Ease Rating: Easy
Carbon Emission Savings: N/A
5 - ~80% target progress (2,000+ kg CO2e)
4 - ~60% (1,000 - 2,000 kg CO2e)
3 - ~20% (500 - 1,000 kg CO2e)
2 - ~10% (100 - 500 kg CO2e)
1 - <10% (<100 kg CO2e)
0 - <1% (<30 kg CO2e)
No. of People Influenced Beyond You: hundreds of people
Amount of Savings: $
Impacts: 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cultural Shift
Categories: Food
Description
It is quite nice to have a warm holiday meal with family and friends. Consider trying fun new dishes to bring to the table that are better for you and the planet. It is a nice way to create new tasty traditions.
We tend to create a lot of extra food waste over the holidays and a lot of that impact comes from the amount of meat we consume. In short, reducing the amount of animals we consume makes our diet more sustainable, reduces agricultural land-use emissions, and help us live longer.
Improve your holiday meals this year by preparing less meat and by making more plant-based dishes to bring new life to the festivities.
Tips
• Hasselback butternut squash or roasted butternut squash• Roasted cauliflower steaks
• Cauliflower wings with dipping sauces
• Mushroom and spinach bread pudding
• Quinoa-stuffed acorn squash with cranberries
• Veggie tarts
• Garden keepers pie (veg shepherds pie)
• Mashed parsnips
• Caramelized carrots Not ready to give up your holiday meats completely? Here are some ideas on how to reduce the impact.
• Purchase meat from local farmers. This can cut emissions generated by meat by five percent.
• Rather than purchasing a whole animal portion, buy a smaller cut of meat, a crown, or a roast. Buying smaller quantities of food will lead to less waste and also cut down on your cooking time.
• Go with less resource-intensive meats like turkey and chicken rather than cows or pigs.