5 Sustainable Kitchen Products to Buy on Black Friday

The kitchen isn’t exactly the most eco-friendly room in the house. But let’s not dwell on single-use plastics and that two-week-old bag of spinach in the fridge that’s as good as garbage—let’s talk about some sustainable kitchen products you can buy to make it feel like you’re taking a step in the right direction. Whether you’re buying gifts or shopping for yourself (no shame), here are some sustainable kitchen products you should add to your cart on Black Friday.

Our Place Always Pan 2.0: This pan has a lot going for it. First of all, it’s a ten-in-one product—it comes with a nesting spoon, a steamer basket, and a built-in colander thingy so you can boil noodles in it and just lift them right out—brilliant. And, since it does dectuple duty, that means you can buy fewer pots and pans. But that’s not all: It’s made from recycled aluminum and is totally non-toxic. This is less important, but it comes in cute colors, too. Our Place is having a Black Friday sale and the Always Pan is only $99 (usually $150) through November 28.
OXO Good Grips Easy Clean Countertop Compost Bin: Sending food scraps to the landfill isn’t great for planet Earth because when they rot they emit methane, which contributes to global warming. That’s where composting comes in. Here in L.A., we have a municipal composting program, so many of us have compost buckets like this OXO compost bin in our kitchens. It’s vented but doesn’t stink, even when it’s filled with dinner scraps, onion skins, and yesterday’s coffee grounds. Don’t live in a place with a composting program? You can make compost in your very own yard.
Swedish Wholesale Swedish Dishcloths: Ever since I started buying Swedish dishcloths, I use so many fewer paper towels. And I was pretty much a paper towel addict. These things are super absorbent, way better for scrubbing than paper towels, they’re reusable (I boil mine once in a while to deep clean them, but they pretty much just need a rinse after you use them), and they don’t get all gross and smelly like sponges or dish towels. I promise you’ll love them!
Bee’s Wrap HexHugger 3 Pack: Plastic wrap is bad for the environment and it works like crap. Stop buying it and buy these reusable bowl covers instead. They’re coated in beeswax so they actually stay put on a plate of leftovers. And they can be reused for about a year if you take care of them. That’s a lot of plastic wrap you’re not using.
Brita XL Water Filter Dispenser: If you are still buying bottled water, ya gotta stop. Get a reusable water bottle (hey, I hear the Mythical shop has some nice Nalgenes) and get one of these XL Brita water dispensers. This has a much larger capacity than a standard Brita pitcher so you don’t have to fill it up as much, but it’s still nice and slender so it won’t take up a bunch of space on your countertop.

About the Author

Howdy! I’m Gwynedd, Sporked’s managing editor. I live in Los Angeles and have access to the best tacos the U.S. has to offer—but I’m a sucker for a crunchy Old El Paso taco night every now and then. I’ve been at Sporked since 2022 and I’m still searching frozen mozzarella sticks that can hold a candle to restaurant sticks. Why you should trust me: I’ve been a journalist for 20 years (yikes), a consumer of food for 40-plus years, and I’m truly hard pressed to think of foods I don’t like (or that I can’t tolerate at the very least). Oh and one time I cooked my way through Guy Fieri’s cookbook and wrote about the journey through Flavortown. What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s Original Savory Thins. Fat free plain yogurt (usually Fage or Nancy’s). Honeycrisp apples. Sweet cream coffee creamer for my at-home Americanos. A frozen cauliflower crust pizza and some jarred mushrooms to top it with. Old El Paso Stand ‘N Stuff taco shells and Gardein Ground Be’f, even though I think “be’f” is a nightmarish contraction. Favorite ranking: Stouffer’s frozen dinners. I don’t own a microwave (I get my cancers the old fashioned way!), so I love taste testing things that I don’t really buy to eat at home. Least favorite ranking: Soy sauce. Don’t get me wrong, I love soy sauce—but consuming that much sodium in one sitting is probably illegal in some countries. Our frozen enchilada taste test was a close second; the smell of microwaved corn tortillas still haunts me.