{"id":683,"date":"2018-10-27T14:23:54","date_gmt":"2018-10-27T13:23:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/?p=683"},"modified":"2026-03-26T11:41:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T11:41:26","slug":"eco-home-be-food-wise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/2018\/10\/27\/eco-home-be-food-wise\/","title":{"rendered":"Eco Home: be Food Wise"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"et_pb_section_0 et_pb_section et_section_regular et_block_section\"><div class=\"et_pb_row_0 et_pb_row et_block_row\"><div class=\"et_pb_column_0 et_pb_column et_pb_column_4_4 et-last-child et_block_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_0 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_block_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p>There are a lot of misconceptions about living an eco-friendly lifestyle, particularly the idea that it\u2019s expensive, inconvenient, and requires a full head of dreadlocks.<\/p>\n<p>But in reality,\u00a0<strong>it\u00a0<em>is<\/em>\u00a0easy being green\u2014giving the planet a helping hand is just a matter of making one simple change at a time<\/strong>. And there's a big bonus: these small lifestyle changes can often save you money, too!<\/p>\n<h4>1. Use cloth napkins<\/h4>\n<p>Not only are they more durable, but ditching disposable napkins will also\u00a0save\u00a0 money\u00a0over the years. It\u2019ll also\u00a0reduce your waste output,\u00a0which means\u00a0less energy is used transporting waste to landfill. Using recyclable paper napkins is\u00a0<em>good<\/em>\u00a0for the planet, but it\u2019s even\u00a0<em>better<\/em>\u00a0to not have anything to recycle in the first place.<\/p>\n<h4>2. Cook from scratch<\/h4>\n<p>Although what you eat is usually\u00a0more important\u00a0than how it\u2019s cooked, eating food that\u2019s been processed in distant industrial kitchens, wrapped up in plastic and cardboard packaging, and trucked to your local supermarket eats up\u00a0<em>a<\/em>\u00a0<em>lot<\/em>\u00a0of energy.<\/p>\n<h4>3. Cook with residual heat<\/h4>\n<p>Turning off the oven five minutes before the meal is ready will allow the food to\u00a0continue cooking\u00a0while also saving some energy. It\u2019s even easier\u00a0with pasta: Once the pot\u2019s been boiling for five minutes, cover the pot, switch off the stove, and let it sit for five more minutes.<\/p>\n<h4>4. Eat less meat<\/h4>\n<p>Meat isn\u2019t cheap, and it\u2019s not great for the natural world, either. Learning to cook a few choice vegetarian meals will save money, add variety to your palate, and give the planet a helping hand.<\/p>\n<h4>5. Grow your own food<\/h4>\n<p>Cherry tomatoes, salad greens, and green beans are\u00a0the best foods to grow\u00a0if\u00a0saving money\u00a0is the goal. For those of us who don\u2019t have a garden, simply growing herbs on a windowsill can\u00a0save hundreds\u00a0in the long run.<\/p>\n<h4>6. Start a compost pile<\/h4>\n<p>A compost heap\u00a0will save money on fertilisers, maintain soil health, and keep all those food scraps from rotting in a dump and releasing greenhouse gases\u00a0into the atmosphere. It takes up to\u00a018 years\u00a0for a corn cob to decompose in a landfill, but only a couple of months in a compost pile.<\/p>\n<h4>7. Ditch disposable bowls...<\/h4>\n<p>\u2026 and the plates, and knives, and forks. While the temptation of having nothing to wash up after a meal is hard to resist, increasing the pile of waste left after dinner is no way to help the planet. The less you throw away, the less you spend. More great tips from: <a href=\"https:\/\/greatist.com\/happiness\/eco-friendly-tips-save-cash\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/greatist.com\/happiness\/eco-friendly-tips-save-cash<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1549,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economic-sustainability","category-environmental-sustainability"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13719,"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683\/revisions\/13719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}