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Outdoor Kitchens & Earth Day: An Eco-Friendly Way to Cook

Outdoor kitchens are becoming increasingly popular fixtures in homes today. Aside from the other benefits to homeowners like increased home values and a fun place to entertain the family and guests, outdoor kitchens have also been shown to be a more eco-friendly way to cook. 

With Earth Day approaching, we want to discuss what makes outdoor kitchens so eco-friendly, even when compared to indoor cooking and eating out. 

Indoor vs Outdoor Kitchen Eco-Friendliness

If you’re looking for the most eco-friendly option for cooking between indoor and outdoor kitchens, outdoor kitchens are the way to go. 

For starters, outdoor kitchens can help you reduce your energy consumption in the home by providing an alternative cooking and dining space. This means you’ll have less of a need for ventilation for the food aromas that are produced while cooking. Plus, when using an outdoor kitchen, you don’t heat up your home like when using an indoor oven, which could reduce your need for air conditioning on hot summer nights. 

Outdoor kitchen appliances like fridges and ovens are also more likely to be powered by solar panels or other types of renewable energy, which is better for the environment and lessens your reliance on non-renewable energy sources.  

Is Eating at Home More Environmentally Conscious?

Additionally, cooking at home in your outdoor kitchen is a more eco-friendly option than eating out at a restaurant. 

Similar to what we mentioned above, cooking indoors at a restaurant utilizes more energy than cooking in an outdoor kitchen, just like when you’re at home. 

Not to mention, if you’re driving to a restaurant to eat, you’re also putting out more emissions into the atmosphere if you have a gas-powered vehicle. 

Plus, if you are getting takeout from a restaurant, there is often a lot of waste that is associated with paper napkins, disposable silverware, packaging, and more. When eating at home–either indoors or outdoors–you are less likely to produce this type of waste. 

How to Choose an Environmentally-Friendly Grill

If you decide to stay at home and cook outdoors to be more eco-friendly, you’ll also need to make sure the grill you’re using is a good choice for the environment. 

To begin with, you should opt for a gas-powered grill over a charcoal one. These types of grills are much more energy efficient and don’t produce as many pollutants. 

Taking this one step further, if your grill can be powered by natural gas instead of propane, this will help you be even more environmentally friendly. By far, natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel, so this is the best option if you’re trying to grill clean. 

Additionally, you can look for grills with a high energy-efficiency rating, and see if you can find a grill with a timer or automatic shut-off feature to help reduce your energy consumption. Lastly, you’ll want to avoid grills with non-stock coatings, which can release harmful chemicals once heated. Instead, grills with ceramic coating are a much better alternative. 

In sum, outdoor cooking is a much better option for the environment than cooking indoors or eating out at a restaurant. So, having an outdoor kitchen can help you live more sustainably!