3 alternatives to ladles and scoops you probably already own!

We used to have a plastic ladle but in a drive to rid my kitchen of plastic I replaced it with a metal ladle. I used the ladle for scooping porridge out of our bulk bought sack of porridge to top up a tupperware container and for serving soup, stews and sauces.   Our metal ladle didn’t last very long, it snapped not long after I bought it and I decided to see if we could live without one.  

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It’s been way easier than I thought it would. I now use a glass cup to scoop out the porridge from the bulk bag of porridge, which is so much quicker, easier, more efficient than using a ladle ever was (it is easier to fill and can take a larger quantity) and a mug to serve up soup and stews. Another useful substitute is a cup measure* – we have some lovely really long lasting stainless steel ones, which make an excellent ladle or scoop as well as being useful for recipes where things are measured in cups.  


I’m not suggesting you throw out your ladle or scoop if you have a perfectly good one, but if you are trying to transition to a plastic free kitchen and yours is plastic or if your ladle breaks, then try these alternatives before you rush out and buy a new one. Reading this you might think these solutions are really obvious and they are, but also really easy to overlook. I sometimes forget that things can have more uses than just those that they were originally intended for and that I don’t always need a specific tool dedicated tool to do a job!

Update: I now have 2 ladles given to me as hand-me-downs. I still use a cup as a scoop though and I find it a great alternative.