With an emphasis on convenience, commercial food manufacturers provide several low-cost items to feed the world. Fast food restaurants, convenience stores and supercenters are abundant in every city in the country. Access to food is less challenging to average consumers, but wide access often comes at a heavy price. Food production and packaging is a global industry that has a massive impact on the environment. You can learn how to select environmentally friendly food in these passages.

Avoid Imported Food

Global trade networks allow consumers to sample cuisine from all over the world, and some items can only be grown or produced in specific locations. Limiting your purchases of imported food can reduce your carbon footprint and support domestic producers. Try to buy vegetables, fruit and meats that are grown or processed in the United States. For items like coffee beans that can only be grown in other countries, you can research the company online to see if their production methods are eco-friendly.

If you’re in love with imported cheese from Italy or France, you can switch over to a domestic brand that uses similar aging and processing techniques. When you support domestic growers and suppliers, the food you consume requires less energy to reach your home. Domestic suppliers are also more forthcoming about nutritional information. If you have a gluten allergy, you may not know what has gluten in it from a foreign food package.

Support Your Local Farmers

Eating local produce benefits the people in the community, improves your dietary health and minimizes your impact on the environment. If you live in the east and shop at a big-name grocery store, most of your produce is transported from the west coast. Transporting food for long distances depletes fossil fuels and adds more pollutants to the atmosphere. Visit a farmers market once a week for your fruit and vegetables and try to limit your purchases of mail-order meals. Although meal subscription services are convenient and often delicious, the ingredients are sourced from multiple locations and shipped by air to your home.

Plant a Garden or Support a Community Garden

You can lower your environmental impact even further by planting a garden in your backyard. Instead of filling up your tank and driving to the grocery store or market, you can walk a few yards to your garden and gather your groceries. Plant the herbs, fruit and vegetables that your family eats the most and share what you can with your neighbors to encourage them to eat locally. Depending on the dimensions of your property, you may have problems creating a traditional garden with straight rows of crops.

Constructing a container garden is an excellent way to produce healthy yields with limited space. You can use vertical gardening techniques to grow plants along a fence, beside an exterior wall near the patio, or even on your roof. For instance, you can use an old wooden pallet to grow cucumbers, tomatoes, strawberries and onions against a brick wall. All you have to do is staple landscape cloth around the pallet and fill the spaces with potting soil.

When a home garden isn’t a feasible option, you can join a community garden. Community gardens provide produce for their members and often donate large portions of the harvest to homeless shelters and food banks. Gardening with a large group improves your skills and helps you meet new friends who share your eco-friendly approach to food production.

Eliminate Single-Serving Meals

Pre-wrapped, single-serving meals have become a primary threat to the planet’s health. Transporting the items to several countries around the world takes a toll on air quality and marine life. Recently, marine scientists have discovered remnants of plastic wrappers in the digestive systems of fish and other sea life. When you avoid single-serving meals, you’re supporting the health of the oceans and the atmosphere.

Purchasing eco-friendly food benefits your health and supports the environment. By adopting some of the previous suggestions, you can do your part in maintaining a healthy planet.