The Green Home Makeover, Part 1

An Audit for Your Pantry or Cupboard

© Shirley Siluk Gregory

Nov 24, 2006

Creating a green home means examining every aspect of your living environment, from the appliances you use to the food you cook to the supplies you clean house with. While it might seem like a daunting task, you can make your green home makeover easier by breaking the job into smaller, more manageable chunks.

Let's start small, with a green audit of your pantry or food cupboard. Following are two lists to consider, one of things you should try to eliminate from your food stocks, the other of items you should try to add:

Things to weed out:

• Refined flour and refined flour products (Whole-grain products are more healthful.)
• Refined sugar (The sugar industry contributes to environmental degradation.)
• Products with high-fructose corn syrup (High-fructose corn syrup is a product of heavily subsidized, industrial farming that places small farmers at a disadvantage and creates environmental harm.)
• GMO (genetically modified organism) foods (The potential impact of GMO foods on both human health and the environment is not yet fully understood; instead, stock your pantry with organics, because USDA organic standards prohibit genetically modified foods.)
• Highly processed foods (Processed foods are resource-intensive and less healthful than unprocessed foods.)
• Junk foods (Whole foods are more healthful, and generate less waste.)
• Heavily packaged foods (Packaging consumes resources and produces needless waste.)
• Foods unnecessarily shipped long distances (By choosing regional alternatives, you reduce the need for long-haul trucking and fossil-fuel consumption.)

Things to add:

• Organic food items (Concentrate on whole foods like canned tomatoes, beans, peas, etc.) (Better yet, if you know how to can your own produce, stock your pantry with home-canned fruits and vegetables from a local farm or farmer's market.)
• Whole-wheat flour and whole grains
• Local honey, molasses or organic maple syrup (All are better choices than refined sugar for sweetening.)
• Organic herbs and spices (Better yet, grow and dry your own herbs, or keep a home herb garden for fresh flavor whenever you need it.)
• Bulk dried beans and healthy soup mixes, lentils and home-blended cooking/baking mixes

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