Top 15 Sustainable Snacks for the Planet and Your Taste Buds
The Rundown: We've carefully cultivated this list of sustainable snacks that are good for you, good for your tastebuds, and good for the environment. There are tons of ways to be eco-friendly, whether it's through sustainable sourcing, eco-friendly packaging, or responsible disposal (Responsible Disposal is also the name of our new thrash metal band.) This article is all about reducing waste, so don't waste any more time and read on!
Introduction
With the new year come new resolutions, and first and foremost is usually to eat healthier. (Because no one said you could only eat carbs and frosting from November until January, but that didn't stop anybody.) As evidenced by the increasing number of confused polar bears drifting on ice blocks past southern coasts they have no business being near, and the overwhelming number of penguins buying sunblock and taking surfing lessons, it's clear that now more than ever -- when we say "eat healthy," we don't mean just for us, but for the planet too. Landfills are well, full, and it's time to help get Earth back into its summer body.
There are a number of ways to find sustainable snacks and we'll get into different things that make a snack sustainable; zero waste and recyclable packaging, carbon negative production and regenerative agriculture practices, among others. It's important to note too, that being a healthy and sustainable snack DOES NOT mean that it can't also taste good. Just because you're saving trees doesn't mean your snacks have to taste like them. Take our Rotten Gummy Worms, for example. Nobody's New Year's resolution is to get diabetes so we made our worms with 60% less sugar. We also want to demolish your tastebuds, not the planet, so our bags are made from plants, not plastic, and are 100% compostable. Even our shipping and packaging materials are made from sustainable sources from FSC-certified forests. We're eco-conscious all the way up and down the supply chain. And the taste? Grab a bag for yourself and see, every day you're not slurping down our worms is technically considered taste neglect and a punishable crime in some countries.
Eco-Friendly Snacks
Eco-friendly snacks refer to food products that are produced and consumed in a manner that minimizes its environmental impact. These snacks are crafted with an emphasis on sustainability throughout their entire lifecycle, from ingredient sourcing to packaging and disposal with little to no food waste. Three main aims of eco-friendly snacking are:
Environmental Conservation
Foods that are produced sustainably have a lower environmental impact. Those that are locally grown, fair trade, in-season, and organic yield a much lower carbon footprint. Combine that with sustainable production processes; minimal to no plastic packaging, natural ingredients, manufacturing methods that minimize waste and promote a positive impact on the environment, and you've got food that makes sure there's more where it came from.
Biodiversity Preservation
Sustainably sourcing food helps preserve and cultivate natural habitats, and natural habitats play a critical role in fostering biodiversity. Crop diversity absorbs carbon emissions and reduces the impact of natural disasters, curbs pests and diseases, promotes healthy soil and water, makes food sources more resilient to environmental change, and helps the animals and pollinators that surround the area.
Waste Reduction
Food waste accounts for $1 trillion in global spending and 8-10% of all greenhouse gas emissions. By eating sustainable snacks, you can get back a quarter of all the water used in agriculture and a land mass the size of China (to build the most ultimate waterslide park EVER).
Curated List of Sustainable Snacks
The following are a list of sustainable snacks that you can grab the next time you're out shopping. These snacks are low on waste and carbon emissions, but off the charts on taste. To learn more about the variety and innovations in sustainable packaging, click here.
Sustainably Sourced Ingredients
These delicious, nutritious foods use only natural ingredients sustainably sourced to make sure they're the best for you and the earth.
Nutty Quinoa Bars
Quinoa is the Superman of superfoods. This whole protein (meaning it contains all nine amino acids that people can't produce) is vegan and packed with everything healthy you can think of. And it's not just the food that's hardy. The crop itself likes to train like Rocky and grow in high climate risk regions with high wind, frost, and drought, increasing the resiliency of agricultural production systems (Biodiverse like a mofo).
Hemp Seed Snack Packs
These seeds aren't just really good at hacky sack, they're also a super sustainable plant that requires way less water than most other crops because of their short growth period. Did we mention the entire plant can be used for food, fabric, and...other things? Hemp seeds are super versatile sustainable snacks.
