Choose the correct foods

Here are some concrete tips that you can consider in your everyday life to reduce your carbon footprint from what you eat.

Buy seasonally

Choosing seasonal produce has many advantages. What has been grown and ripened on your own tastes better and is more nutritious.

• Adapt the menu: By adapting the menu to what the season has to offer, you get different types of nutrients throughout the year while also being able to naturally cook different types of dishes based on what you have at home.
• Freeze fruit and vegetables that you buy in season to use during the rest of the year.
• Shop seasonally and get more in your wallet: When you shop seasonally, the selection is wider. This means that the price can be cheaper while doing a service for the climate.

Choose locally produced food

To avoid food that has been packaged and shipped long distances, which is both expensive and leads to higher emissions, a good tip is to look at the country of origin of the product.

• Choose Swedish-grown and local: Food products do not need to be shipped as far and you support Swedish farmers and traders at the same time.
• Avoid food transported by air: Fruit and vegetables transported by air produce the highest emissions. Train and boat transport leads to lower emissions than flights and long transport by truck.
• Look for Swedish equivalents: For example, choose Swedish oat rice instead of rice that has been shipped from India or Thailand.
• Adapt the cooking: Fry with Swedish rapeseed oil or butter instead of foreign. In many recipes, it is possible to replace the butter with rapeseed oil.
• Choose Swedish rose hips, strawberries or black currants that contain a lot of vitamin C instead of buying Spanish oranges.
• Choose Swedish grilled cheese instead of halloumi from Cyprus, which means shorter transport times and less antibiotics in the cheese.

Choose organic

Buy organic food. Organic farming does not use harmful pesticides and you contribute to a better environment where the food is produced. Some products are heavily sprayed in conventional farming, which is why it is extra important to choose organic when you buy:

• coffee
• apples
• bananas
• avocado
• citrus fruits
• grapes
• raisins
• potatoes
• onions
• peppers

Drink tap water

• Drink Stockholm's good tap water instead of bottled water. This reduces the climate impact from manufacturing and transport.
• Only use cold water for drinking and cooking. Hot water from the tap uses a lot of energy and can contain bacteria and, in some cases, lead.