the other hand, are lightweight, package-efficient, and store well in bulk.
Our selection of bulk organic beans—like black beans, chickpeas, lentils, and kidney beans—makes it easy to stock up and cook fresh. Stored in jars or pail buckets, dried legumes stay good for years and are always ready when you are.
Pro tip: Batch-cook dried beans and freeze them in portions. You'll have the same convenience as canned beans, without the waste!
12. Reduce Energy Waste While Cooking
Even cooking methods matter for sustainability:
- Always cover pots when boiling water.
- Cook in batches and roast multiple items in the oven at once.
- Use a toaster oven or air fryer for small meals instead of heating the full oven.
- Match the pan size to the burner size for optimal efficiency.
Why it matters: These small adjustments can save significant energy over time.
13. Creative Leftovers
Food waste is one of the biggest contributors to household emissions. Instead of letting leftovers sit or get thrown away, plan meals that reinvent them:
- Roast veggies today and puree into soup later.
- Cook beans and use them in tacos, salads, and stews.
- Freeze portions of meals to reduce spoilage.
We have a variety of recipes to get the ideas flowing!
14. Support Organic and Sustainable Brands
Every dollar spent is a vote for the food system you want. Organic farming avoids synthetic pesticides, protects pollinators, and builds soil health. Supporting sustainable brands ensures your values ripple out into the world.
We are proud to say that many of our unprocessed products like legumes, grains, nuts, and dried fruit, come directly from local farmers across the United States.
Not only does this approach help us keep prices low, but it also ensures we're providing you with the freshest, purest ingredients—free from the risks of questionable farming practices or ingredients.
Our wide range of organic bulk goods supports kitchens like yours in living out eco-friendly values every day.
Read more: How local sourcing means fresher, better, and fair-priced food
