Eating and cooking sustainably is not difficult and is something we can all do. When people ask me where to start with reducing their carbon footprints, I always suggest starting with food. Why? Because food is part of our everyday lives and around 30% of Greenhouse Gas Emissions come from food. Eco-conscious cooking is easy and can make a big difference. For quick wins on reducing your carbon footprint in all areas of the home, check out this guide on eco-friendly habits at home.
Would you like to SAVE this Post?
I'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
I respect your privacy and you can opt out at any time.
Jump to:
- What is a Sustainable Diet?
- Why is it important?
- The impact of Food on the environment
- The Eat Lancet Plate
- How to eat Meat Sustainably
- Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Protein Source
- Why Reducing Food Waste Matters
- How to Manage Foodwaste at Home
- Choose Seasonal and Local Produce
- Choose Fairtrade Products
- My Top Fairtrade Recipes
- Why Organic Farming is Sustainable
- How to eat Seafood Sustainably
- Fish Recipes
- 💬 Reviews
What is a Sustainable Diet?
A Sustainable Diet means choosing foods that have the least impact on the planet and the lowest carbon footprint. A carbon footprint is a way of measuring how much carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas that is causing climate change.
Eating a sustainable diet is easy. It doesn't necessarily mean going vegan or vegetarian, although more and more people are making this choice for environmental reasons. There are lots of sustainable choices we can all make and everyone is at a different starting place. This is why you will find Meat Recipes as well as Fish, Vegetarian, and Vegan on this site. I want to encourage everyone to make good sustainable food choices every single day, whatever they choose to eat.
People who eat a healthy, sustainable diet may substantially lower their risk of premature death in addition to their environmental impact, according to a new study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
- Harvard T.H. Chan June 2024
Why is it important?
We all know that what we eat is linked to our health. Over the years we've heard many health messages around food.
Today, our world faces a new challenge. Can we feed a growing population without destroying our planet and ourselves?
Food is :-
- The main cause of species extinction & biodiversity loss.
- The biggest consumer of fresh water.
- Accounts for around 30% of the world's Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Adapting our habits to eat and cook sustainably is one of the easiest and most impactful changes you can make and it's a change we all need to make if we are to have a sustainable future.
The impact of Food on the environment
Humanity is facing a huge crisis. Both in terms of environment and also human well-being.
Around 30% of the world's Greenhouse Gas Emissions come from food. What we eat and what we waste, has a massive impact on Climate Change. It also impacts Food Poverty in Developing Nations.
According to the UN, the world produces more than enough food to feed the global population-but as many as 828 million people still go hungry. After steadily declining for a decade, world hunger is on the rise again, affecting nearly 10% percent of people globally. From 2019 to 2022, the number of undernourished people grew by as many as 150 million, many as a result of climate change.
Climate change is already having a devastating impact in many countries, particularly in the Global South. Droughts and floods mean land can no longer be farmed, which leads to hunger and migration. Temperature rises and extreme weather events cause devastation and leave areas uninhabitable.
Did you know?
Human and planetary health are closely linked. Eating a Planetary Health Diet not only has a substantially lower environmental impact, but it's also associated with a significantly lower risk of premature death and disease.
The Eat Lancet Plate
In 2019, a global, non-profit called EAT published what is called the EAT-Lancet Plate. This plate shows what a sustainable diet looks like. It's not only a healthy diet for the planet, but it's also a healthy diet for us. The plate shows a typical suggested daily intake of food across the various food groups.
The diet is not unlike a traditional Mediterranean diet. Whilst we can still eat a modest amount of meat and dairy, fruit and vegetables need to be the new main course and become the biggest food group we eat.
- 50% Fruit and Vegetables
- Unsaturated Fats
- Wholegrains
- Reduced amount of meat, dairy and seafood
- Minimal Ultra Processed Foods (UPF's) refined grains and added sugars
The amount of red meat is reduced and would be the equivalent of a burger once a week or a big juicy steak once a month. It also suggests two servings of fish a week and one small serving of dairy a day.
How to eat Meat Sustainably
If we do choose to eat meat, what should we consider? The issue of eating meat and sustainability is complex. However, we cannot get away from the need for many of us to reduce the amount of meat we eat. Check out my post How to Reduce Meat and eat more plant-based foods for helpful tips and answers to common questions.
A recent study by Oxford University found if we all cut red meat from our diets just one day a week, the environmental benefit in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, would be the equivalent of taking 16 million cars off the road in the UK.
If everyone in New York City chose a (soy) veggie burger instead of a ¼ lb. beef burger for Meatless Monday, it would save the equivalent CO2 emissions from charging 2.6 billion smartphones.
Some Meaty Facts & Figures
- It can take 30 bathtubs of water to produce just one beefburger.
- An area of rainforest the size of one hundred football pitches is cut down every hour to make room for grazing cattle.
- Almost a third of all land on Earth is used for livestock production.
- Currently, some 800 million people on the planet suffer from hunger or malnutrition, yet an amount of cereal which could feed three times this number of people is fed to cattle, pigs and chickens.
