10 Ways To GO GREEN for Christmas Dinner

The Blender Girl | December 22, 2011 | 0 Comments

Go Green For Christmas Dinner

Christmas is my favourite time of the year. It is a time for gratitude and celebration with family and friends. One of the most important ways we can be mindful during the holidays is by reducing our consumption and waste.

Very often, the “reason for the season” is lost amidst the sea of consumerism. Go green this Christmas season by making mindful choices when planning and enjoying the festivities.

I wish you all a joyful and safe holiday season. May you enjoy the loving embrace of family with some really delicious food!

Here are my top 10 ways to Go Green With Christmas Dinner this year:

Have a Vegetarian Christmas

Fill your festive table with meatless options, save a turkey in the process, and embrace a vegetarian Christmas. There are a ton of vegan and vegetarian holiday recipes on the internet. Enjoy some delicious exotic vegetable dishes and get creative!

Source Local Ingredients for Christmas Dinner

To reduce the carbon footprint of your Christmas celebration, support your local farmers and purchase foods grown as close to home as possible. If you shop at a farmer’s market you will get fresh good quality ingredients that are not transported or heavily packaged. LocalHarvest.Org is a fantastic resource for finding local food growers.

Try Organic Wine and Make Your Own Festive Drinks

Instead of purchasing imported wines, canned soda, cartons of eggnog, and bottled water to get your guests into the festive spirit, try some local organic wines, and make your own mocktails, cocktails, and festive drinks. There are a ton of amazing recipes on the internet. It is a lot of fun to make the drinks together. A fun idea is to invite each guest to bring a drink recipe of their choice! You can all fire up the blender together and guess what’s in the mix!

Say NO To Disposable Napkins, Plates, Cups and Flatware

I know entertaining large groups of family and friends can be overwhelming. It can be challenging finding enough silverware, dishes, and glasses for everyone. If you do use crockery, the dish washing can seem like it will never end! But “many hands make light work” and if everyone pitches in, you can have things cleaned up in a jiffy! Reduce the amount of paper and plastic that enters our landfills and don’t use disposable napkins, table cloths, cups and flatware.

Save Water and Scrape Plates When Washing Up

I know I have just said it is greener to use washable plates and dishes. But be mindful while you are washing up. A lot of water can be wasted by rinsing things before placing them in dishwashers. Scrape or wipe plates clean instead of rinsing, and fill the sink and soak dirty dishes instead of having the faucet running constantly.

Compost Leftover Food Scraps

There are always leftovers and food scraps when everyone is happily rubbing their bellies after Christmas dinner. Instead of gifting these food particles to the landfills, invest in a composting system that will feed your garden!

Menu Plan Around Leftovers

To save money and prevent wastage of the leftovers, you can get creative and make vegetable bakes, omelettes, and frittatas with the leftovers. I have also made muffins, cakes, and breads with leftover mashed potato and sweet potato.

Create Natural Holiday Scents

Instead of using toxic sprays or artificial candles with lead wicks for holiday aromas, boil lemons, oranges, cinnamon sticks and cloves on your stovetop, or burn essential oils for natural holiday scents this holiday season.

Share the Green Love With Healthy Food Gifts

Instead of feeding the endless consumerism with packaged goods, invest in fun experiential gifts like: making homemade delicious organic food, a gift certificate to an organic vegan restaurant (DineGreen is a great website to find restaurants that support eco-friendly practices), gift certificates to local spas or wellness retreats, organic local fruit and vegetable gift boxes, meal delivery services like Fresh N Lean or Thrive Foods Direct, or fantastic organic snack boxes like Healthy Surprise. Give the gift of healthy eating to your friends and family. These are the gifts that keep on giving.

Donate To Your Community

Share in the spirit of the “reason for the season” and show your gratitude for your blessings and share your good fortune with those less fortunate. Make a donation to your local community charity, and drop off any canned or packed goods. I was given lots of holiday hampers that I re-gifted to local shelters and outreach groups.

Check out my favourite healthy gluten free vegetarian recipes at Healthy Blender Recipes.

Follow me on Twitter @theblendergirl and @tessmasters.

Join the healthy food conversation on my Facebook Page.

Tags: compost Christmas leftovers, go green for christmas, green ideas for Christmas, say no to disposable cups, vegetarian christmas dinner

Category: Go Green Kitchen

About the Author (Author Profile)

Tess Masters, a.k.a The Blender Girl is an actor, presenter, voice over artist, cook and writer. She writes a quirky food blog, Healthy Blender Recipes, sharing quick easy allergy free gluten free vegetarian recipes with whole foods. Tess writes the eco food blog for Go Green America TV and is a regular contributor to The Balanced Platter. She and her recipes have been featured on Chow.com, Epicurious.com, Glamour.com, and the LA Times, as well as countless websites and blogs around the world. Tess resides in Los Angeles, California with her partner and their dog, Cookie.