Why Meal Kits Are A Great Solution For Sustainability

I had a teacher in the Seventh Grade named Mr. Jameson. Mr. Jameson talked about how upset he was to see students throwing out entire plates of food, while there were so many starving children in other countries. He made a good point, but should have also touched on the importance of not wasting food for sustainability purposes.

The Importance of Meal Kits for Helping the Environment

In the United States, no one is under the illusion that we make the most of our resources. Every day, we throw food away, whether leftovers from dinner three nights ago, or vegetables that went bad before we used them. But did you know that this waste accounts for 30% to 40% of our food supply?

Yes, we waste more than a third of all our food, amounting to 133 billion pounds or $161 billion every year. I’m sure every one of us can hear our mothers’ voices telling us about the starving people who would love to eat our leftovers, but we know that’s not how life works. While world hunger is not going to be eliminated by us reducing our food wastage, masses of resources are expended in sourcing this food and ultimately disposing of it.

In other words, the more food we waste, the more harm we do to our environment. We need to stop wasting food. The good news is that meal kit services make this task much easier.

What are meal kit services?

Meal kit delivery services are online companies that deliver your dinner ingredients to your door. Instead of having to prepare your meal from scratch, they provide everything prepped and ready for you to complete the simple cooking steps.

They save you time when you cook, and ultimately save you money you would have spent on takeout when cooking feels like too much of a chore. They’re nutritious and can be tailored to your preferences and dietary needs.

But how do they promote sustainability?

Portion sizes

When using meal kit delivery services, you are less likely to waste leftovers. Portions are perfectly designed to last one meal, according to how many people you are cooking for. If there are leftovers, they make for a good lunch the following day but won’t sit in your fridge for weeks before you throw them away.

Grocery waste

Beyond leftovers, meal kits lead to less wastage when shopping for groceries. It is incredibly difficult to determine just how much you need to shop for. While this is okay when it comes to preserved goods, perishables ultimately perish.

Instead of grocery shopping, meal kits provide the exact amount of food you need. You won’t be left with rotting veggies in your fridge because you won’t have bought them in the first place.

“Undesirables”

One of the most frustrating causes of food wastage is that we prefer to buy fruit and veg that is aesthetically pleasing. We want straight carrots, oval potatoes, perfectly round tomatoes, in spite of the fact that they taste no different.

None of us are immune to this bias. It is sometimes difficult to even consider buying the “undesirable” fruit or veg at the grocery store.

However, once these ingredients are chopped up, their original appearance no longer matters. And meal kit companies don’t need to be concerned about how the ingredients look at the outset. In fact, it is worthwhile for them to use the cheaper ingredients stores don’t stock based on appearance.

Meal kit delivery services can save you a lot of time and money, and they can also promote sustainability. Considering just how much food we waste, this is incredibly important in today’s world.

Meal Kits Are the Perfect Solution for Sustainability

If you are serious about helping the environment, then you need to make sure that you focus on sustainability. This includes planning meals carefully to avoid waste. Food waste is a huge part of our environmental problems.