Natural Home Products

Today’s well stocked kitchen comes with many modern conveniences and a lot of high end cooking equipment.  Storing everything you need for your well stocked kitchen is another matter entirely.  One thing a person can never have enough of is kitchen storage space!

Every kitchen has some key areas were you may need to maximize storage. Drawer organizers are a necessity for every kitchen, keeping silverware and odds and ends neatly arranged and accessible.  And don’t let your food storage containers take over your kitchen, use nestable and stackable glass storage containers to keep things healthy and simple.  Glass storage containers, such as Pyrex, are a great choice because they are multifunctional, going from fridge or freezer, to the oven or microwave, and straight to the table.  Other great storage ideas include baker’s racks, hanging fruit baskets, recipe boxes, and spice racks.  Appliance garages have also become popular as home owners strive to keep blenders, mixers, juicers and other small appliances covered and out of sight. In today’s modern home, there is no question that adequate kitchen storage is essential, no matter the size of the kitchen.

Having family and friends gather for a big Christmas feast is truly a magical occasion.  For many, a big turkey with all the fixings is part of a great Christmas celebration!   But preparing a Christmas feast, without ending up a frenzied fiend over the stove, requires some planning.  And with some early Christmas dinner preparations and a little help from family and friends you can create a magical and relaxing Christmas dinner.   

To help make your Christmas dinner a relaxing occasion you will need to plan your dinner menu, guest list and grocery shopping list early.  It helps to choose a few dishes that can be made ahead of time, that re-heat well.  Storing dishes made ahead of time in glass storage containers that go from the freezer or fridge straight to the microwave and are pretty enough to serve at the table, will help to alleviate a lot of the last minute stress of preparing a large dinner.  Involve your family and friends in the preparations by asking them to bring a dish.   And top off your dinner and dessert menu with the lovely baking from your friend and family bake exchange.   With a little help and your early preparation, you too will be able to enjoy the Christmas feast!  Enjoy your holidays, take a few pictures, and create a few special moments! Merry Christmas!

With the eco-friendly stamp of approval, bamboo towels are becoming an increasingly popular eco-chic home product.  No wonder bamboo bath towels have become so popular with eco-minded consumers; bamboo is an eco-friendly and highly renewable resource.  The towels made from the bamboo fibres are naturally absorbent and extremely soft.  Towels crafted from 100% bamboo yarn boast the softness and silkiness of cashmere, with an absorbency that surpasses cotton.  Bamboo towels claim natural hypo-allergenic properties along with anti-microbial and odour resistant properties.  A high quality bamboo bath towel is a sumptuously plush and durable towel.

Given the popularity of bamboo bath towels and the inherent qualities of the bamboo fibre, it is no surprise these towels are becoming an increasingly popular item in the kitchen.  Woven bamboo kitchen towels are a wonderful match to your daily kitchen chores and dining experience.  Bamboo kitchen towels are highly absorbent and naturally antibacterial.  These eco-friendly kitchen towels dry quickly and repel bacteria and odour.  Bamboo towels are practical kitchen products that will with-stand the wear of a busy kitchen.

Providing a healthy dinner for your family and keeping up with the mess can be a challenge.  Perhaps even more of a challenge on those busy weeknights when it seems everyone in the family is going a different direction.  On those busy nights I like to avoid the temptation of a quick take-out fix by planning ahead.  What’s needed is an easy dinner and one that avoids a messy clean-up.

 When I am looking at my calendar and I see overload striking, I go straight to my freezer for a quick solution.   Frozen portions from a big batch of chilli, spaghetti sauce, or a fancy beef bourguignon can be a saving grace on a busy night.  When these meals are frozen in a Pyrex glass food storage container, they provide a healthy meal with little mess.

Pyrex glass food storage containers are great for reducing the mess.  The tempered glass is microwave safe, non-toxic and non-reactive, ensuring nothing transfers into your food while reheating. So dinners can be thawed, reheated and served all in the same dish.  With little mess, these healthy dinners seem easier than waiting for the take-out to arrive.

After a long day of work, I’m generally in need of a way to relax and unwind. While some people might turn on the TV and go into a vegetative state, my preferred form of relaxation is a bit more active. I stop by the local grocery store and pick up all of the fixings for an elaborate dinner. Then I take my customary spot in the kitchen, throwing together a few delicious dishes and indulging in the therapeutic smells of cooking food.

The only downside of my cooking addiction pertains to its aftermath. I despise doing dishes, but it’s just a necessary part of the process. Taking care of the leftovers is a whole other matter – glass storage containers make things exponentially easier. The containers keep the food fresh for days, allowing me to pack a few containers for my lunch hour at work. All in all, it’s a cyclical system that I’m proud to uphold.

As the kids head back to school and winter schedules start ramping up, many busy parents start looking for time saving dinner ideas.  With take-out becoming expensive and grocery store frozen foods being somewhat less appetizing, serving your own favourite foods from your freezer seems a healthy and economical solution.  With a little  planning and some preparation, cooking your favourite fall recipes in big batches and freezing your own healthy entrees can become a healthy and convenient dinner solution for those busy weeknights or lazy weekends.

