Only a few days ago, we let ourselves gorge on splendid homemade stuffing, piping hot pumpkin pies and altogether delicious food that continued to feed us for days to come.
But for many of the 11,870 upperclassmen at the University, cooking may be as rare as one day a year. The dominant trend of dining out has managed to create not only a large waistband, but also a skinny wallet and a sick planet.
For about $1.07, anyone with access to a McDonald’s can buy about 440 calories in the shape of a vile double cheeseburger. If you don’t care for nutritious content or the extensive strains the company puts on the environment, it’s quite a deal.
The problem: 5.8 ounces of ground beef only gets you so far before you’re begging for more food and a quick and easy solution to a grouchy stomach.
What’s more pressing than the cost of gas for the return trip is the amount of energy wasted by the restaurant.
Of all the industries nationwide, restaurants consume the most energy. Only 35 percent of it is actually spent preparing food. According to GreenYour, a guide to greener living, the average United States eatery consumes 2.5 times more energy than any other building and disposes of 50,000 pounds of waste annually. But what’s worse is a majority of the food we spend our money on isn’t sustainable.
Unlike our dining halls — which buy their produce locally — large chains get both their meat and their veggies shipped from what seems to be the edges of the earth.
In fact, the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture found conventionally grown U.S. produce travels up to 27 times the distance of its locally grown counterparts.
From the production of meats to the transportation of pesticide-laced produce, the conventional process of making fast food crushes the very roots of environmentalism.
If only Burger King and McDonald’s would spend an eighth of what they spend on their cheesy advertisements for crappy food on making their practices more sustainable, the impact would be massive — not only for the environment but also for their profit.
Unfortunately, waiting for the fast food world to hum a more environmental tune is not a timely option, but cooking at home can be.
Cooking is not only a more frugal and faster option in the long run, but it’s also a healthier option than greasy, processed foods which have been linked to anxiety, depression and obesity.
According to the University’s CashCourse, “Frozen dinners cost more than meals made from