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A GREENER THANKSGIVING · PART 1 OF 3
The Kitchen
Cook the feast without the forever chemicals.
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PART 1 · THIS WEEK 🍳 The Kitchen |
| PART 2 · COMING UP 🍽️ The Table |
| PART 3 · COMING UP 🥡 The Leftovers |
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THIS WEEK
Cook The Feast Without The Teflon
Welcome to our 3-part Greener Thanksgiving series! One email a week through November: the kitchen, then the table, then the leftovers. This week: the pots, pans and tools that touch your food.
🍳 Shop Nontoxic Cookware
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Hi, I’m Carrie Lee 👋
Every week we hand-pick everyday swaps made with mostly plant- and mineral-based ingredients, not packaged in plastic. We do the digging so you don’t have to.
Thankful for you!
Carrie Lee, Chief Eco Officer
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The turkey gets all the attention. But the pans it cooks in matter just as much.
Same Feast, Safer Pans
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THE SCARY PART
🍳 Is Your Turkey Pan Teflon?
Most nonstick pans are coated with PTFE, better known as Teflon. It belongs to the PFAS family, the “forever chemicals” that don’t break down in nature or in our bodies. An empty nonstick pan on a hot burner can pass 400°F in about two minutes, and overheated PTFE can give off fumes that cause flu-like “Teflon flu” in people and can be deadly to pet birds.
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🍲 Big Pots For The Big Day Stainless steel, ceramic and cast iron. No PFAS, PTFE or PFOA, and they last for decades.
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 Heritage Steel Stock Pots 5-ply stainless steel with no chemical coatings. Made in the USA with a lifetime warranty. Shop on Amazon → |  Caraway Stock Pots A nonstick ceramic coating with no PFAS. Perfect for big batches of soup and stock. Shop on Amazon → |  Lodge Cast Iron Seasoned with vegetable oil, not chemicals. Dutch oven, skillets and more that last a lifetime. Shop on Amazon → |
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QUICK CHECK
🔍 How To Tell If Your Pan Is Teflon.
If the box or bottom says “nonstick” and doesn’t say ceramic, it is almost always PTFE. Scratched, peeling or flaking? Time to retire it. Keeping it for now? Never heat it empty, and keep the burner at medium or lower.
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🥧 Bake And Roast Without The Coating Swap coated bakeware for ceramic and cast iron.
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 Caraway Baking Sheets Ceramic nonstick with no PFAS or Teflon. Roasted veggies, rolls and cookies. Shop on Amazon → |  Caraway Muffin Pan Cornbread muffins and mini pies without the chemical coating. Shop on Amazon → |  Lodge Cast Iron Pie Pan Bakes a crust that’s crispy on the bottom. Naturally nonstick once seasoned. Shop on Amazon → |
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ABOUT THAT PARCHMENT
đź“ś Line It Smarter.
Most parchment paper gets its nonstick power from a silicone coating, and the bright white kind is bleached. If you use it, choose unbleached, chlorine-free parchment. Or skip it: a little butter or oil on a ceramic or cast iron pan works just as well.
If You Care Parchment → PaperChef Unbleached →
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ABOUT THAT FOIL
🍗 Love Cooking With Aluminum Foil? Read This.
Studies show aluminum moves from foil into food as it cooks, and even more moves with high heat, acidic foods like lemon, tomato or vinegar, and salt and spices. Most people stay under the safety limits, but there’s no reason to add more to your plate.
Instead: cover your roasting pan or casserole with its own metal or glass lid, cook in a Dutch oven, or tent the turkey with unbleached parchment.
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WHY WE DO THIS
We share just a few picks each week to get you started. For 1,200+ better products, visit our website or download the free Hippiekit Microplastic Finder app for iPhone or Android.
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🥗 Prep Without The Plastic Plastic colanders, measuring cups and spatulas scratch, stain and can warp in the heat. Metal, glass and wood last for years.
