Practical Tips for Sustainable Meal Planning and Storage

Practical Tips for Sustainable Meal Planning and Storage

Over the years, sustainable meal planning has become all the buzz, with many adopting it as a part of their lifestyle. But, what does it mean to plan and prepare sustainable meals?

When it comes to sustainable meal planning, you can make a big impact on the health of our planet with a few simple steps. Not only can you reduce food waste and save money, but you can also enjoy delicious meals that are good for you and the environment.

With a little creativity and some helpful tips, you can embark on a sustainable culinary journey that benefits both you and the planet. In our guest article this week, let’s discover how you can create meals that nourish your body while also being eco friendly.

Plan Your Meals

This is the first thing on the list in making your meal prep smoother. If you have a solid meal plan, you have taken all the guesswork out of grocery shopping, and you will not buy food you do not need. You will also waste less food when you buy only what you really need.

Even if you end up having more food than required, you could store it all for future tuck-ins, which can help prevent wastage.

Eat Local

In America it is estimated that food travels an average of 1500 to 2500 miles from farm to table. This system uses massive amounts of energy and often involves picking food before it is ripe or treated with chemicals to keep it from spoiling. In particular look out for the Apeel label on produce.

Try and purchase food that is available locally. Visit your local farmer’s market or choose food that is produced in your area.

Say you are hosting a party, look for sustainable caterers to serve your guests. You can check to see if the caterers use local vendors and sustainably sourced ingredients. Not only will you be efficient and green about your choice, but you’ll also be setting a good example that your guests will be inspired to follow.

Skip Ziplocks

Before you grab a ziplock or use plastic wrap to store your food, take a second to analyse your actions. Many single-use items cannot be recycled, and certain types of plastic bags are one of them. Bags with food residue in them can also not be recycled.

Instead of ziplock bags use reusable containers or try using honeywraps instead to wrap sandwiches and the like. For larger items when shopping take your own bags and produce bags. Once you are home, you can store these food items in glass jars or containers with silicone suction lids, as they are airtight and keep your food fresh for a long time.

Stop Buying Plastic Tupperware for Storage

We have all grown up with Tupperware boxes, widely used for storing leftover food. Some of these containers got stained from the sauce, some had no lid, and some had lids but no bowls, which was a disaster.

However, we now know that plastic containers contain chemicals that can reach your food. This is especially true when you microwave these containers, because when the temperature changes, the effect is worse. Even though containers are now labelled as BPA-free, it does not mean they are completely safe.

Try switching to glass or stainless steel containers which prolong your food’s freshness and keep you safe. As a commercial kitchen, you can switch to more green and efficient storage solutions too to maintain the quality and nutritional value of your stock for an extended period of time.

Stock Up Your Pantry

Still trying to plan how and what to prep for breakfast, lunch and dinner? You should get up from your computer and take a look into your pantry before you get too far down the Pinterest rabbit hole of recipes.

In addition to saving money by using what you have on hand, this strategy also helps cut down on food waste. Can you make a quick carbonara using the remaining half of the box of pasta for Tuesday night’s dinner? Maybe you can have a healthy lunch, thanks to ingredients you already have in the fridge.

Practical tips in the kitchen become more handy and convenient not only as an individual but also for the food industry in general. So if you are a part of this, be a sustainable caterer and restaurateur to avoid food waste in your kitchen.

Plan on Varying your Meal Schedule

Truth be told, thinking of enough food for a dozen people in one fell swoop can be challenging. The age-old question of “What’s for dinner?” can finally be answered with the help of a meal rotation plan.

Some well-known examples of themed meal planning are ‘Meatless Mondays’ and ‘Taco Tuesdays’, but you can take the idea further by assigning a different theme to each day of the week (or even just each night’s dinner). Do you need Fish Fridays or Swedish Saturdays to fill out your schedule? In other words, experiment, get creative and make it fun for everyone.

