As parents, we want to pass on to our children a collection of delicious, healthy, good-for-the-planet recipes that also save time and money.
So we created a sustainability scoring matrix to take an honest look at each meal we make.
This is our matrix for determining how sustainable each meal is:
- Time to make
- 1 = 3+ hours
- 2 = 1-2 hours
- 3 = <1 hour
- Servings
- 1 = <4 servings
- 2 = 4-6 servings
- 3 = lots of leftovers
- Cost per person
- 1 = >$20
- 2 = $5-20
- 3 = <$5
- Deliciousness
- 1 = inedible
- 2 = decent meal
- 3 = when are we having this again?
- Environmental impact
- 1 = wowzers (endangered/imported)
- 2 = moderate impact
- 3 = minimal damage
- Nutritional value
- 1 = eat rarely (high sugar/fat)
- 2 = healthy-ish
- 3 = optimal nutrition
Each factor is scored 1, 2, or 3 according to how long it takes, how much it costs, etc. Then the scores are all added up to get the overall sustainability score, which has a maximum of 18.
Anything that scores over 15 goes into our family favorites cookbook.
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