Is there any eco-difference between eating at home and eating out? Lucy F.

Yes! Eating in is about 70% better for the planet than eating out.

Want proof? Matthew Kling and Ian Hough of www.brighterplanet.com researched this topic and presented their findings in an amazing white paper, “The American Carbon Foodprint.” According to them:

Home kitchens account for 1,850 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions (CO2e) per person annually…while food service (including restaurants and cafeterias) accounts for another…1,740 pounds…The average American eats out at a…restaurant about 4.5 times a week, or roughly one in five meals. And yet food service operations consume roughly the same amount of energy as home kitchens – and that’s before you consider the carbon impact of traveling to the restaurant. A simple way to reduce your carbon foodprint is to cook more and eat out less.

Using their stats, you can calculate the carbon emissions per person-meal for home and restaurant food. Home cooking of 858 meals per person per year generates 1850 pounds of CO2 emissions, or 2.1 pounds CO2e per meal. Restaurant cooking of 234 meals per person per year generates 1740 pounds of CO2e or 7.4 pounds CO2e per meal. Do the math. Your home-cooked meal is 72% friendlier to the earth than the restaurant equivalent.

You can up that percentage even more by following a few simple guidelines. To start, you can buy organic local ingredients and eat lower on the food chain. Not ready to go raw vegan? Even die-hard carnivores can decrease their carbon foodprint by eating less red meat and more eggs* and poultry**—the least carbon-intensive non-plant proteins. (For a comprehensive analysis of meat consumption and climate change, see EWG’s recent reports here and here.)

In addition, you can think about cooking methods and how you use them. Among kitchen appliances, microwaves are the most energy-efficient, stovetops are second, and ovens rank last. When you boil a big pot of water for pasta, why not use a multi-pot with a pasta insert and cook a bunch of things in a row? Blanch veggies right away to lock in their flavor at the peak of freshness. If you toss them into ice water and dry them well, they’ll keep beautifully for days. Then, when you’re ready, you can throw them into a skillet with a tiny bit of oil, toss them into salads or stir-fries, or add them to more elaborate side dishes. Fennel and beets can be par-boiled and then finished on the grill along with your favorite proteins.

You can do serial roasting too. Turnips, beets, fennel, asparagus, green beans, and Brussels sprouts are all pretty happy at 400 ° to 450° F. You can load up baking sheet after baking sheet once you reach your target temperature. Chicken and fish do nicely in that range as well.

With a little planning, you can boil a pot of water or heat up the oven on Sunday and eat deliciously all week long, reheating in the microwave as you go. If you use your stovetop, broiler, or grill to fill out the rest of a meal, that’s fine: You’re already more than 70% ahead of the game.

*Trufflehead egg dishes: Eggplant and Feta Omelet; Garden Omelet; Greens, Eggs, and Ham; Popeye Omelet; Scrambled Eggs with Peppers and Swiss; Smoked Salmon Scramble; Tomato, Basil, and Sausage Scramble

*Trufflehead poultry dishes: Braised Chicken Thighs with Oyster Sauce and Shiitakes; Braised Chicken Thighs with Sausage and Peppers; Broiled Chicken with Basil Mayonnaise; Buffalo Chicken Salad; Chicken and Gorgonzola Flatbreads; Chicken with Red Lentils and Artichoke Hearts; Chicken with Sundried Tomato and Mushroom Sauce; Curried Mango Chicken Thighs; Five Spice Chicken Stir-Fry; Japanese Mixed Grill with Chicken, Shiitakes, and Spring Onions; Lemon Herb Grilled Chicken; Mango Chicken Salad with Ginger-Lime Dressing; Mesquite Lime Chicken (Simple) and (Not-so-Simple); Mushroom Miso Soup with Ground Turkey; Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Tangy Blueberry Sauce; Spiced Turkey Kebabs; Tandoori Chicken; Trufflehead Waldorf Chicken Salad; Turkey Chili (Simple) and (Not-so-Simple), Turkey-Spinach Burgers with Sweet Soy-Ginger Sauce, World’s Juiciest Oven-Barbecued Chicken