How to Be a Conscious Eater

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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