After moving to Portland it was time to set up our eco minimalist kitchen. In honor of the recent TikTok trend, we decided to do a list of things in our kitchen that just make sense...and are both eco-friendly and minimalist of course.

We have owned most of these products before our big move while living in our tiny house. However, we also went thrifting (Kelsey's favorite activity) to find some other must-have kitchen items.

We love all of these eco-friendly items because they serve a big role in our kitchen while also taking up minimal space. These products are perfect for our nomad lifestyle but also great for a stationary home.

So if you're up for an eco-friendly minimalist lifestyle, check out some of these cannot-live-without kitchen items. You may love them enough to deck out your kitchen the same way.

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Being Eco Friendly in the Kitchen

Before we get into our must-have items, we wanted to go over one way we made sure to make our kitchen a little more eco-friendly...buying second hand. Buying from thrift stores can be a great way to turn an ordinary item more eco-friendly.

Our kitchen table and chairs were a set found at a thrift store. Since a table was something we wanted anyway it was a great way to fill that need without adding to our carbon footprint.

Other items every kitchen needs are plates and bowls. We got all of them from thrift stores and even though they are all different brands, you would never know it by looking at them.

It was a perfect way to be even more eco-friendly by using second hand but we love the all-black for our minimalist look. Since it is only the two of us, buying at thrift stores helped us only buy what we needed instead of some 20-piece set from the store.

Even though these items might not be eco-friendly kitchen must-haves, they are necessary for most kitchens. Buying from the thrift store just helped make our kitchen even more eco friendly.

But now onto the best items in our eco minimalist kitchen. If you're lucky, you may find some of these from a thrift store but Amazon is also a great option.

Glass Mason Jars

Glass jars have been a Schaub stable since 2015. When we moved to Santa Fe and became more eco-friendly we saw how versatile glass jars were and haven't looked back since.

Now they are probably our most used item. Glass jars are perfect because they are zero waste and versatile.

We use our jars for drinking, storage, decorations, you name it. We bought some of our jars when starting out but now we just reuse any jars that we buy with products already in it (like our coconut oil).

One thing we did that WE LOVE is making sure ALL of our glass jars have the same size lid. It doesn't matter if it's our larger quart size or the tiny 4 oz, the lid size remains the same.

This makes storage a minimalist dream as it looks more uniformed and there's no more worrying about matching sizes or losing lids. We have all the jars situated by size and a container nearby with all the lids.

Technically, we do have a few glass jars that were old candles repurposed for storage. Those don't have lids but we don't put any food or liquid in it.

Instant Pot

When we lived in our travel trailer we didn't have anything to cook with except a two-burner stovetop. Then Phil saw an instant pot on sale from Amazon and decided it was time we up our cooking game.

The instant pot was LIFE CHANGING. We have one 6qt size but honestly, for just us two, the 3 qt size would have been plenty.

It's perfect for minimalists because it has several uses for just a tiny pot. The website claims 7-in-1 which is pretty impressive.

As for being eco friendly, the main thing we have noticed is using less water. Phil loves rice which is typically cooked with a 1-2 ratio of water on the stove but 1-1 in the instant pot.

Collapsible Containers

In an effort to use less plastic we decided Ziploc bags had to go...and silicone containers were in. We now LOVE our new containers and they are for anything and everything.

We have some that look like a Ziploc bag but better. They can stand up on their own and are seal proof enough for soup.

We also have collapsible containers that fit perfectly stacked on each other. It's perfect for our tiny minimalist kitchen

Following with the theme of "collapsible" we want to give an honorable mention to our measuring cups. They are also collapsible silicone and take up barely any space in our drawers.

Composting Bin

A big staple of any eco-friendly, minimalist kitchen is a compost bin. When we first bought our trailer we found a tiny metal bin on amazon but kept it outdoors to limit flies inside.

Now we're extra lucky because our Portland apartment has its own composting bins. Now instead of having to keep one filling up in our home, we can take it downstairs by the end of the day.

Foldable Reusable Bags

The first step we made towards an eco-friendly lifestyle was switching to reusable bags. It is probably one of the easiest things ANYONE can do and it can make a big impact.

The only dilemma we had with our bags is they were starting to take up a lot of space. We did some searching and found some bags that fold down easily and are extremely compact.

Most of our bags look small but fit more than you would think. We also have two large bags that again fold up and lay completely flat.

For fruits and veggies, we have reusable cloth produce bags that don't fold up but since they are so small they all fit into a bag. Basically you can't go wrong with a reusable bag.

Fridge Baskets

After buying our produce in our reusable cloth bags we need somewhere to put everything. Since we had a small fridge in the trailer and we have an only slightly larger fridge now we needed a way to fit everything.

Luckily we found matching black baskets from a thrift store where we can stack in more produce without taking up too much space. Plus it looks more organized this way.

For any produce that doesn't go in the fridge, we have a wooden box. This way all of our potatoes, onions, and garlic are kept nicely in one place.

Electric Kettle

If Kelsey picked her favorite kitchen item it would hands-down be our electric kettle. She makes coffee and tea every day so we go through a lot of hot water.

After some internet researching, we found an electric kettle is more energy-efficient than a kettle on the stovetop. The idea is less energy is lost during the process meaning less energy is needed overall.

Our electric kettle also has an option to set the temperature which helps us use even less energy. We can set it lower for certain teas and save even more energy.

On a side note, we did learn induction stovetops use even less energy. In our trailer, we had an induction stovetop and metal kettle but the electric kettle is nice for our new apartment.

Metal Pour Over

We make our zero-waste coffee with a metal pour-over we got from Amazon. It's light enough that we can travel with it but small enough to take up very little space in our cabinets.

Since we already have our electric kettle it's easy to make every morning. Then to be even more eco-friendly we buy coffee in bulk and store it in a glass container.

Wooden Utensils

For all of our cooking utensils, we make sure to go eco-friendly by buying wooden options. We went even further and bought ours from a thrift store but Amazon has some good options as well.

If you want to keep up with the wooden theme you can also opt for wooden flatware. We're still using metal but we must admit the wooden ones are cute.

Olive Oil Mister

Not sure if this is eco-friendly per se but we swear by having an oil mister in your kitchen. It helps us use less olive oil when cooking which means less waste.

We also buy our olive oil in bulk with our own glass jar. This way our olive oil is eco-friendly and then we have to fill up less often.

Have Fun Shopping for Your Kitchen

We love our eco-friendly, minimalist kitchen and feel every product we own serves a purpose. If you are trying to embrace an eco minimalist lifestyle check out some of these must-haves.

Since we really do own everything on this list, we can say it's been tried and tested with flying colors. We hope you love it as much as we do 🙂