Eco-friendly Baking

It’s officially the Great British Bake Off season! This means every Tuesday we are snuggling up on the sofa with a tasty treat, because it’s impossible to watch bake off without eating something sweet…FACT. Here are some top tips for baking in a more eco-friendly way. Read on for money saving sustainable hacks.

Bake from scratch

Unlike cooking, baking requires actually following the recipe and even some maths (ew). We know it’s much easier and quicker to grab a Betty Crocker cake mix. But these boxed cakes and cookie mixes always have more plastic packaging. So we recommend you try your hand at baking from scratch. Flour, eggs, and other basic ingredients are usually packaged in recyclable paper/cardboard.

Money saving tip: Packet cake mix usually works out more expensive. Baking from scratch means you can reuse the same bag of flour for multiple bakes and save your pennies.

Be oven savvy

With energy prices going up so much I am sure we are all trying to implement more ways to be energy savvy. There are lots of ways you can do this whilst baking:

1. Bake multiple things at once. If you are heating your whole oven you may as well make use of each shelf.
2. Smaller bakes such as cupcakes and muffins cook way quicker than a whole cake. For example, banana bread can take 50 minutes to cook but the same mixture cooks in 15 minutes if you just split it up into cases
3. Switch off your oven 10 minutes before you’ve finished using it. As long as the door stays shut, the oven will stay warm enough to bake/cook your goods.

Reusable baking equipment

If you haven’t invested in silicone baking accessories this is your reminder to pop them on your Christmas list this year. We love silicone baking sheets as they are not only reusable but nonstick, which also means you are using less oil! Reusable cupcake cases are far less wasteful, can be put in the dishwasher, and hold their shape far better than paper ones.

Use your freezer

Lots of things you wouldn’t expect can be frozen. Leftover cookie mixture, bread, bread crumbs, cookies etc. If you know you aren’t going to eat it before it goes off, stick it in the freezer. Most baked goods can last an extra 2 months in your freezer.

Most baking ingredients last ages. But for the ingredients that have a smaller shelf life eg. fruit, we recommend freezing. Our favourite tip is to peel your overripe bananas, freeze them and use them in your bakes at a later date.

Plant based baking

We all know eating more plant-based is better for the environment but vegan baking could seem overwhelming for some. However, it doesn’t need to require expensive alternatives and substitutes. More often than not you already have the goods you need in your house.

Cooking margarine is often already dairy free, just check the allergens for milk. You probably already have an egg substitute. Brown and spotty bananas are perfect for baking, using an ingredient you might have otherwise thrown away + adding a yummy taste. We bet you have a tin of chickpeas in your shopping basket. Next time you cook with them, save the juice from the can that you’d have otherwise put down the sink and use this in your baking. Don’t worry your bakes won’t taste like chickpeas!

Clean up

Use our refill cleaning products to wipe down your surfaces and clean your oven.

Oven Cleaner: We know you don’t want your oven smelling like chemicals so we have a fragrance-free oven cleaner that will get rid of grime and leaves your oven smear free.

Antibacterial Surface Cleaner: Our coconut and lime kitchen antibacterial surface cleaner works hard on those remnants baking can leave. Containing a tried and tested antibacterial agent, this cleaner will leave no trace of that dried food and grease, instead leaving a lovely smell.