Whether you’re a meat eater or not, your Christmas needn’t be CO2hristmas.

The UN has recommended we all eat less meat to help reduce global warming, and some say that the single most effective thing an individual can do to slash their personal carbon footprint is become a vegetarian or a vegan. For the details on why this is the case, you can check out this page on the Vegetarian Society website.

But if an entirely vegetarian diet is not something you’re prepared to consider, there are still many ways to reduce your carbon "cookprint" for Christmas Day and beyond.

1. Eat less meat.
2. Buy organic meat*.
3. Buy local meat.
4. Make sure the veggies you buy to eat with the meat are seasonal, local and / or organic.
5. If you’re using the oven, try to coordinate so that you cook several things at once to make the most of the electricity / gas.
6. Turn off hot plates earlier than usual and let the contents of your pots continue to cook on the residual heat.

* In order to approve meat as organic, the Soil Association

# prohibits animal cruelty and insists on a truly free-range life for farm animals
# disallows the routine use of drugs, antibiotics and wormers – instead the farmer will use preventative methods, like moving animals to fresh pasture and keeping smaller herd size
# has banned the production and use of GM in animal feed

Organic meat can often be ordered from the same producer that supplies your veg box, or from your local farmers’ market. You can use the Ooffoo search function (type in "meat") to find ethical suppliers, and you can order online from Riverford.

If you’re considering your first ever entirely vegetarian Christmas Day (and if you are, we’d love to hear from you), help is at hand.

Here on Ooffoo there are over THIRTY pages of recipes for you to browse for inspiration, many of which have been supplied by us at VegBox Recipes, or by the Vegetarian Society, or else have been shared by our accomplished community members.

We have chosen six to tantalise the taste-buds:

Crunchy Mushroom Pilaff
Filling Parsnip and Butterbean Risotto
Vegetable Tagine
Root Veg and Bean Ragout
Root Veg Crumble with a Cheesy Topping
Juicy Nut Roast

If you’re an experienced cooker of vegetarian Christmas dinners, please do share your menu ideas with us here using the comments box, or by adding detailed recipes in your own articles.

Categories: recipes, seasonal eating

Tags: christmas eco tips, organic meat

RSS 2.0 Comment feed