The abnormality of single use and toxic products in our homes is an epidemic that no other generation before has dealt with. I know this to be true in my home, even after years of working towards non toxic living. Every layer of our home and selves holds in most cases elements that are not as natural as they have been in the past. Our clothes are all polyester, our kitchen cooking utensils plastic, our bowls plastic, our cups have heavy metals, our bedding is made from toxic synthetic fabrics, our toothbrushes are replaced every few months creating more plastic waste. In so many areas of our lives this takes place, and it is hard to have a life marked otherwise. But this is where my post comes into play. This post you are reading is a series of blogs on non toxic living that provide you with lists, products and swaps to make your home more traditionally natural again. This post is on the kitchen: creating a non toxic home: kitchen swaps for non toxic living.
Kitchen Swaps for Natural Living
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What Needs Swapped in our Kitchens
Our kitchens hold a multitude of toxic products from our soaps, to pots and pans, our towels to our oils and seasoning. In this post we will swap these eight items below:
- Pots, Baking Dishes and Pans
- Hand soaps & dish soap
- Dish Scrubs
- Towels
- Kitchen Cleaners
- Baking oils
- Cups & Dishes
- Cooking Utensils
Pots, baking dishes and pans with Teflon are toxic and can become toxic with time, increasing in toxicity the more they are scratched. Hand soaps, cleaners and dish soaps have toxic ingredients, and have actually managed to cause health related problems to peoples skin, lungs, digestion and more. Anything made with plastics has got to go, including baking and cooking utensils, scrubs, synthetic fabrics and more. Baking oils such as vegetable oil have been studied for health problems and many believe they cause colon and other cancers. Lastly, cups and dishes often contain heavy metals.
So, let’s find our swaps.
Pots, Pans and Baking Dishes
As I mentioned previous Teflon and non stick pans and pots are generally containing toxic forever chemicals in them. So we want to avoid them for our healths sake, as well as for longevity and quality. There are a few types of dishes you can search for to make sure you are ditching toxins: glass, stainless steel, and cast iron.
Each of these have variants of quality and different care instructions.
Cast iron will be one of the most non toxic and long lasting purchases you will ever make- though it requires the most care.
Swaps:
- Smithy Cookware (this is an extremely high quality brand, they have the absolute true cast iron, the cast iron that was original to our great grandparents. These pans will look different than most because of how they are produced)
- Lodge Cast Iron (also non toxic and a brand that has been around for a long time. You can read on their website all about their mission to creating non toxic products and the specifics of what they leave out of their products to ensure this)
Stainless steel on the other hand will be less maintenance but does require getting used to to ensure you create a non stick surface with it while cooking and also prevent burning foods
Swaps:
- Caraway Home Stainless Steel Sets (this is a more expensive set, though there are varying levels of quality when it comes to stainless steel. This is a brand that strives to create the highest quality non toxic products)
- Heston Stainless Steel Set (cheaper option)
- Baking Pans & Muffin Tins
Lastly let’s chat glass for baking and cooking. This requires research (as do the other two) into the entire makeup of the product. Some glass contains chemicals in them that you do not want. Borosilicate glass is known as a non toxic form of glass. you want to search for high quality and non toxic when you are looking to replace your cookware with glass. Avoiding colored glass is the first steps.
Swaps:
Soaps & Cleaners
This one is short and sweet, I use one company for all of my non toxic needs. There are multiple non toxic cleaning companies out there but for the price and quality these are my favorite: Koala Eco. I will add a link to my other favorite below!
Swaps:
- Koala Eco: veggie wash, hand soap, dish soaps, kitchen cleaner
- Rowe Casa Organics: they have a bit of everything for non toxic cleaners and soaps. They are slightly more expensive but they rank 100% non toxic in every way, they even use glass containers over plastic. I currently use their room sprays!
Related Post: The Best Non Toxic Cleaning Products- brands ranked
Dish Scrubs and Towels
Next on our kitchen swaps for natural living and non toxic living is dish scrubs and kitchen towels.
We are looking for bamboo, stainless steel, for Cotten, for 100% linen, coconut, luffa and wood products.
Anything that contains any other fabric or material is not generally recommended since they are generally faux, synthetic and plastic.
Swaps:
- Replace All Your Scrubs with This Set
- Replace All Scrubs (this one contains luffa pads)
- Luffa Scrubs on Their Own
- Muslin Cloths (these say they are primarily for babies, don’t let them lie to you teehee. I love muslin cloths for everything)
- Old Fashioned Cotton Kitchen Towel Set
- Large Kitchen Towel Set of Three (cotton, white, more durable and large for more versatility)
- 24 Pack of Reusable Paper Towels
Baking Oils
We are all very familiar with the difference between baking oils these days. But as a small reminder, be sure to switch out these toxic oils in your kitchen this year: canola oil, vegetable oil, rape seed oil, margarine or any sprays that say ‘butter flavored’, cheap olive oil. Here are a few quality replacements:
Swaps: the best place to find high quality oils is Thrive Market in my opinion and you can get 40% off your first order
- Coconut Oil
- Tallow
- Real Butter
- Olive Oil
- Avocado Oil
- Spray Bottle (if you like the ability to pray your oils but don’t like the extra ingredients in the spray bottles buy this amazing invention)
Cups & Plates
Our next kitchen swap for natural living is played and cups. Oftentimes cups and plates contain heavy metals and other chemicals. Below are a few non toxic sets of cups and plates to replace yours if they have toxins in them. There is a way to test this, buy one of these and it will let you know where your dishes land on the toxin pendulum.
Swaps:
- Natural Handmade Ceramic Plates and Bowls
- Natural Green (other color options) Plate Set
- Multicolor Choice Mug Set
- Lead Free Glass Cup Set
Cooking Utensils
I am not here for the silicone trend so this one will be short and sweet. I generally stick to stainless steel and wood for cooking and baking. A few of my favorites are below!
Swaps:
But is this all the swaps we make?
As you know there is a million things we didn’t cover! But now we know the basics for materials and fabrics that are considered safe and non toxic. Which means, when you find a product in your kitchen you feel might need replaced, you can now ask yourself based off of the material of the product if it’s good for you and your home long term!
Avoid
- Silicone (my opinion)
- Plastics
- Fragrance
- Bioengineered Ingredients
- Synthetic Materials
Find Products with
- Cotton
- linen
- 18/10 stainless steel
- Glass
- Cast Iron
Just like that we have reached the end of our non toxic home guide, kitchen swaps for natural living!
Now that you have a non toxic kitchen on its way let’s celebrate!
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