Sustainable Lunch and Dinner Ideas
When eating fruit it is best to select organic and seasonal fruit. They are locally grown and do not have to be shipped in from other countries. How can you tell what fruit is in season? You can perform an online search, check with the CSA, or head to the local farmer’s market. In you live around New York you can stop by 1 Hotel’s Earth Day Juice Bar on April 22nd for some fresh and seasonal juice.
Salads and Bowls
Just about anything prepared at home will be better than the store as long as you are using fresh ingredients. Home cooked meals do not contain additives such as sugar and preservatives.
Sundays can be a day to pre for meals and to head to the local farmer’s market. You can put on some relaxing music and cook lunches and dinner for the week. Grain bowls, veggie burgers, warps, and even some pasta as good choices.
Dinner
Meats
There are responsible ways to consume meats. Chicken and turkey has much less water than beef. They also have six times less carbon dioxide in them than lamb meat. Select poultry from local farms to cut down on emissions from transportation. Be sure to look for the Certified Human Raise as well as the USDA Certified 100 Percent Organic labels.
Wine and Chocolate
Dark chocolate is good for heart health and red wine can lower cholesterol levels. It can also protect the brain.
Look for chocolate that it made in a bean to bar facility. This information can be found on the package. Make sure it is fair trade certified. There are a number of organic wines out there. While they are more challenging to find they are good for the Earth.
Grocery List Sample
- Now that you have the basic information you can add some items to your grocery list to be cleaner:
- Coffee beans that are Fair Trade or Rainforest alliance certified
- USDA Certified Organic and Humane Raise chicken
- Pasture Raised eggs
- Seasonal fruits and vegetables
- Bean to dark chocolate
- Coconut milk
- Biodynamic wines
