Anna Getty, master of all thing green and lovely for the home, has taught us a few of her tips and tricks for keeping the entire home healthy, fresh and toxin-free!   In May, we shared Anna’s valuable tips for the nursery and here we share Anna’s helpful advice for green living in the kitchen.

The kitchen has always been the heart of the home and never has it been more important to take care of what we are bringing into it.  Families seem to gather more and more in the kitchen these days, choosing to catch up over stove tops and cutting boards rather than couches and entertainment consoles.  As this occurs, we seem to be more conscious of the type of gear we’re using in the kitchen too.

Here Anna share a few of her favorite tools and the best ways to keep it green in the America’s new favorite gathering place.

Anna Getty’s Top Green Tips For The Kitchen

Start composting – It doesn’t have to be as hard as it sounds.  Simply keeping a bowl on the counter for scraps of food as you cook and running them out to a compost pile at the end of the day is all that is required.  Even if you yourself don’t garden, many local community gardens will gladly accept your offerings if you offer to bring it by!

Get rid of all plastic – This is a big step that can have a major impact, both on your family’s health and safety, and on the environment. Switch to glass containers that won’t contaminate food the way plastic can. Not only is this green, but there are many beautiful glass containers our there.  For families with children I recommend Wean Green. They make a hard-to-break tempered glass container that I use myself and often recommend.

Kick the microwave to the curb – Replace the microwave with more traditional cooking methods. Buy an eco-friendly water kettle and use it to quickly and easily heat water or cook oatmeal. Heat things over the stove top. It may seem like an inconvenience at first, but it’s truly worth it. Microwaves denaturate food. Microwaves literally vibrate so strongly that your food is heated through and through: the jury is still out about the state in which this leaves your food and it’s effect on your health.

Invest in a water filter – This is especially important if you live in the city. A good water filter can be an investment, but one that eventually pays off as you stop buying bottled water. We keep quite a few stainless steel bottles by the faucet and, if I know I’ll be away from home for most of the day, I’ll simply take along a few bottles. Think of how often bottles of water remain in the car getting hot. That heat only increases the off-gassing of plastic getting in to the water. Every so often you have no choice and it’s necessary to stop at a gas station to buy bottled water.

Favorite green kitchen tool – Vitamix Blender

The Vitamix can be an investment but they last for years and years. I’ve had mine 11 years! You can use the Vitamix to make soup, dressing, baby food, juice, smoothies and even flours. I used to make rice flour for my children when they were younger. Most importantly, you can use the Vitamix to make green smoothies. Simply eating green smoothies on a regular basis can detox your body from the harmful environmental toxins we encounter in our modern environment.

Easiest natural kitchen cleaning method – There are great natural cleaning brands out there, but I go through phases where all I use is lemon juice, vinegar and baking soda. Baking soda makes an effective bleach. And you can use those three items to clean almost anything. Lemon alone smells great, but also try adding rosemary for an amazing scent.

Coolest use for a lemon – Salt & lemon juice for tea cups: we drink a lot of tea in our house and nothing removes tea stains on china like a little salt and lemon juice! It’s a miracle really, the stains lift right out.

For more on Anna Getty’s green lifestyle visit her site PureStyle Living.