For details of sources, see Meat-Free Monday Facts and Figures
If we do eat meat, it is important to recognize the environmental impact of meat is not all the same. For example, The environmental impact of locally bred, grass-fed produce is lower than that of factory-farmed meat. When meat is cheap, you can be fairly sure the welfare has also been cheap. Know where your meat was reared and not just packaged.
The carbon footprints of meats
Beef and lamb have a much higher carbon footprint than pork and poultry so swapping the type of meat we choose can also help.
If you're struggling to completely cut the meat from a meal you enjoy, reduce the amount of meat in several meals and replace it with more vegetables and grains.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Protein Source
This table from Meatless Monday shows how the carbon footprints of different foods compare.
Beef has by far the highest carbon footprint, whilst the footprint for peas is tiny in comparison. The carbon footprint for peas is similar to that of other vegetables.
Why Reducing Food Waste Matters
Food waste is a huge sustainability issue. If food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest emitter of CO2 (carbon dioxide) in the world after the USA and China! Around one-third of all the food produced in the world is wasted. This could be enough calories to feed every undernourished person on the planet. When we waste food, we not only contribute to those CO2 emissions, but we are also wasting all the energy and resources that went into producing that food.
Food waste in landfill sites emits methane gas which is a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than CO2 or carbon dioxide. About 6%-8% of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced if we stop wasting food.
On an individual level, the average UK family still throws away around £80 of food every month. That's a massive £1000 a year straight in the bin! The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey puts the cost at around $1900 per year per household. Planning our meals, only buying what we need, and using leftovers can help reduce this amount.
This easy Food Waste Inventory Kit can really help you take control of your foodwaste.
Check out my top 10 tips for reducing food waste at home.
15 Top Tips!
How to Manage Foodwaste at Home
Easy tips to get your foodwaste under control & save money
Choose Seasonal and Local Produce
Eating produce in season is a great move towards eating sustainably. It's using food at its best. Research also suggests buying food in season can be up to one-third cheaper. Food in season is naturally abundant and hasn't had to incur long-term storage costs. Using fresh ingredients means getting the best nutritional value from the meals you cook.
Buying homegrown seasonal produce helps support both our local communities and the economy. Seasonal produce has a much smaller impact on the environment as it hasn't been stored or produced in artificial conditions, which use lots of energy. Foods that are airfreighted generally have the highest carbon footprints. These tend to be foods that are more delicate such as berries, asparagus, and green beans. Bananas are usually shipped and actually have a low carbon footprint.
Compare the CO2 emissions from these tomatoes
1 kg of organic vine cherry tomatoes grown in a heated greenhouse = 28.2Kg of CO2
1 kg of large salad tomatoes grown locally in season = 1.3Kg of CO2
Choose Fairtrade Products
Buying Fairtrade products is a direct way to help the world's poor and support sustainable farming practices. You get a high-quality product and make a real difference in the lives of the people who grow your food. Fairtrade can be the difference between farmers earning enough money to feed their families or not. It's about decent working conditions and fair terms of trade.
Fairtrade products are produced using sustainable farming practices which protect the farmer and the land. The products are less contaminated because they limit the use of harmful agrochemicals. Many Fairtrade products are also organic.
Check these out!
My Top Fairtrade Recipes
A collection of my top Fairtrade recipes including meat, fish, vegetarian and vegan recipes.
Why Organic Farming is Sustainable
Organic farming is a more environmentally friendly way of farming. It produces less pollution, conserves water, reduces soil erosion, increases soil fertility, and uses less energy. In contrast, pesticides and chemicals sprayed onto plants contaminate the soil, water supply as well as the air. In some cases, they can still be present decades later.
As well as being a more sustainable option, organic food can be better for you because it doesn't contain traces of any pesticides. Organic meat and dairy products don't contain antibiotics other drugs, hormones, or pesticides. Since organic food doesn't contain artificial preservatives, it is usually fresher and tastes better. People with allergies to foods, chemicals, or preservatives often find that symptoms lessen or go away when they eat only organics.
How to eat Seafood Sustainably
Buying sustainably sourced fish and seafood is important for preserving the long-term health of fish stocks and also for protecting the marine environment. Fish with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) label, come from stocks that are not in danger and have been sustainably fished. Visit the Marine Stewardship Council website for more information.
Fish is a good source of many vitamins, minerals, and protein and is lower in fat than most meat. The Dept. of Health recommends we eat one portion of white fish and one portion of oily fish each week and there are many Fish Recipes on this site to help you do this. Eating a wider variety of fish can save you money compared to the most commonly bought fish. Look out for suggestions for cheaper sustainable alternatives in the recipes.
Fish Recipes
Easy sustainable fish or pescatarian recipes to help you eat a more environmentally friendly diet.
- Pan Fried Sea Bream Fillets20 Minutes
- Tray Baked Cod with Pesto30 Minutes
- Thai Salmon with Chilli, Ginger and Wild Rice30 Minutes
- Smoked Haddock with Pasta15 Minutes
We can all make eating and cooking sustainably a part of our everyday lives. It not only benefits our planet but our health and finances too. If you want to know what more you can do, visit my Eco Living page for some more lifestyle tips.
Comments
No Comments