Dreaming of a green Christmas: food
Today we’re looking at ways you can green your Christmas meals with your family and friends. Food is an area where we can make a big difference with our choices, and I think it’s pretty easy compared to greening your gifts or decorations.
When it comes to feeding your family and friends, you can use the same guidelines that you would to make your own meals more eco-friendly. I’ve written about these 6 ways to choose eco-friendly food before in detail, but the basics are:
- choose local, organic and fair-trade food that’s in season for where you live
- avoid overly-packaged or over-processed food
- try to make your own if possible
When you’re shopping for your Christmas meal, choose food that meets as many of those guidelines as possible. You could also try serving your guests organic wine, local beer from micro-breweries, fair-trade teas and coffees and chocolates.
Luckily, most Aussies have ditched the full roast meal in favour of BBQs, seafood and more relaxed options. This is better for the environment because you’re not running a hot oven for hours at a time. And it’s nicer for you to be able to spend time with your guests instead of being stuck in the kitchen. On the other hand, Aussies can waste a fair bit of energy by giving our fridges a workout - a hot Christmas day can be a very thirsty way to socialise! Ask your guests to bring eskies with ice to keep their drinks cold, instead of overloading your fridge or running a second one.
Another way to reduce your environmental impact is to use your own dishes instead of plastic, disposable plates. However, if you’ve got a lot of guests (or are on strict water restrictions!), this can just lead to a lot of stress as you wash a mountain of dishes. If that’s the case, then give biodegradable plates and cutlery a go: a few eco-shops like Todae and Biome are stocking them now. They break down much faster in landfill, or you can put them in your compost bin. This year I’ll be feeding Christmas lunch to 10 adults and 6 children, so I’m going to try the biodegradable plates - I’ll let you know how they work out 
This is the last of my series on making your Christmas more eco-friendly. Previous articles were on coming up with a plan, decorations, cards and wrappings, choosing gifts,
and gift ideas. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and it’s been useful - if you’ve got any tips or advice to share, please feel free to leave a comment, or ask a question.