A Dozen Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint When You Cook

credit: nazreth @ stock.xchang

You can reduce your carbon footprint and make your kitchen greener with a few simple changes to the way you cook and the foods that you choose. Check out these tips for a greener meal prep.

• Buy local whenever you can. Local means less carbon fuel was used to transport your food to you.
• Cook from your own garden. It doesn't get any more local than that.
• Reduce the amount of meat that you eat. It's not only healthier, it's better for the planet.
• Cut back on processed and packaged foods. You'll have less trash to throw in the landfills, and be eating foods that took less energy to make. The health benefits are nice, too.
• Capture and reuse water. When you drain pasta or vegetables, save the water to use on plants. Why wash all those nutrients down the drain when they can be making things grow?
• Cook on top of the stove instead of the oven whenever you can. When you use the oven, you're heating up lots of empty space. Concentrated heat from your stovetop burners is more efficient.
• Use a smaller oven for the reason given above.
• Invest in a good set of hand cooking tools. An egg beater does a good job of mixing batter using people power. A sharp knife can chop foods finely enough for most uses. Why use electricity when elbow grease costs nothing?
• Turn off the water when you're not actually using it.
• Get everything you need out of the refrigerator at once to avoid opening the door too often. Every time you open the refrigerator door, you let the cold out and the fridge has to cool the heated air back down.
• Add your vegetable peelings, pasta water and food scraps to a compost heap instead of the trash.
• Only run the dishwasher when it's full.

It doesn't take a lot to cut down on your energy use when you're preparing a meal - but the difference in your energy consumption can really add up over time.