Fabulous and Frugal: Reusable kitchen items add up to big savings

While some people prefer to save on single-use items for the kitchen, such as paper towels and zip-top bags, by purchasing them in bulk, I prefer reusable items for less waste and big savings.

A single roll of paper towels lasts me the entire year if not longer, since I usually forget I even have it. A roll of plastic wrap or aluminum foil lasts me many years. But my favorite reusable kitchen find, by far, are silicone lids for the microwave.

Food resists sticking to silicone, and the lids wash up wonderfully in the dishwasher with no effort. Silicone mats to line cookie sheets or under pies and other messy foods can be especially helpful for someone who bakes often, and makes a great gift item.

I use silicone lids in place of paper towels for the microwave. I have universal lids by Siliconezone and Orka, or sometimes just use a flat silicone pot holder as a splatter guard; they all work great. My 3-pound Pomeranian prefers his lunch on a pink silicone pot holder. What can I say, he's special. These lids and pot holders multitask as trivets also.

UFO makes a wide variety of silicone lids including large rectangular shapes for casserole dishes. Silicone is oven, microwave and dishwasher safe. It can also be used to cover dishes or bowls in the refrigerator or for cookouts.

Whenever the silicone lid is too small, I use a domed plate cover. Many various retailers sell these, but I prefer the harder plastic domed lids like the BPA-free Deluxe Plate Cover by NordicWare (nordicware.com).

Newspapers underneath cooling racks or mesh colander can be used for draining greasy items. Clean low-lint tea towels are great for resting freshly washed lettuce or other kitchen chores. Sometimes if in a hurry, I collect the edges of the towel and rotate my arm in a large circle to "spin" the lettuce dry.

I prefer cloth napkins instead of paper napkins. My favorite are a set from the Williams Sonoma Outlet Store that I purchased on holiday clearance years ago. They are light blue chambray embroidered with a gold star and reindeer, but I don't care: I use them year-round. They are soft, wash up well without ironing, and make me smile.

For company, I may get out my crisp white hotel-style napkins, but for daily use I like my reindeer.

If you have children, they may enjoy selecting an iron-on patch or colored ribbon to border a couple of their own special napkins to reuse for meals. This can help cut down on extra laundry.

For stain-prone tomato-based food items like spaghetti or tacos, darker colored linens or even a set of inexpensive dark washcloths could be used. Children usually aren't picky about such things.

My father (who was frugal before being "green" was cool) always washed zip-top storage bags for reuse and balanced them delicately on top of washed cups. An easier way to do this is to place long chopsticks in a toothbrush holder to create a drying rack. With a set of lidded plastic bowls, glass bowls or jelly jars, I find I don't even have the need for storage bags.

Try to avoid one-use cleaning cloths and sweepers. If you love your sweeper with the disposable covers but are looking to save, there is a great tutorial for making reusable covers at dollarstorecrafts.com. Search for reusable Swiffer covers.

For cleaning, old T-shirts, wash cloths, and microfiber cloths all get the job done as well or better than paper towels. It's best to use a natural fiber cotton cloth if it will need to be disposed of after a cleaning job. Microfiber, made from petrochemicals, is not made from a renewable resource, and is not biodegradable. It also releases toxic gasses when burned, so if you use them, please reuse them.

Choosing reusables instead of disposables in the kitchen adds up to big savings for our pocketbooks and the environment.

Contact Nikki Boertman at boertman@commercialappeal.com. Join the conversation on Twitter at twitter.com/fabfrugalca.

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