6 easy eco tips

If you’d like to adopt a greener way of living, the best place to start is at home. We’ve had a look at how making a few slight changes could help you to live more sustainably – and potentially save you money in the long run.

While getting into everyday habits such as switching lights off when we leave a room or turning appliances off at the wall could reduce our household energy usage, there are plenty of other ‘greener living’ tips that could help. Here are just a few of our favourites.

Freeze that fruit

Our in-house Chef, Tom, hates to waste food and is a huge fan of freezing usable leftovers.

“Fruit can go off really quickly, so when fresh fruit and berries start to get a bit too ripe, I like to freeze them into ice lollies.”

Not only can you reduce food waste, but you know your delicious lollies are 100% real fruit. Alternatively, you could use your frozen fruit in a smoothie and enjoy a refreshing mid-morning pick-me-up.

Leftover coffee grounds

Did you know that instead of throwing away those grounds, they can help to add valuable nitrogen to your compost. Adding organic material such as coffee grounds to the soil, could improve drainage, water retention, and aeration in the soil.

Don’t over fill your kettle when boiling

Filling your kettle to the top means the water takes longer to boil, using more energy. If you’re only making one or two cups, it’s more energy-efficient to just boil enough water for your immediate needs. Kettles such as the Structure Kettle allow you to see at-a-glance how much water is inside, so you only boil the perfect amount every time. In fact, all our kettles have measuring markers on them so you can easily fill to just the amount you need.

Cook more, less often

Chef Tom understands the benefits of batch cooking. Cooking in this way means you’ll use your appliances less often – and save time cooking on other days in the week.

To reduce the number of times you switch on your conventional oven, The Russell Hobbs Good to Go Multi-Cooker can help. It has 8 versatile cooking functions; Sear, Roast, Sous Vide, Slow Cook, Steam, Rice, Boil and Keep Warm so you can create a variety of meals, from risottos to stews without having to use a conventional cooker – it’s a great investment if you want to make a hearty one pot meal for all the family – or several meals to freeze and eat later.

Air frying

Air frying is a great alternative to oven cooking, and you could save up to 68% energy**. Air frying uses hot air to speed up the cooking process. Meat is thoroughly cooked without drying out, remaining deliciously juicy and succulent from fryer to fork. And it won’t compromise the delicate flavours of fish such as salmon, and cod fillets as food cooks quickly while preserving the flavour.

You can even air fry vegetables such as peppers, parsnips and more. Air fried chips are crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside and can be cooked in less time than it would take to deep fry the same amount. So, whatever you enjoy at mealtimes – chances are, you can cook it in an air fryer.