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 Bellemain Colander 18/8 stainless steel. Rinse salad greens, drain potatoes and pasta. Shop on Amazon → |  OXO Steel Strainers Fine stainless mesh for silky gravy and sifting flour. Shop on Amazon → |  Pyrex Measuring Cups Tempered glass that won’t stain or warp, even with hot liquids. Shop on Amazon → |  Caraway Wood Utensils FSC-certified birch spoons and spatulas. Safe on every pan above. Shop on Amazon → |  Caraway Oven Mitts 100% organic cotton with no silicone or polyester. For pulling out the big bird. Shop on Amazon → |  Country Trading Towels Big, thirsty organic cotton towels for a busy holiday kitchen. Shop on Amazon → |
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FREE TOOL
🧮 Cook Just Enough With The Guest-imator.
A free dinner party calculator from Save The Food, a project of the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Ad Council. Type in how many guests are coming, pick your dishes and how many leftover meals you want, and it tells you how much of each to make. No sign-up needed. Try The Guest-imator →
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DIY OVEN CLEANER 🧽 Clean The Oven Before The Big Roast. Store-bought oven cleaners are some of the harshest products under the sink. This one uses two pantry staples: 🥄 Mix ½ cup baking soda with a few spoonfuls of water into a paste
🖌️ Spread it inside the cold oven, skipping the heating elements
🌙 Let it sit overnight, then wipe it out with a damp cloth
🍶 Spritz any white residue with vinegar and wipe again Take the racks out first and scrub them in the sink with the same paste. |
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🍽️ Serve It Up In Style Porcelain and stainless steel instead of plastic or melamine.
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 Mikasa Gravy Boats Classic porcelain with a matching saucer. Dishwasher and microwave safe. Shop on Amazon → |  Malacasa Platters Big porcelain platters for the turkey, the ham and every side. Shop on Amazon → |  Mikasa Gravy Ladle 18/10 stainless steel that will outlast every plastic ladle in the drawer. Shop on Amazon → |
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COMING NEXT WEEK · PART 2 🍽️ The Table Plates, napkins, candles and centerpieces without the plastic, plus a kids’ table idea they’ll love. |
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🥫 Scan Your Pantry Staples
📱 Download Our Free Hippiekit Microplastic Finder App
Boxed stuffing, gravy packets and canned cranberry sauce can hide petroleum-based ingredients in the fine print. Scan it with the free Hippiekit app to see which ingredients are petroleum- or chemical-based. If we’ve found a better swap made with mostly plant- and mineral-based ingredients, and not packaged in plastic, you’ll get a direct shopping link. If not, our AI suggests options we haven’t vetted yet. Food is our newest category and still small, and lots of foods (like granola bars) only come in plastic, so not everything has a swap yet. We’re adding new products all the time.
iPhone → Android →
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AROUND THE WORLD
🌎 On The Green Calendar 🍂
| NOV 9–20 | COP31 Climate Summit · Antalya, Türkiye World leaders meet for the year’s biggest climate talks. | | NOV 15 | America Recycles Day · USA A good day to check what your town actually takes in the blue bin. | | NOV 17–20 | World Conference on Marine Biodiversity · Bruges, Belgium Ocean scientists from around the globe share what’s living in our seas, and how to protect it. | | NOV 21 | World Fisheries Day · Worldwide Celebrating healthy oceans and the people who fish them responsibly. |
CLOSER TO HOME
🧺 Get Outside And Go Green 🌿
| NOV 14 | Tampa Bay Veg Fest · Tampa, FL Plant-based food plus 100+ eco-friendly and ethical vendors at Perry Harvey Sr. Park. | | NOV 14 | Nature Fest PHX · Phoenix, AZ A free festival along the Salt River with live wildlife, guided walks and an early-morning river cleanup. | | NOV 28–29 | San Diego Made Holiday Market · San Diego, CA Local makers set up on the grass at Liberty Station’s NTC Park. Small Business Saturday gift shopping, outdoors. |
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New to the family? Catch up:
12 Sustainable Swaps · Top 5 Cleaning + Top 5 Personal Care · Sustainable School Supplies · The Fall Closet Reset · A Greener Halloween
We prioritize products made with mostly plant- and mineral-based ingredients over chemical and petroleum-based ones, and products that aren’t packaged in plastic. Small parts like caps are OK, but the main container can’t be plastic.
Some links are affiliate links. We may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, Hippiekit earns from qualifying purchases.
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