Greener Living: Food & Drink [« homepage]

The following are some ideas for reducing the impact of the food and drink you consume:

Eat Less Meat: I'm not a vegetarian, but I can't help being aware that the production of 1kg meat uses up to ten times more agricultural land than producing 1kg of vegetables or grain.
Reduce Food Miles: Try and buy food with minimal 'food miles'. These are the miles the food has had to travel to get to the supermarket. I have at least one rule - I won't buy fruit/veg that has traveled further than me! Wherever possible, try and buy food that has been grown in the uk - this is usually labeled with a union jack flag. If possible, try and buy food that has been produced in your own county - most supermarkets provide this info on the labels.
Farmers Markets / Farm Shops: If you have one nearby, buy food from local farmers markets (tend to be a bit expensive I know), or farm shops (more reasonable). They tend to source produce locally and it's often better quality and less intensively farmed than supermarket equivalents.
Organic Food: Try and buy organic foods. Granted, these are virtually always more expensive that other artificially grown foods, but they are generally more tasty and their production doesn't involve adding nasty chemicals into the food chain. Some of the fertilizers break down, but a lot remain in the food chain and water courses in one way or another. It could also be argued that the food these artificial fertilizers produce is rather uniform and bland because it has been forced to grow so quickly. It's now possible to grow tomatoes from seedlings in a matter of 4-5 weeks - they end up being pretty flavorless too!
Free Range: Try and buy free range food (chicken, eggs, salmon etc) as it has usually lived a more stress free life and is less likely to have needed hormones and other artificial chemical supplements. This is better for them, for you (these chemicals end up on your plate) and better for the environment - you pee/pooh the chemicals out at the end of the day and they up in the water course.
Fast Food (no not that kind!): Eat more cold food or quickly cooked food. Slow cooked food obviously needs more energy to keep the cooker / oven hot for long periods.
Cold Drinks: Drink cold drinks wherever possible - boiling water uses energy. If you have to have hot drinks, only boil the amount of water you need.
Reduce Food Waste: In the UK we through away a huge amount of the food we buy - some of it is perfectly good to eat. Only buy the food you intend to eat. If you're not sure, buy food that stores well, dry goods, tinned goods etc. If you do have to throw food away, compost it instead as described on the Garden page. This site (love food hate waste) gives a lot of good ideas on making the most use of you food.


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Greener Living: Food & Drink [« homepage]