Some recipes are more suited than others to cooking in large quantities and freezing in individual portions.  Spaghetti sauce, chili, meatballs, casseroles, soups, and stews are a few favourites for freezing.  To keep your favourite dishes at their best,  just make sure to follow safe food freezing practices.  Once cooked, you will need to cool off your batch of food as quickly as possible before placing in the freezer to avoid any bacteria growth.  Also, remember to skim off the top layer of fat from soups, broths, or stews before freezing.  For successful freezing you will need to choose containers the appropriate serving size for reheating just what you need.  Using high quality glass storage containers for freezing ensures nothing transfers into your food (like Bisphenol A) during the freezing process and will make the reheating and/or microwaving of your dish more convenient.  Also, make sure it is a shallow container.  The greater surface area of a shallow container will assist with the safe cooling process by dispersing the heat quicker, as it will assist with quicker thawing and reheating.  When filling the storage containers leave as little air as possible in the container, but make sure to leave enough room for any liquids that will expand as they freeze.

Once your foods are cooled and ready for your freezer, label each storage container with the date frozen. Try not to over pack your freezer; the cold air will circulate better this way. And remember to go through your freezer periodically and throw out any old food or food you aren’t likely to use. It is best to eat your frozen dishes within two months.  You can promote proper rotation of your frozen entrees by placing the most recently frozen foods toward the back of the freezer.  When you are ready to enjoy one of your frozen dishes just thaw and reheat.  It is best to thaw your food in the refrigerator. Small items may thaw overnight in the fridge; larger ones will take longer. If you use the microwave, cook or heat the food soon after it has thawed as the microwave tends to start cooking some areas of the food while it defrosts.  So go ahead and enjoy.  The effort of big batch cooking will pay back time and time again.

Family picnic season is here again, and portable food containers can help to minimize the mess and the stress. Plastic wrap simply doesn’t cut it in a moving car, when the contents of a dish can splash up and dislodge the seal. Tin foil is marginally better, but the slightest poke can create a gaping hole in its thin metal surface, releasing any freshness instantly.

Glasslock containers provide a suitable solution for families on the go. They keep food fresh and secure before a picnic and allow for easy, dishwasher-safe cleanup afterward. If by some miracle your oldest son doesn’t finish up all the macaroni and cheese, glasslock containers can be reheated safely in the microwave. Weigh all of your options before the next outdoor function and make the choice that best suits your family’s picnic needs.

There aren’t many days that go by without using some kind of dishwashing detergent. Whether you’re doing a few dishes in the sink or you’re putting on an entire load of dishes, that’s a lot of potential toxins that we’re pumping into the water system everyday. Just think how many chemicals and detrimental additives that adds up to when you consider that practically everyone is using the same amount of dishwashing soaps on a daily basis.

So if you’re concerned with helping contribute to a cleaner environment, make the switch to natural dishwasher detergent. This type of soap doesn’t contain the chemicals that some dishwashing soap contains, and as such, they are safer to enter into the general water supply. They are also safer for the marine life once it actually hits that water supply. It’s one of those small changes that is easy to implement in your life but can make a big difference.

For anyone getting rid of their plastics in the kitchen in their war on Bisphenol A contamination, there are many new and innovative products coming on the market.  New companies are springing up with new products designed to replace the plastic food storage so many of us have come to rely on.  The variety of choice coupled with increased competition in the market place is all good news for consumers who benefit from both the rise of new products and from the competitive prices seen in this market segment.

The new Glasslock food storage system is one such product that hopes to capture a share of the glass food storage market. The Go Green GlassLock line by Kinetic (a division of Pathway) is an innovative line of heavy tempered glass food storage containers.  While it is still hard to find an all glass product (most containers still use plastic lids) at least these products are designed to be stackable and provide locking plastic lids with silicone seals that are airtight and watertight, keeping the foods locked in. GlassLock is microwave safe, non-toxic and non-reactive, ensuring nothing transfers into your food while reheating.  You can take it from the freezer to the microwave with no concerns and the full FDA Approval gives consumers piece of mind.

Water pollution caused by phosphate use is not only a wide spread environmental issue it is largely avoidable.  Phosphates from many common household cleaning products such as laundry detergents, dish soaps and automatic dishwashing detergents are finding their way into our rivers, lakes and coastal areas, causing widespread water pollution. While the Municipal water treatment facilities do their best to filter out the synthetic chemicals common in most commercial dishwashing and laundry detergents, the increased level of phosphates in our water ways is responsible for the rapid algae growth that depletes the oxygen in our waterways, killing off fish and other wildlife.  As the phosphates find their way back to our faucets, they  undermine the safety of our drinking water and make drinking water more expensive to filter.

As many countries and states draft legislation banning the use of phosphates in common household products, consumers are scrambling to find an effective alternative.  While no direct substitute for phosphorous exists, there are other substances that can be used to separate and bind to the dirt and grime we are trying to wash away. One ingredient proving effective is surfactants.  In natural dishwasher detergent, surfactants provide cleaning power by increasing the ability of the water to separate the soil from the dish. Fortunately, for consumers looking for effective dish washing alternatives, they now have more environmentally friendly choices than ever. There are many natural automatic dishwashing detergents available on the market today that are formed from naturally occurring plant and mineral based compounds and surfactants that are effective, biodegradable and environmentally friendly.