I am a person that likes a challenge. This year, for Thanksgiving, my sister and I decided to get as close as possible to having a no-waste meal (i.e. buying fresh produce from a local Co-Op and using as little pre-packaged food as we could). A daunting task, but if you think about how much tinfoil, paper goods, styrofoam and leftover food are thrown away, to spend many, many years in a landfill, it’s not as inconvenient as you initially think. The average US family wastes $600+ worth of food annually, and that doesn’t include holidays.
On the way to our parents this past week, we decided to document the amount of food we made and compare it to the amount of packaged waste we had. The prepping and cooking were the hardest parts. But the culmination of thought and preparation when the meal hit the table made it all the more special. The results are pretty awesome. As seen here:
Feast and packaging pre-recycle.
So, after a long day of chopping, cooking, eating, and cleaning up, I felt really good about the small amount of waste, which was all recyclable, and the money we saved by buying local and organic. Next year I am going to attempt a NO WASTE Thanksgiving. Despite the traditional waste-ridden thanksgiving, you can easily accomplish an eco-friendly thanksgiving by attempting to reduce waste and save money in the process. Or not…
For a sustainable Thanksgiving reference:
http://coolfoodscampaign.org/thanksgiving/ten-cool-thanksgiving-tips/
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