Food production in the UK has become dominated by intensive, large-scale farming using huge amounts of energy for fertilisers, transport, processing and packaging. But we can choose to reduce this embedded energy by making a few simple changes. Shopping little and often – if you can avoid driving – and buying local, seasonal, organic produce saves food miles, supports small-scale suppliers and helps us develop a closer and more intelligent with what we eat.

We produced the Good Energy Good Kitchen guide, with green chef Arthur Potts Dawson, in the hope it will inspire us all to make better choices about how we buy, store and prepare food. It’s Energy Saving Week this week so we got a few members of our team to take the low-carbon cooking challenge featured in the guide.

Day 1: Enjoy a meat free meal



Vegetarian sources of protein like grains, pulses and nuts have a carbon footprint about three times smaller than meat products.



by Louise Daniels

I’m not a big meat eater, and enjoy vegetarian food often as a choice. So enjoying a meat free meal is something I do more than once a week.

However, I am part of a meat eating family and it does form a central part of our diet. When we do go veggie – which is quite often - we tend to replace meat with dairy, which I’m not sure is a good thing. So I thought the best challenge for me was to create a vegetarian family meal without using dairy.

We love Asian food, so I thought a simple version of Pad Thai would be a good choice. Just make and chop a two egg omelette and stir fry it with noodles and beansprouts until thoroughly cooked. Serve with fresh coriander, peanuts, soy sauce and a squeeze of lime.

It started looking good whilst I was stir frying when older son, a true carnivore, said: “wow that smells yummy!” Younger daughter, who does not like meat or eggs, was not impressed. When the dish was served, older son dived in and devoured the whole thing with relish. Probably the first time he had enjoyed a meat and dairy free meal. Younger daughter sadly was not convinced. Bribed with the idea of hummus and carrot sticks, she bravely tried it. It was not to be, but at least her reward stuck with the principles of the meal!

What was great was to cook something different from the predictable meal centred around poultry, meat or fish; and for it to be a success with some of the family. I was particularly chuffed later in the week when older son complained, when presented with his usual chicken stir fry, that he would rather have Pad Thai. So that’s a new addition to our family repertoire of easy to prepare weekday meals.

Look out for tomorrow’s low-carbon cooking challenge blog.

And don’t forget to download your own copy of the Good Energy Good Kitchen guide for more low-carbon cooking tips and eight exclusive recipes from Arthur Potts Dawson.