Create a Shopping List

Now that you have a meal plan, you can create a shopping list. You know how much of each component you’ll need. Get a screenshot of your shopping list before you leave the house to find the items you need quickly. You can buy in bulk or order online to avoid going to the grocery store again or even buy it during the sale to grab the best deals.

Streamline your shopping list to accommodate bulk buying, this works particularly well if you join a co-op or share bulk shopping with neighbours.

Schedule a Day to Prepare Meals

Now that you have your weekly food supplies, pick a day to prepare your meals. For example, Saturdays and Sundays can be allocated as meal prep days. Occasionally, you can shop on Saturday and save Sunday for supper preparation
and stock it all up in your fridge.

Consistency is key. It may take some time to form the habit of planning and preparing meals in advance. But, once you commit to setting aside time over the weekend, it will automatically become a part of your routine.

Buy Sustainable Storage Containers and Appliances

When it comes to saving time while cooking, everyone enjoys using shortcuts. To further speed this up, having proper appliances is essential. Take your pick from a wide range of kitchen tools available to become a culinary ninja.

Consider using a range of appliances at once to save time. It’s common to have the slow cooker do its thing while the oven bakes and the food processor chops. Makes the job easier, doesn’t it?

Besides, you also need to consider your storage options. You wouldn’t want to go through the trouble of preparing meals to find that you had nowhere to put them. A well-planned kitchen design is a great way to maintain order in your kitchen. It will save you a lot of time too.

Get Ideas from Creative Meal Planners

It’s easy to lose motivation for meal preparation, especially during hectic weeks. You can follow select social media accounts dedicated to food prep to maintain momentum and find inspiration. You will discover a wealth of information and support you were unaware of.

Settle on a few handful of accounts that you relate to and simply stick to those. Since there are so many people out there, you need to be really picky to avoid confusion and make your life simpler.

On a bigger scale, we’d recommend following renowned chefs and the practices they follow to be more sustainable in their approach.

Do It With a Buddy or Your Family

An extra set of hands in the kitchen can speed up the cooking process, not to mention, it can be a fun way to spend time with loved ones. Studies have found that meals cooked together strengthen bonds between family members. Moreover, your loved ones will also begin to understand the importance of food safety and sustainability.

Everyone in the family will feel more invested in the meal if they help prepare it; it is the Ikea effect! Individuals reported more satisfaction with the meals they cooked themselves. Next time, hand your child, spouse, lover, or friend an apron and get chopping and dicing!

Lower Food Waste In Your Kitchen

Even with careful planning it’s likely you’ll have some food waste. Having a compost system at home is a great advantage, compost is fantastic for the garden. There are several different composting options, check out this article, Compsosting With Hayley.

If you don’t have the space for composting at home you can use the food waste bins that have been delivered to homes throughout Auckland and are collected by the council. Or you can collect your food waste and drop off to a local facility.

Many adopt a sustainable approach towards building their homes, so why not take it up a notch and make it a part of your day-to-day life? Sustainable kitchen interior design, for instance, uses materials designed to minimise negative effects while maximising positive impacts on the environment. In a commercial setting, kitchen remodelling and renovation are done specifically to reduce wastage when handling food.

Be Real with Your Social Life

While it’s nice to fantasise about the health benefits of planning your meals down to the last carrot stick, reality calls for a more pragmatic approach. Your social life will necessitate some deviation from the 21 meals a week that you’ve meticulously planned out in your colour-coded spreadsheet.

Most people work best with considerable leeway in their weekly planning. This could take the form of leaving some meals unplanned or planning meals that can be carried over to the next week. This way, you can leave some room in your budget for an impromptu lunch with a pal or a happy hour that turns into dinner.

To Sum Up

Creating a meal prep plan you can stick to is a game-changer. Not only does meal prep keep you focused on your health goals it also helps prepare you to tackle whatever chaos comes your way throughout the week.

You should adopt a system that is sustainable for you and is tailored to your lifestyle, goals and diet.The name of the game is efficiency with minimum wastage so adopt practices to make that happen!