Eating More Sustainably Doesn't Need To Be A Chore!

It pretty much goes without saying that everyone wants to do everything that they can in order to avoid having too much of a negative impact on the environment. Sustainability has become more and more of an issue in many people's lives over the last few years, and there are few places where people could stand to become more sustainable than their diet. The problem is that a lot of people assume that a sustainable diet that reduces their impact on the environment is going to take a lot of hard work and take away all of the things that made meals so enjoyable. In reality, this couldn't be further from the truth. Here are just a few ways that you can create a more sustainable diet for yourself and your family without it having to become a total chore.

1. Go organic.

This is one of the most obvious things that you can do, and it's actually pretty likely that it's something that you're already doing. If it's not something that you general consider too much then think about making a push to eat organic food as often as possible. Not only does eating organic have a lot of environmental benefits, since organic farming is almost always more sustainable than other kinds, but it also has a lot of health benefits too!

2. Reduce the amount of meat in your diet

Don't worry; this isn't going to turn into some kind of rant over why everyone should become vegetarian or vegan. But it is important to understand just how much of an environmental impact the meat industry actually has. The meat industry actually produces for CO2 emissions that the automotive industry! If you are going to eat meat, then make sure that it's grass-fed and free-range. The very best thing to do is to make sure that you're buying meat from small, local farmers who often have a far lower carbon footprint that large farming companies.

3. Reduce Waste

Image from Flickr

The amount of waste that comes along with the food that many of us buy is, quite frankly, ridiculous! Try to buy foods with less packaging and to re-use packaging as often as you can. Not only that but try to make as many things at home as you can. Buying stuff from a store might seem convenient but many of the snacks and foods that you buy pre-made come with a pretty significant carbon footprint.

4. Eat seasonally

Because of large supermarkets, people are often used to being able to get whatever fruit and vegetables that they want all year round. But if you're buying them outside of the right seasons then there's a pretty good chance that you're buying them from another country entirely, obviously, this comes with a lot of travel and potential carbon emissions. Not only is it more sustainable but eating seasonally encourages you to get creative with your meals. This is a fantastic way to avoid making the same things over and over again. Blogs like Tasteful Space are fantastic for helping you come up with interesting new recipes using interesting ingredients. By doing this, you'll not only help the planet, but you might even discover a new favorite food!

5. Ditch the bottled water

Image from Pixabay

Bottled water has to be one of the biggest cons in the world. Somehow millions of people have been duped into buying water that comes with huge amounts of wasteful packaging and a lot of travel costs when the entire time the exact same stuff has been coming out of their taps for free! Don't believe the myths that bottled water companies try to peddle. In blind tests, no one can tell the difference!