Grass-fed beef, palm-leave plates and compostable forks may be a greener alternative to the fatty burgers and plastic plates you grew up with. But the Wall Street Journal’s  “In Search of the Green Cookout” points out that such eco-friendly alfresco dining can easily pull twice as much green from your wallet. 

That's not the case with every product. At Consumer Reports we've discovered a long list of greener home goods that actually blend higher performance with a lower price.  Consider these around-the-house standouts:

• Paint. Behr Premium Plus Ultra tops our low-luster, flat, and semi-gloss interior paint Ratings (available to subscribers). With volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of just 50 grams per liter, the paint meets the toughest regional California standards while costing about half as much as some pricier options.
• Mowers. The $200 Fiskars Momentum 317736 manual push mower from the famous scissors brand was a reel winner in our tests. The much-higher priced battery-powered riding mower by Arien—the $3,400 AMP 916002—had zero exhaust emissions. But the tractor's short run time and hefty price were a buzz kill.
• Flooring. EcoTimber Woven Honey and Teragren Synergy bamboo topped our Ratings of solid and engineered flooring yet cost less than some others we tested.
• Refrigerators. In our Ratings, Kenmore’s 7930 top freezer, $960, was very good at maintaining its temperature and excellent in energy efficiency. Among bottom freezers, the $1,700 Whirlpool Gold GX5FHTXV excelled in both.
• Toilet paper. The recycled versions weren’t as strong or soft as the others in our tests, but Marcal Small Steps was very good overall and cost only 8 cents per 100 sheets, compared with 37 cents for the priciest non-green toilet paper.

But back to that barbecue. You can save fuel when grilling small quantities by using only one burner on your gas grill. It won’t get as hot as when all the burners are lit, but it should be enough for smaller cookouts.