

Time to Rethink How you Eat - Dinner
Part 3 of a 3 Part series
Reduce
the trash you create, reduce the gas that is used to bring food to your grocery store AND eat
healthier foods all by eating dinner at home more often. Sounds like an Eco Trifecta to me. The best way that I have found to make this
goal a reality is to make a meal plan for each week. When deciding what you will eat each day you
can also create a grocery list of ingredients you will need. Set-up a standard day and time for when you
go grocery shopping as once it becomes routine then cooking at home will be
easier to accomplish. When you head to
the store, don’t forget your refillable grocery and produce bags!!
Eat
Healthy While Saving Gas
Cooking
at home gives you the opportunity to choose where your food comes from. In
general, the closer your food is grown to your home the lower the impact on the
environment. Think of the
processing/packaging of the food as well as the transportation costs. The best place to start, if you have the
space, is to grow your own vegetables.
If you don’t have an obvious place for a vegetable garden don’t be
afraid to plant some in with your perennial or annual flower beds. The Burpee
seed company is a great source for gardening supplies and it also has
informative videos to help get you started.
If you don’t have the space or time to grow
your own, the next best thing is to join a Community Supported Agriculture
(CSA) farm. By paying an up-front fee
you will be entitled to a weekly ‘share’ of what is currently being
harvested. At my local CSA, Inverbrook, the vegetables are piled in
bins with a note describing how many of each item you can take (ie, 8 beets, a
quart of potatoes, 2 heads of lettuce).
Each week from June through October you leave with one or more bags full
of fresh vegetables that were just picked.
So you have no packaging, minimal handling, and food likely grown without any
pesticides. Local Harvest is a great resource
to find a CSA close to you. Registration
usually occurs in late fall/winter.
As this article is being published in the
summer, if you do not currently have a garden and you are not a member of a CSA
you should still be able to get fresh vegetables at a local farmer’s market. Check your local paper for the closest farmers
markets to you. The market is probably a
good place to scope out CSAs in your area.
Also try local orchards, dairies, and food markets which should also
have fresh fruit and vegetables late spring through fall.
Minimize
the Trash you Create
If
you have followed the advice above, you are already reducing the trash you
create with dinner as your vegetables will have minimal or no packaging. The next place to look is at your napkins,
utensils, plates and glasses. All of
these items should be reusable. If you
are using paper napkins, do you ever really use just one? It is probably more like 2 or 3. If you eat dinner at home 3 days a week and
use 3 napkins each time, that is close to 500 napkins thrown into the
trash. The amount of trash you are
creating just keeps going up if you are also using paper plates, utensils, and
cups.
Speaking of trash, “in 2010, more than 34
million tons of food waste was generated, more than any other material category
but paper. Food waste accounted for almost 14 percent of the total municipal
solid waste stream, less than three percent of which was recovered and recycled
in 2010. The rest - 33 million tons - was thrown away.” (EPA)
Much of this food could be composted. To get started, you will need space outside
for a composter and space inside for a small collection bin. While preparing dinner, vegetable scraps can
be put immediately into your collection bin.
If you eat a lot of vegetables and fruit you will be amazed at how
quickly you fill up your bin. And then
before you know it you will have amazing soil for your garden. To get started, go to the Sierra Club
for some good articles and videos on composting.
Cleaning
up
Once
you are finished dinner and are on to the fun step of cleaning up there are a few
more things to keep in mind. If you have
leftovers store them in glass containers in lunch size portions. We highly recommend glass as you should not
reheat plastic containers in the microwave as the high heat releases toxic
gases. Using glass containers also
allows you to avoid using saran wrap and tin foil which will eventually end up in
the trash.
And then one final reminder, any extra food
scraps left on your plate should be scraped into the trash and then directly
put into the dish washer (as long as your dishwasher was made before 1994). This process eliminates the need to rinse the
dishes and saves water.
Who knew that such a basic thing, eating
dinner at home more often, could have such far reaching positive impacts? Start small, by eating just one more meal per
week at home. As you start eating more home
cooked, fresh meals you will want more and hopefully that rate will increase. Also, try to pick at least one recipe a week
that you can easily make extra servings (ie, pasta), so that you can help
yourself also take lunch to work one more day per week as well.
Things to remember:
- Plan your meals in advance.
- Buy fresh and local whenever you can.
- Use real dishes, glasses, utensils, and napkins.
- Store leftovers in reusable glass containers.
- Don't wash dishes twice (in sink and dishwasher).
Recommended products:
Here are some links to great products to help you reduce your environmental impact when eating dinner at home: