Daily Eco Tips

Tip #228 - Make your own pasta sauce

David — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:00:26 +0000

One of the worst consumers of environmental resources is food packaging. I have now introduced a new category “Fast Food Recipies” and I will use this category to make posts about how you can make your own healthy “Fast Food” such as burgers, pizza’s, chip/fries and the like, but also fast food in the sense that it will take just a few minutes to cook. When I was a student, I often went for the quick pasta stir in sauce option, which was covered in packaging and most likely, full of “E numbers” that couple with all the beer I was guzzling, was not very good for me. So, it seems right, that now I have mended my ways, I will start with a Basic Pasta tomato Sauce

Ingredients
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 x 400g cans of chopped tomatoes, or equivalent amount of fresh tomatoes
½ tsp dried chilli flakes (optional)
3 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp sugar
1 large handful basil leaves, torn into small pieces
A liberal sprinkle of dried oregano
Salt & Pepper to season

Method
Gently sweat the onion and garlic until softened in the oil. Stir in the tomatoes, chilli flakes, balsamic vinegar and sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook slowly for 1 hour to an hour and a half. Stir in the basil and season with salt and pepper. blend lightly in a food processor for a smooth sauce to your satisfaction. Personally I just give it a quick blend to break down the larger chunks of tomato and onion, but I don’t blend it enough so that it ends up like a soup.

Eco benefits and Storage
This can then be stored in your freezer in airtight tupperware dishes, and used as and when required, just like a pasta stir-in or as a base for a more ingredient rich pasta sauce involving meat and vegetables. It offers the same “Fast food” appeal as the branded pasta stir-ins off the shelf and is packaging free. Now this is the best bit about this sauce, it could be more or less FREE. You can grow your own tomatoes, onions and garlic in most climates, either outdoors or under glass. So next time you reach on the shelves of your local grocery store for the pasta stir in, have a second thought

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Tip #227 - Use a hot water bottle, not an electric blanket

David — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:00:39 +0000

Now I know for my readers in the Northern Hemisphere, this may not be the most timely tip. Personally for me being in the UK, a hot water bottle in my bed would be agony! However, our readers in the Southern Hemisphere are now mid winter and may need their beds heating a bit!

Anyway - hot water bottles are much more eco-friendly than electric blankets, both in manufacture and use. They are also less of a fire risk and once you are asleep you will not need the heat of the hot water bottle anymore, whereas most electric blankets have to be manually switched off, and therefore stay on all night which is a waste of electricity.

Personally I like to sleep in the cold, but I absolutely hate having cold feet, so a hot water blanket is great for me in winter!

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Tip #226 - Make an aromatherapy pillow

David — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:00:49 +0000

If you have an old pillow case which you are planning to throw away, then here may be an option for you

Aromatherapy pillows are great to assist you with a good nights sleep. Take an old pillow case made from natural fibres. Take some herbs from your herb garden such as lavender, sage and rosemary and place them inside the pillow case. Then sew the pillowcase up.

If you then place the pillow case inside another pillow case with your pillow, then a heavenly sleep should ensue. Make sure your aromatherapy pillow case is not on top as you want the aromas to be mild and “in the background”.

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Article Ideas

David — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:18:41 +0000

tote bag pillows

make sure your tires are inflated fully

1) Cup of Coffee

http://www.myecostore.co.uk/EcoHouseholdProducts/EcoKettle.html
The electric kettle uses a high amount of energy. They are used frequently, generally heating more water than is needed. The Eco-Kettle, a UK designed product saves electricity and money. The Eco-Kettle has a double chamber, this chamber allows you to boil just enough water for what you need. If you only want one-cup you can boil just enough water for the one-cup saving time, saving electricity and saving money.

2) Don’t blow your leaves - rake them instead. Your ears and your neighbours will thank you, and you will reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

4) This eco book gives you 100 energy-saving tips for the home “Energy: Use Less – Save More”

Author : Jon Clift, Amanda Cuthbert
ISBN: 978-1903998885

5) Wood from skips, building sites (cost to dispose) for wood burners

6) Office computers are rarely used in environmentally friendly ways but if they are switched off outside office hours this can make an enormous difference to the amount of energy they use. Many users are unaware that screen savers waste energy too, so try switching your screen saver to ‘blank’ or ‘none’ instead.

———————————–

3 Tips from Nik of http://transitionsouthampton.org/

1. Don’t buy de-icer for your windows, Aerosols, chemicals, plastics for
landfill anyone? I personally, have been filling a 2 litre squash bottle
with water from the water but and leaving this in the porch/by the door in
case there is a frost. Just poor over and use your wipers, in all but the
heaviest frost this works first time and unlike a boiling kettle it doesn’t
waste electricity or risk cracking your windscreen.

2. Don’t shred documents unless you have to, but if you do, use the
shredding
as packing material for ebay parcels/xmas presents or use it as an addition
to your compost.

