In the United States, over 30% of food produced goes to waste. Making that wasted food each year produces as much greenhouse gas emissions as come from 42 coal-fired power plants and uses as much energy and water as could supply 50 million households.

Some of the food waste occurs during transport, processing, and retail, but consumers also contribute to the problem by buying more food than they actually use. An average American four-person household spends over $1800 per year on food that doesn't get eaten.

I offer catalogue items and meals in reasonably sized portions so you can buy just what you need. If you have extras of anything, you can freeze it and then reheat it whenever you want. I also compost all food scraps from my cooking, which then become soil that nourishes new plants.

We've been taught as a society that single-use plastic is okay because you can recycle it, but the truth is, recycling plastic is very difficult, and most companies don't consider it worth the money. Only 9% of the plastic that Americans throw away actually gets recycled.

The rest of the plastic we use goes into landfills, oceans, and eventually every part of our environment. Microplastics are already inside all our bodies, having effects we don't yet understand.

So what do we do about it? Remember that Recycle is the third of the Three Rs: the last resort. Reduce comes first, and you can do that by buying products that don't come in plastic packaging. Then comes Reuse, which you can do with any and all containers that you do buy. I buy as many of my ingredients as possible in bulk, using my own jars, bins, and bags, then offer products to you in reused, reusable containers.

Global food production contributes about one third of the world's greenhouse gases every year. Tens of millions of people in the United States are food insecure, and as the world's population grows, it will get harder and harder to feed everyone. At least, it will if we keep doing things the way we are now.

There are lots of statistics about how much less water, land and fossil fuels are required to grow food crops than to raise livestock, but the simplest and most compelling number for me is one I learned in my freshman biology class: every time you go up one step in the food chain, you only get 10% of the energy from the previous level. That means if you grow 10 units of a plant and feed it to an animal and then eat that animal, you used a lot of time, energy, and space you didn't need to, because you could've gotten the same number of calories from just eating 1 unit of the plant.

There is an incredible variety of amazing foods that can be made from plants, including many that have comparable nutrients, flavors, and eating experiences to animal products. Mainstream Western culture has been meat- and dairy-centered for so long that many people can't imagine anything replacing those foods. But in fact, there are many great alternatives: both ancient techniques that are gradually becoming more widely recognized and new technological developments that are becoming cheaper and easier to use.

Lots of the lifestyle changes we're encouraged to make in order to reduce our environmental impact can feel like chores, but food should always be a source of happiness and relaxation. I love sharing good food, and I want everyone to realize how delicious and enjoyable environmentally conscious eating can be.