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Supper clubs are tons of fun. It's a way to kick back, often times in the middle of the week when you need a break, and more importantly to gab with the girls (or guys). You could also do this with your book club, but the fact of the matter is that we just like to chat and catch up. Although eating at home with friends is always easier on the planet than going out, there are a number of steps that you can take to further lessen the group's environmental impact. Challenge friends to take steps to green supper club, it will improve the quality of the meals and give Mother Nature a break.
Greener Supper Club Food:
1. Spotlight a seasonal ingredient.
Choose a simple ingredient, found easily at the farmers' market, to make the feature of the show. Have all your friends prepare it in one of their dishes. For instance you could pick strawberries and utilize them in a thousand different ways like my pork tenderloin with a spicy strawberry sauce or my strawberry coffee cake.
2. Make a greener girly cocktail.
Try this recipe for a Lemon Drop cocktail at your next supper club and learn all you need to know about green drinks with our How to Go Green: Cocktails guide. You could also make sure you sip on biodynamic and organic wines while you're gabbing away.
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| YinYang/istockphoto |
3. Enact the five ingredient rule.
If a recipe has a ton of ingredients, it's likely that at least some of the ingredients traveled a long way to get to you. Have supper club members make simple recipes made with locally grown goodness instead of super complicated recipes made with tons of expensive ingredients that just aren't necessary. A good guideline is the five ingredient rule: no recipe can be made with more than five ingredients and those ingredients should be, at least, regionally grown.
4. Choose meals that are easy to eat with a fork.
Instead of setting up a fancy table with a knife, fork, spoon, placemat, napkins, etc, make the dinner a buffet style dinner, instead of seated, featuring meals that are easy to eat with a fork. Obviously, it's most important to use reusable dishes, linens, and silverware but why not take it a step further by reducing what needs to be cleaned? You'll save tons of water by using just a fork, plate, and napkin instead of all the other accessories.
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| Steven Miric/istockphoto |
5. Make it vegetarian.
Even by making your supper club partly vegetarian, you'll be decreasing the meal's carbon footprint dramatically. Seriously, beef alone has 13,300 grams of carbon dioxide emissions per kilogram of food. In addition, livestock production accounts for 55 percent of the erosion process, 37 percent of pesticides applied, 50 percent of antibiotics consumed, and a third of total discharged nitrogen and phosphorus into surface water. Check out our vegetarian recipes and vegetable-based recipes.
6. Offer organic coffee and chocolate for dessert.
Serve your guests the good stuff, dark and delicious organic chocolate. To accompany your coffee, don't forget to serve organic cream, organic GMO-free soymilk and fair-trade, organic sugar. How about Nicaraguan Coffee & Deep Dish Apple Pie?
7. Insist on sustainable seafood.
Serving seafood at your event? Make sure it is sustainably caught. Download a wallet-sized list of what is available in your area from the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Sustainable Seafood program.
Greener Supper Club Logistics and Theme Ideas:
8. Pick a few friends to contribute to the potluck and alternate.
If everyone brings food, there will be way too much. Supper clubs and potlucks always produce so much waste because people bring way too much food. So choose a few people to contribute and then switch for the next time.
9. Make it a slow cooker party.
The slow cooker uses less energy than most any other kitchen appliance. You can set it in the morning and your foods are ready when it's time to go to the party. Challenge your friends to only bring recipes made with the slow cooker. You could even call it a "slow cooker club". Or bring raw foods like salads, crudités, or a cold soup that don't use any energy to make.
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| Donald Erickson/istockphoto |
10. Pick a designated driver.
If you're all heading to the same place, there's just no reason for everyone to drive, it's a huge waste of gas. Even better, if you're not driving you can enjoy that extra glass of biodynamic wine because your designated driver will be taking you home. Alternate who drives every week.
11. Make your supper club for a good cause.
Pick an environmental cause that's close to your heart and each week have each guest bring a small donation instead of a hostess gift. Most guests are likely to spend around $10 on a hostess gift whether it's a bottle of wine or a gourmet food stuff, so instead tell guests to skip the gifts and put that money toward an environmental cause. Our NGO Partners will gladly take your supper club's money!
12. Make your party bloom without cut flowers using greener tablescapes.
For the industry as a whole 79 percent of cut flowers come from Ecuador or Columbia and are grown with 12 different pesticides. It's no secret that these pesticides are getting workers sick and polluting our ground water. And these flowers are pricey. Read my tips for making your own beautiful tablescapes without all the cut flowers.
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| Pattie Calfy/istockphoto |
13. Clean up with cold water.
When washing dishtowels, dishcloths, hand towels, napkins, and tablecloths, after your party, run the washing machine on the cold water cycle. This will reduce the amount of energy needed to heat hot water cycles.
Are you an eco-friendly eater? Find out with our eco-friendly food quiz!
More on a Greener Dinner Party:
Throw A Dinner Party: Planning and Organization
How to Go Green: Dinner Parties
Top Green Dinner Party Tips
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