Sustainable Cooking
  • Save

Sustainable Cooking: A Guide to Eco-Friendly Kitchen Practices

Living Sustainably
0
(0)

My formal introduction to sustainable cooking started six years ago when I discovered a meal-planning app called Mealime. Though always a planner and an avid home cook, this tool’s emphasis on grocery-store-friendly quantities and meal-sized portions supercharged my shopping precision. Sustainable cooking, in addition to minimizing food waste, invites you to use the most efficient energy source for your needs and to prioritize ingredients from nearby farms.

A full one-third of the food produced in the US never gets eaten. Instead, it makes up 24% of waste that goes to landfills. Those extra resources used to grow and harvest unused food – from fertilizer to fuel to fresh water – to the land itself – could better be used elsewhere. These discarded calories add up to more than enough for every food insecure American. And because food thrown out after it’s been produced, packaged, transported, and sold has required the most resources along the way, consumers and restaurants who use all the food they buy create the biggest positive benefit.

sustainable cooking collage
  • Save

Reduce Food Waste to Be More Sustainable

Whether you use a meal planning app or your Grandma’s cookbook and a pencil and paper, the best way to reduce food waste is simple, if not always easy:

1. Buy only the food you plan to eat.

2. Eat all of the food you buy.

First off, create a plan and make it a reasonable one. If true, it’s better to admit to yourself that you’ll only cook from scratch twice a week – especially if the alternative is to overstock the fridge and pass by those unused ingredients as you pick up your delivered pizza. Or to glimpse the wilting produce as you grab milk for your dinner bowl of Frosted Flakes.

When you choose recipes for your weekly meals, look up quantities online so you can write, “two carrots” on the grocery list rather than, “one cup chopped.” Don’t assume you’ll guess right in the store. Make specific plans for when you’ll eat the entire amount you cook, and think through how to store leftovers for another day. When single, I used to bake an entire vegetarian casserole one day, then freeze single-serving portions for future meals.

Store leftovers in the fridge – I play it safe at three days, but you can study up on the USDA site. Or go with your freezer to keep things much longer. Invest in reusable containers and package clips. If you roll down the bag on your cereal, raisins, or brown sugar and add a food clip, the ingredients stay fresh longer. Keep foods either cold or hot, and at room temperature for no longer than two hours. Know that even in the refrigerator, inside an air conditioned home, the hotter it is outside, the quicker your food will go bad.

Consider using scraps of ingredients to make vegetable, chicken, or beef stock. Or marinate leftover vegetables to use later in salads. Keep peeled, brown bananas in the freezer in a bag, then thaw to bake homemade banana bread. Likewise – other overripe, cut-up, frozen fruits shine in next week’s smoothies.

Even while cooking sustainably, everyone throws out some food, so look for local city composting services or create a backyard or balcony compost bin. Anything that originally grew in the ground will eventually break down into fertilizer for your garden in a 4’ x 4’ or larger space. Add lawn clippings, garden prunings, fallen leaves, mulch and twigs alternatively with kitchen scraps. Include air and water. A tip: toss in your eggshells, but avoid dairy and meat items. Composting keeps uneaten food out of landfills and feeds your garden plants.

Sustainable Cooking Images
  • Save

Prioritize Sustainable Ingredients by Buying Plant Based and Local

The shorter the distance between the farm where your food originates and your kitchen, the less fuel needed for it to travel. Think farmers markets, CSA boxes, local bakeries and nearby tamale-makers. My grocery store sports Colorado logos on state-grown produce and food brands. You’ll also keep your money in the local economy and eat food that might not survive a long journey. For example, our Palisades, Colorado peaches feature soft skins and melt-in-your-mouth sweetness.

Per gram of protein, whole food, plant-based options use a fraction of the water compared with meat. Here’s an interesting chart from UCLA:

Item

Amount

Grams of Protein

Gallons of Water per Gram of Protein

Beef

One pound

90-100

20-80

Milk

One gallon

128

15

Tofu

One pound

45-55

6

Oats

One pound

75

3.8

Eating a healthy, plant-based diet requires adding nutrition, not just removing the meat. Add protein-rich nuts, beans, tofu, and whole-grains. Eat multiple fruits and vegetables. Read the labels on pre-packaged vegan items. For example, if you remove cheese and dairy from a meal, the protein content may plummet unless you add back nutrient-rich extras like hemp seeds, soy milk, or pumpkin seeds.

Above all, know your own preferences and health needs. Plant-based eating isn’t all or nothing, so experiment with Meatless Mondays or vegan-until-dinner options. Be positive and constructive when talking about your diet with friends and family. No one likes to be preached to.

Energy-Efficient Cooking Methods

Energy-efficient includes various cooking methods that fit the amount you cook at a time and your kitchen needs. If you’re turning on the oven, fill it with roasting vegetables and toasting legumes for today’s and tomorrow’s dinner. Cut food into bite-sized pieces to use less fuel when cooking on the stove.

Make a pot of soup in the slow cooker. Even though it may cook on your counter all day, the pot itself uses a tiny amount of energy. Only baking for a single serving? Look for a countertop toaster oven. Consider a microwave that reheats leftovers in a snap. And look into pressure cookers – all that pressure shrinks the time needed considerably, especially for cooking items like dry beans.

Sustainable Cooking Practices
  • Save

Eco-Friendly Kitchen Practices

Anything that reduces plastic packaging and bags that you use only once is a win. So carry a refillable water bottle instead of buying bottles of water. Buy in larger quantities when you can, and investigate stores with bulk food sections and refill stores where you bring your own containers. Looking for the ultimate zero waste boutique grocer? Check to see if you have a local equivalent of Nude Foods in Colorado – you return every custom grocery, household, or prepared meal container next time you come in to be washed and refilled. Consider eco-friendly bamboo containers.

Join the Movement and Promote Sustainable Cooking

Find friends, share tips, and advocate for sustainable cooking and fresh, whole, healthy food for all. Cultural norms can and do shift over time, so take action and help them move in the direction you’d like to see. Check out Slow Food (and read my article on Slow Living), get to know your CSA Box farmers, teach your kids to cook and eat healthy and sustainable foods. Look into organizations like the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and the National Young Farmers Coalition and support others working toward a more sustainable food system.

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

0

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

As you found this post useful...

Follow us on social media!

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Fill out this field
Fill out this field
Please enter a valid email address.
You need to agree with the terms to proceed

*Some of the links on this page are affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission. This helps support our platform and allows us to continue to provide you with valuable content. The prices are the same whether you use our affiliate link or not, and using our link does not influence our recommendations. Thank you for your support!

Related Articles