Do you want to help make every day an Earth Day? Here’s an idea for how you could lower your environmental footprint, one that you may not have thought of before, is something that is relatively easy to do AND one in which The Dinner Daily can help: sustainable eating.
You may be surprised at the concept of your diet having an “environmental footprint”, but the foods we eat each have an environmental impact, and some foods have a much greater impact than others. The environmental impact of any one kind of food is related to many things including: the food itself, how it’s grown, the by-products of converting the food to consumable form, the packaging and the transportation involved in getting it to your store, to list a the major factors. We won’t go into too much detail here, but if you want to learn more, there are lots of resources on the internet.
Four Tips for Sustainable Eating
While many of us have become more aware of the source and impact of the foods we eat, we can always do better, so here are a few easy ways to start:
- Eat less beef and pork and more chicken and vegetarian meals. Beef has the highest environmental impact of any food and studies estimate that livestock farming causes as much as 18% of human-caused greenhouse gases and 37% of methane production, which is one of the worst greenhouse gasses.
- Buy local foods – locally produced foods have used less energy to get to your store and many times have less packaging.
- Buy organic foods – because these foods are raised using far less chemicals like fertilizer and pesticides, they are friendlier to the environment and have taken less energy to grow than standard crops.
- Eat in-season foods! Seasonal produce tends to be more local, so it probably wasn’t flown inform across the country.
There are lots of other ways you can be environmentally friendly when it comes to feeding your family such as:
– using your own bags
– not taking those thin plastic bags for things like bananas or other fruits and veges you will peel anyway, and
– consolidating your shopping into one trip, rather than taking many trips.
Here’s how The Dinner Daily can help you start more sustainable eating! First, you’ll notice that our menu plans allow you to adjust your preferences, so you can easily use more poultry, fish and vegetarian meals than beef and pork, but without feeling like you are eating the same things. We also give you a shopping list for everything you’ll need for all dinners for the week, so it is possible to skip those additional trips to the store. Plus, in-season foods are often on special and in many cases from local famrs, so since we plan your meal plans around what’s on special, you will likely be buying more local foods as a result.
We want you to feel good about what you and your family are eating, not only for your own well-being but for the world as a whole.
Happy, healthy and sustainable eating everyone!
Learn more about why thousands of people look to The Dinner Daily to help with their daily meals.
1 Comment