Kitchen Tips
- Don’t let the water run when washing dishes. Fill one basin with wash water and the other with rinse water.
- Dishwashers use less water than washing dishes by hand. Buy Energy Star dishwashers that can save even more water and energy.
- You can cut back on rinsing dishes with newer models of dishwashers, as they clean more thoroughly than older ones.
- To cut down on dishes to wash, designate one glass for your drinking water each day, or refill a water bottle.
- Soak dirty pots and pans instead of running water to scrape them clean.
- Compost vegetable food waste and use the garbage disposal sparingly to save water.
- Wash your fruits and vegetables in a pan of water.
- Defrost food in the refrigerator, instead of using running water to thaw it.
- Install an instant water heater near your kitchen sink so you don’t have to run the water to heat it up.
- Keep a pitcher of drinking water in the refrigerator instead of running the tap, to prevent water from going down the drain.
- Reuse leftover water from cooked or steamed foods for soups.
- Cooking food in as little water as possible also helps retain more nutrients.
- Select the proper pan size for cooking to avoid using more water than necessary.
- If you drop an ice cube by accident, put them in a house plant instead of the sink.