3. What is it these days with antibacterial hand wash! Soap in a plastic
container destined for landfill!

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Tip #225 - Plant a hedge

David — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:00:48 +0000

You may or may not be aware, but due to building booms in India & China, the prices of fences have risen dramtically in the last ten years. This is great news really, as it is pushing people back to the traditional fence - the hedgerow

Hedges are not only a living breathing fence, but dramatically cheaper to and easier to put up! In fact, they put themselves up! They are also hugely valuable as homes to inects, birds and other wildlife. Hedges are also more effective windbreaks than fences, as hedges will sway in the wind, thereby filtering it and slowing it down. Fences make the wind bounce up over it, and as the wind comes down on the other side, it damages plants and flowers.

Hedges can be used not only as a boundary, but also to divide gardens into seperate parts, such as an orchard, lawn area and vegetable patch. Every little helps - wooden fences kill trees, hedges are like growing many mini trees!

Tip #168 - use non-lead shot and fishing equipment

Tip #224 - An eco way of killing Aphids

David — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:00:59 +0000

If you have beans in your vegetable garden then the chances are you will have a problem with aphids.

You can use pesticides and other chemical things to kill them if you like, but the pesticides will end up in the plants and end up in you. Most of us grow our own vegetables to prevent consumption of the pesticides found in supermarket veg, so this really isn’t an option for the eco-veg gardener.

I am not a 100% organic vegetable gardener (it’s difficult unless you’re really experienced), but I do insist on not using any pesticides or fertilizers on my veg. Somewhere sat inbetween the shop bought pesticides and doing nothing is washing up liquid. Spraying the leaves on your bean shoots wish a dilute mixture of washing up liquid and water will kill off all the aphids on your leaves and not fill the plants with pesticides.

Thanks to my Mum for this tip - she saved last years crop!

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Tip #223 - Encourage frogs to kill slugs

David — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:10:51 +0000

There is much debate on the net about whether or not frogs are an effective slug control method, but my fellow vegetable gardeners down my allotments who have ponds on their plots swear by them. Whether they eat them or not - there is a definite link between the existence of frogs and the absence of slugs.

So despite the fact that frogs aren’t the nicest thing to have on your vegetable patch they certainly are not as bad as slugs which will munch through your vegetables.

So if you have a vegetable patch and have a problem with slugs, try installing a pond to attract frogs. Make it as rough round the edges as possible with plenty of hiding places and shelter around the water. An old bathtub (with the plug in) is a great medium to use as the base of the pond, and once the water in the pond is dirty enough and there is enough grass and greenery around the sides, then you won’t notice that there is an old bathtub as the base. It works a treat.

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Tip #222 - Use old mugs and plates for picnics

David — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:00:46 +0000

Why don’t we use regular mugs and plates for picnics? Well it’s largely because we are scared of them getting smashed. So what do we do? We buy plastic ones instead!

Here’s an idea - re-use old mugs and plates for your picnics. Ok - so you may not have a matching set, but is a picnic really about the plastic looking great? Or more about the company you share….

Save yourself some money and save the environment by removing the need to purchase plastic picnic ware.

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Tip #221 - Reduce your food packaging

David — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:00:38 +0000

When you go to the store, have you ever considered the packaging you purchase? We all know we can recycle butter packs, milk cartons, cans, tins and yoghurt pots etc, but prevention is always better than the cure. Here is a few great ways in which you can reduce the amount of packaging you purchase from the store

Buy cooked, raw meats, fish and cheese from the deli counter rather than packed in plastic wrapping like the one pictured above
Avoid buying ready meals
Buy loose fruit and vegetables
Try purchasing larger quantities of non-perishable items such as ketchup and fruit squashes

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Tip #220 - Clean your fridge coils

David — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:00:55 +0000

Fridge’s are for many an essential electrical appliance and one that generally must be on for the full 365 days a year. This means that they have the potential be a massive bulk of your electricity bill. Therefore we should do all we can to cut the contribution our fridge’s make to our bills.

Improving the efficiency of our fridge is a great way of doing this and this means keeping it in good condition. One great way of achieving this is to clean the condenser coils at the back of the fridge. Once dust accumulates on these, the energy consumption of the fridge can increase by up to 30 per cent.

So try pulling out your fridge and giving your condenser coils a dusting to improve the efficiency of your fridge and reducing your electricity bill

Daily Eco Tips

Tip #228 - Make your own pasta sauce

Random Posts

Tip #227 - Use a hot water bottle, not an electric blanket

Random Posts

Tip #226 - Make an aromatherapy pillow

Random Posts

Article Ideas

Random Posts

Tip #225 - Plant a hedge

Related Posts

Tip #224 - An eco way of killing Aphids

Random Posts

Tip #223 - Encourage frogs to kill slugs

Random Posts

Tip #222 - Use old mugs and plates for picnics

Random Posts

Tip #221 - Reduce your food packaging

Random Posts

Tip #220 - Clean your fridge coils

Random Posts