When preparing a meal we need to start with what food we want to build that meal around. For the vast majority that will be meat. Meat has the largest ecological footprint of all foods we can eat, instead consider cutting back and making meat a side dish if you aren't ready to cut out meat all together.
Fish isn't a good alternative either. We are quickly depleting the species of fish in the oceans. Many of the fish we are purchasing comes from China. These fish are raised in the most polluted waters in the world which means your fish is highly contaminated. The FDA only inspects 1% of the fish entering the US and rejects 65% of that 1%. Unfortunately, the FDA has no power to have the fish returned to the country of origin so it travels from one sea port to another until it finally makes it past inspections and into your grocery stores. Another issue are the findings of banned drugs found in imported fish, formaldehyde and even the practice of feeding fish tainted fish feed make fish a scary choice for your meal.
I like to build my meals around vegetables, with winter fast approaching my garden has been put to bed and I am eating from my freezer. I planted greens in the window along with carrots and radishes to have fresh salads I know I can trust to be pesticide free.
I was torn for many years on which vegetables from the store had a smaller ecological footprint. Frozen foods need refrigerated cars, but then so do many of the fresh produce you buy. It came down to which were healthier for my family. Did you know the fresh produce is picked early and sprayed to slow it's ripening process then trucked across the country. Each day your food waits to reach your table it loses more nutrients. Unlike fresh produce, frozen is processed within minutes of picking, in a flash freezing that stores all the nutrients.You can read more about that here from someone who worked in the frozen food industry.
Grains are another subject that doesn't get much attention. Rice uses the most water to grow, and carries the heaviest footprint. But rice also has a hidden health hazard not many people are talking about. Arsenic. While the US government assures us the levels are safe, many others are sounding the alarm starting with Consumer Reports who are suggesting infants and children under the age of 5 should not be exposed to it. This includes infant rice cereal, and in any rice product such as cold cereals, and both white and brown rice. ABC News has an informative report and video you can see here to learn more.
What can we do? First there are other healthy options such as barley and quinoa. For breakfast oatmeal is by far the better choice.
So what can you do to prepare greener meals?
- Eat less meat, and know where your meat comes from
- Reduce the amount of fish you eat and again, know where your fish comes from
- Shop locally at farmer's markets
- Investigate which grains are the healthiest for you
- Choose frozen in the grocery stores before the produce section
- Don't buy prewashed and packaged vegetables in the store as these are more costly and have been sprayed to keep them fresh longer
- Start a garden to grow the foods you eat most or are on the list of the dirty dozen which are the foods with the highest pesticide levels.
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