This week for dinner: Eat Well, Heal the Planet 2023 Edition!

For years I’ve made New Year’s resolutions that associate the food we eat and/or how we cook with positive environmental changes. And then I started working for The Man, which was great (I love a good 9-to-5 life, actually…can you imagine), but also put the blog (and sometimes cooking) on ​​the back burner has. But that focus on the environment had an impact on my kids (yay!) and now they’re calling me about my negligence. My girls and I were talking this weekend and decided we needed to get back on track.

We took a minute to look back on our past resolutions and decided to focus on the following for 2023:

For several years we have focused on eating less meat and more plant-based foods. It went pretty well! And then I just didn’t make it a priority anymore. But this graphic keeps popping up in my head:

This shows so clearly the impact that pig and cow food products have on CO2 emissions, it’s quite startling. The girls and I decided to refocus on those three middle columns, which should be difficult since we’ve done this before!

This one is tough. I have to say that our previous efforts have not been in vain… we are definitely using less paper towels and plastic products than before and I think we still are pretty good at it. But I admit I’ve gotten lazy in the last few years. It’s time to be more disciplined again! Like remembering reusable bags in the back of the car for grocery shopping (thank you COVID-19 for breaking that good habit). Only use paper towels for grease cleaning. Eat out less. Resist the urge to pull out the plastic wrap.

Here we go! Back on the wagon!

If you have made similar resolutions, please share them! If you would like to travel with us, please do so! If you have any tips or favorite products that helped with any of the above, please post them in the comments! Here’s one small change at a time that’s making a difference.