Florian’s Dom Gattermayr Uses Less Water Cooking at Home – Here’s How You Can, Too

Melbourne cafes Florian and Juniper do things a little differently to other all-day eateries. For co-owner and chef Dom Gattermayr, less is more. “Our style at both [cafes] is very much locally sourced, small-scale and having enough food that we sell out every day [with] no waste.”

The approach is backed by a European attitude to breakfast, partly owing to Gattermayr’s Austrian heritage: it avoids overstuffed breakfast plates in favour of a menu highlighting cured fish, vegetables, fresh sandwiches, and a signature herb and Gruyere omelette. “It provides a daily ritual for people, where they can come in and have breakfast all the time and it’s not a ‘treat’ as much,” she says. “It’s still obviously a treat, but it’s not an indulgence thing where you’re coming in and having something that’s probably enough food to last three meals.”

If the menus at Florian and Juniper push for serving up only what’s needed, Gattermayr does the same when using water, too – both in the cafes and at home.

Ready to save water at home? Here are her sustainable kitchen tips:

Save your lukewarm water for a good cause

Saving water can be all about the little gains, and this tip is a simple way to use tap water that’s still warming up. “If you need to get hot water for the kitchen, make sure that you’re putting a bowl or something under while the tap is getting hot,” says Gattermayr. “Then you can use that water to wash your veggies or herbs, or you can even put it in your garden or top up your ice tray with it. We’re always leaving the ice tray empty in the freezer, so if you can get into that habit, it’s a good one.”

Wash all your veggies together

In professional kitchens, produce tends to come in as a large order instead of multiple, smaller orders. When it arrives, everything gets washed and stored together. It’s something Gattermayr recommends for the home kitchen, too – a big clean of all your produce after your grocery shop. “Wash all your veggies together, pack them down and store them properly so you don’t have to wash every time you cook,” she says. “This is something we do in the kitchen so you’re not filling up the sink and prepping your veggies for one dish, you just know they’ve been cleaned and are ready for use.”

Fill a bowl for rinsing

This tip also comes straight from professional kitchens: keep a bowl or pan of water for rinsing utensils as you go. “Have that for your utensils to go into so you’re not turning on the tap, running it, rinsing a spoon, rinsing a fork every time you need to; you’re popping it into the water, having it freshly rinsed so it can be used again,” Gattermayr says.

“People get in the habit of just chucking the tap on, running it, rinsing something off, and I think you’d be pretty surprised by how much water actually comes out every time you’re doing that.”

Fewer dishes, less cleaning

This tip could be both a time saver and a water saver (a valuable duo both at home and in the professional kitchen): only use what you’ll need in the kitchen and keep the total number of dishes down – it’ll mean less washing up and, as a result, less water used. “Think about how many pots, pans, bowls and other kitchen utensils you really need to use and try to reduce that where possible to avoid extra washing up and to save water too,” says Gattermayr. After all, every drop counts.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Greater Western Water, Melbourne Water, South East Water and Yarra Valley Water.