Upcycled bananas
Don't worry, we had to look up "upcycling" too. And it's a simple a solution to a ridiculous problem. Basically in this case, it's taking perfectly delicious, organic, fair trade, locally and sustainably grown bananas that farmers can't get to market and would otherwise go to waste...and buying them. It's that convenient. Go do that.
Dehydrated snacks
Dried fruit and pantry staples (rice, legumes) can make great dehydrated sustainable snacks. They last way longer than other stored foods and require no energy to prepare and eat once dehydrated (unlike canning or freezing food).
Superfood Snacks
These snacks are pack a huge punch of power and help you keep the planet front of mind.
Organic Kale Chips
Kale, unlike potato chips, retain all of their nutritional value when they're made into chips. Responsibly growing and sourcing kale increases biodiversity.
Locally Sourced Fruit Snacks
Fruits are a super nutritious food, and they're naturally sweet and tasty. Buying locally sourced fruit greatly cuts down the energy and carbon emissions needed to deliver and keep them fresh.
Compostable Energy Bites
Look for compostable food like bread, popcorn, nuts, pretzels, crackers, veggies, anything else you want to pack into your energy bite, and then make sure the packaging is compostable too.
Green Tea Infused Snack Bars
Green tea is absolutely packed with antioxidants. Make sure the other snack bar ingredients are packaged without preservatives.
Upcycled Vegetable Chips
Perfectly good vegetables that would otherwise be thrown out because they weren't sold at or couldn't get to market can be easily and sustainably converted to chips for a great sustainable snack.
Fair Trade Chocolate
What more do we need to say than, "chocolate?" A dark chocolate bar with sea salt is our favorite. There are tons of brands who make these. Make sure whatever brand you buy, you see the "fair trade" label on the packaging. That's how you know the chocolate was made responsibly, sustainably, and everyone involved were paid fair wages.
Algae or Spirulina Chips
You hate getting tangled in them in the water, but if you dry them out and turn them into chips, they're full of antioxidants. Algae are also a carbon-neutral renewable resource and can be regenerated easily on a massive scale.
Snacks With Green Packaging
Eco-consciousness doesn't stop with the food. Companies that commit to eco-friendly, compostable, recyclable, low to zero waste packaging are at the forefront of planet preservation.
Recyclable Nut Mix Packs
Nuts are easy all-around. Easy to eat by the bag. Full of protein and healthy fats. The variety pack might have some yogurt or chocolate chips. And the nature of how to keep nut mixes fresh lends them to easily be sold to consumers in packaging that can be recycled.
Eco-friendly Seaweed Packs
Like we said before, seaweed is packed with nutrients, are carbon-neutral, and need next to nothing in regards to energy and resources to grow. (And it's possible to grow massive amounts quick and easily.) The least snack brands can do is put these eco-friendly snacks in eco-friendly packaging.
Recycled Fruit Leather
Fruit leather tastes way better than it sounds. Dried fruits made from whole fruits that otherwise would be thrown away. Instead, recycle the fruit and recycle the packaging it comes in.
Eat Rotten Gummy Worms
Do you want a healthier, eco-friendly candy snack that has mouth-melting delicious flavor coming out of its worm butthole? Look no further than the sickeningly delicious Rotten Gummy Worms. Both the Original and Sour flavors have 60% less sugar and come in 100% compostable packaging.
Conclusion
Eco-conscious eating is a personal way you can positively impact not just the local farmers and food ecosystems around you, but the planet, environment, and the supply chain infrastructure as a whole. One person can make a difference, and that one person can be you. (Yes, we're talking to you, specifically.) There are constant innovations being made in eco-friendly snacks and packaging. Many see eco-conscious eating as the wave of the future and a definitive way to combat climate change, so the future looks bright, not abnormally hot (or cold). Spread the word about how these minor changes can make big impacts on the environment, local communities, and global food systems and enjoy eating Rotten.
