The holiday season, regardless of which ones you’re celebrating, are all about the food. Yes, there are parties, gifts, and special family traditions, but signature dishes and recipes that are passed down through the generations are often what stands out in the end.
Holidays are also a hard time for many to continue those green practices that happen throughout the rest of the year. If you’re cooking for a large number of people, it’s hard to avoid waste, but with some forward thinking and a few modifications, you can hold on to all your holiday traditions while also doing a little something for the environment.
Avoid plastic shopping bags
Starting with the holiday shopping trip, opt for reusable grocery bags. Even if you need to buy a few extra for this particular trip to the grocery store, it’s worth it. These bags are good for so much more than shopping, and using them for all your holiday food buying significantly reduces plastic bag waste.
Another area in the store where you can reduce your plastic consumption is the produce section. You can now find reusable mesh bags to load up those green apples for your pie and sweet potatoes for that casserole. These bags are transparent enough that you can scan your produce without having to take anything out.
Go for an organic menu
Although organic food may cost just a little bit more, shopping organic is a way to be environmentally friendly. Organic farmers don’t use any toxins on their crops and care for animals in a greener way. Buying organic supports these environmentally-safe practices.
If you can shop organic and buy local all at the same time, even better. Buying locally means the food spent less time in a truck being brought to your grocery store. Less time in transit equals fewer carbon emissions released into the air. This is also a great way to eat what’s in season, so again, food has a shorter distance to travel to get to your table.
When organic or local options aren’t readily available, you can also shop smart by looking at the packaging. Buying brands that make a conscious effort to support the environment is another way to eat greener, and they’ll often promote their efforts right on their box. Many of the partners at IMPACT COLLECTIVE, for example, provide tasty snacks, breads, spices, and more while also lowering their footprint when it comes to carbon emissions, water waste, and plastic use. You can find IMPACT members at your local store by looking for products that feature the IMPACT seal.
Prepare your meal with care
You may not think about it, but cooking can raise the temperature in your home by a lot. If you’ve got your oven on all day, and are cooking on the stove, the combined increase in heat in your kitchen can make the whole house feel hot. To compensate for this, lower your thermostat while you cook. Yes, holiday time isn’t always warm outside, but allowing your heater to have a break while your stove and oven warm things up is a more efficient use of energy.
It’s also possible to prepare everything in eco-friendly cookware. Look for pots and pans made from recycled materials and labeled as ‘green.’ You can also use cookware made from ceramic-based, nonstick technology. These particular pots and pans take less time to heat up and hold temperature more effectively without releasing any fumes.
As you’re cooking, don’t forget about your table. As part of your meal preparation, consider using reusable dishware and silverware. Throw on a fabric tablecloth and go for cloth napkins too. You will have a little more laundry to do after the meal, and more dishes to wash, but less trash to throw out.
Handle leftovers to avoid waste
Leftovers are an essential part of a big holiday meal. They’re what you eat for the days following when you still have family in town to feed. If, however, all your dinner guests are local, suggest they bring their own reusable containers from home to make a to-go meal after. You’ll have less to eat on your own that way, and less to potentially have to throw out.
For all the remaining scraps, consider composting. Vegetable shavings, fruit cores and rinds, herbs and spices stems, and eggshells are just a few of the items you may have left after your holiday cooking that can go straight into the compost bin. This is not only an effective way to avoid food waste, but it also creates amazing fertilizer for your own garden come spring.
Do the dishes
Since you went ahead and used your own dishes for your holiday meal, you now have a lot to clean up. To avoid spending hours at the sink rinsing and washing (and wasting water,) load that dishwasher. Even if you have to run it multiple times, your dishwasher uses 37 percent less water than when you wash by hand.
Make sure to load the dishwasher to the gills for each load to optimize its efficiency. And, if you don’t mind hand-drying, consider skipping the heated dry cycle and using dish towels to wipe everything yourself before putting dishes away.
Have a delicious holiday
Hosting a holiday meal that’s a little bit greener is possible to do without sacrificing taste or family tradition. Taking your favorite dishes and approaching them through an environmentally-friendly lens maintains all the holiday fun, but allows you to transform your meal into one that leaves a smaller footprint when it comes to waste. Happy holidays!