As a family we love baking, there's something really satisfying about creating baked goods - from the smell of them cooking in the oven to getting to taste the final creation! It's always more fun (although messier) when the little ones get involved too 🥰
If you're looking to bake in a more eco-friendly way, here are some top tips to consider:
Sourcing Your Ingredients
Choose organic and locally sourced ingredients when possible, these are often better quality and have lower food miles. If you can, avoid pre-packaged mixes and make your own from scratch - the pre-packaged mixes can be really convenient but most work out more expensive and more often than not, are packaged in plastic.
Make sure you check you have the right ingredients before you start baking, to save realising you are missing a key ingredient! And keep an eye on the 'use by' dates in your cupboard and fridge.
Reusable baking equipment
We use reusable silicone baking mats instead of parchment paper or tin foil, they're easy to clean and, importantly, are excellently non-stick!
Reusable silicone cupcake or muffin cases are a great eco-friendly options or you can plump for compostable cupcake cases if you prefer. We also love to use silicone piping bags, instead of disposable ones.
Silicone baking equipment is a brilliant investment - it can be used again and again, plus it is often dishwasher and freezer safe.
Use your oven wisely
With the seemingly constant rise in energy prices, being energy savvy can definitely help when it comes to being more eco-friendly when baking. We try to time the oven being on to bake/cook multiple things at once. If you are heating the oven, then you may as well make use of each shelf!
Another tip is that smaller bakes, for example cupcakes and muffins, cook much faster than larger cakes. As an example, a banana bread loaf can take around 50 minutes to cook but the same recipe bakes in just 15 minutes if you just split it up into muffin cases. The added bonus of this is that you get to sample the goods much quicker too...
Also, don't put the oven on too early. Nearly every recipe that I've read has 'Turn the oven on and heat to 180' as the very first instruction. However, I tend to find that the oven has heated up long before the goodies are ready to go in, so it is a real waste of energy and money. This is especially true if it's a recipe I am trying out for the first time!
Eco-Friendly Clean-Up
After you've popped your items in the oven, it's time to start the post-baking clean-up. Use our refill cleaning products to wipe down your surfaces and clean any dishes used.
You can use a reusable cloth towel or air-dry your dishes instead of using paper towels. And don't forget to store your baked items, if there are any left, in an eco-friendly way. We have a range of reusable food storage ideas, from our handmade Beeswax Wraps in a variety of sizes to Silicone Stretch Lids.