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Reduce takeout meals to once a week or less

Why This is Green

The National Restaurant Association states nearly a third of adults say takeout food is essential to the way they live. And a survey by the Institute of Food Technologists shows that while 75 percent of Americans eat dinner at home, half of those meals are fast food, delivery, or takeout. Fewer than a third cook dinner from scratch.

Reducing how often you rely on takeout is a good green idea. It’s the rare restaurant delivering takeout made from carefully sourced ingredients—local, organic, free of hormones, antibiotics, and pesticide residues, and trans fats. When you make your own food, you control what’s in it. This is healthiest for you, your farmers, and the earth we all share.

Then there’s the waste. According to CleanAir.org, the U.S. population tosses out enough paper bags, plastic cups, forks, and spoons every year to circle the equator 300 times. Many (often nonrenewable) resources go into making these, we use them for mere moments, and then they clog our landfills for hundreds of years. And questionable chemicals in these one-use items get into your dinner; some of the grease-repellant coatings used in pizza boxes contain PFOA, a likely human carcinogen.

Make your own meals instead of ordering takeout. If you prefer not to daily, try for once a week, then build up. Bonus: you’ll save money.

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How To

To cook, you must grocery shop. Check out farmers’ markets and natural food stores near you. Make large batches so you can have takeout-esque leftovers to reheat the following evening.