if you save your family’s leftovers, are trying to cut down on your meat and dairy consumption, buy-in season produce, and put a lid on your pots while cooking, you’re already helping to build a worldwide food system that will help others around the globe put food on their tables. These elements are part of the 5 principles of the OXFAM GROW Method designed to build a better worldwide food system.
For many families, memories are built around the table but over a billion people in the world go to bed hungry each night due to a broken food system where the rising cost of food is to blame. This is something that can’t be fixed by advocacy and government appeal and affects 1 in 7 children can’t get the nourishment they need to grow and develop properly and whose tummies rumble throughout the day.
OXFAM’s new GROW Method campaign provides realistic long-term solutions to build a better worldwide food system. It highlights how our food choices affect the world food supply and how we can adopt methods that will truly make a difference. Called a “culinary revolution,” OXFAM GROW gives us power to create change through what we put on our family’s plates each day. Our daily actions can affect the future of the global food supply.
The 5 principals that encompass the GROW Method include things you’re already doing that ultimately feed our families and help others eat too.
Save food to reduce food waste to preserve precious resources. Through well planned meals and eating leftovers, you’re reducing waste. By storing food smarter to avoid spoilage, you’re ensuring that food is eaten rather than thrown away.
Buy in season or grow your own produce. Fruit and vegetables always taste best in season when they don’t have a to travel a long way to the place of purchase. There’s nothing like a fresh off the vine tomato or a ripe juicy peach! Consider growing your own produce to teach your kids about seasonal foods. Start small with a pot of herbs or lettuce that can be grown indoors on a sunny windowsill even during the winter months and buy some packages of seeds to experiment with what might grow well in pots, window boxes, or your garden next spring and summer.
Eat less meat and dairy. The resources involved in raising cattle for beef products and milk for dairy is staggering. Start by eating a meat-free meal once a week to help reduce greenhouse gases and the use of fossil fuels. For menu suggestions, visit…
Support small scale farmers by shopping locally. Local farmer’s markets and roadside fruit and veggie stands are great places to support your local farmers because money is going directly to them. Whole Foods markets also makes a point of purchasing items from local and small scale companies while supporting Fair Trade. By shopping small scale, you’re supporting 1.5 billion people.
Cook smarter to use less water and energy. Use only enough water as needed in your cooking. Cover the pan while the water boils and then reduce the heat when it’s boiling. Try making a meal without the stove, oven, grill, or microwave by getting creative with some tasty sandwich recipes for dinner.
If these are things that you’re already doing or can incorporate, OXFAM is challenging you to reduce the strain on our food system by cooking a GROW Method-friendly meal in honor of World Food Day 2012 on Wednesday, October 16. Post a picture of your meal to Instragram with the hashtag #WFD2012. All photos with the tag will feed into Oxfam’s photo stream.
For more information and ways to get involved, here are some quick links:
- Five steps for cooking and eating using the GROW method
- Growing a Better Future report provides a more in-depth look at the problems affecting our food system)
- Dinner Discussion Guide which is helpful when talking to kids about GROW to get them involved in the GROW Method
- GROW Pinterest board for GROW Method meal ideas
- Follow OXFAM on Twitter @oxfamamerica and #GROWmethod
- Like Oxfam America on Facebook
This post is part of a compensated campaign with The Mission List however, the elements of GROW Method are practices that I personally believe in and engage in to feed my family. All opinions are my own. Images courtesy of OXFAM America.
