By: Anna Parry, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Student
Who doesn’t love homemade baked goods? Regardless if you’re a seasoned baker, or just dipping your toes into baking, there are several ways to incorporate sustainability into the kitchen.
- Buy local, organic, or fair-trade ingredients
- You can help lower your own carbon footprint by putting a little more thought into where your food is coming from. Try to find a farmer’s market or local, small grocery. Local ingredients are often fresher and help support the local community. If you can’t find what you need locally, look for fair-trade certified items. Fair-trade products are made with specific environmental and economic standards. The fair-trade certification also ensures that people creating the products are paid fairly and work in safer conditions.
- Bake from scratch
- Boxed mixes are convenient, but consider the packaging and production that goes into them. A more sustainable option is to buy ingredients in bulk and bake from scratch! Also, this can be much more fun and allow you to develop new skills and try a much wider variety of recipes. It is so rewarding to create something from your own ingredients and by your own hand, and it can taste even better!
- Use your leftovers
- Pounds and pounds of food are wasted each year. While CSU has its own composting system and encourages students to compost any food waste, you likely don’t have access to the same resources at home. Most often, uneaten food goes straight to the landfills. So, after creating a delicious meal, don’t let it go to waste! You can eat your leftovers another night, freeze them for the future, or even repurpose them into a completely new meal another day!
