Page 228 - How to Be a Conscious Eater - Making Food Choices That Are Good for You

choices. Part of the convenience you’re paying a premium for is
putting the ingredient decision-making in the hands of some-
one else.
WINNER: Planning and shopping
ROUND 4: MEAL KIT VS. RECIPES WHOSE LEFTOVER
INGREDIENTS GET WASTED
We all know the feeling. The moldy tub of sour cream that I
used one dollop of for Taco Tuesday, the three-year-old chili
powder collecting dust in my spice cabinet. Consider this the
environmental dark side of the above scenario. Part of the rea-
son this happens is that grocery items come in packages that
are larger than the amount we need. Translation: Not our fault.
There are ways around it, like loving the bulk aisle, but most
products aren’t available that way.
A study by the University of Michigan found that the total
carbon footprint of meal kits was way lower compared with
the same meal from ingredients purchased at a grocery store.
The biggest reason is that, as mentioned, reducing food waste
is the third most effective solution for reducing global warm-
ing. Packaging matters for environmental impact, to be sure,
but food waste matters more. In the study, the greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions for an average meal kit dinner were one-third
less than emissions from one made from store-bought ingredi-
ents. That’s a huge difference, and it especially adds up when
we’re talking about a habit as frequent as weeknight dinner.
The other part of the problem is that most of us just don’t
cook that often. On average, Americans spend the least
amount of time of any of the major developed countries eat-
ing. (We eat a lot of food, but we just eat it really fast.) We
also spend the least amount of time cooking. It’s one of the
great contradictions of the food movement—that for all our
apparently heightened interest in food (interest that’s a chief

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