Meal Kits Have a Smaller Carbon Footprint Than Grocery Shopping, Study Says

The study, published Monday in the scientific journal Resources, Conservation and Recycling, examines the whole life cycle — from farm to garbage can — of meal kits and their grocery store equivalents, and finds that, on average, store meals produce 33% more greenhouse gas emissions than their equivalents from Blue Apron. For each meal type, the researchers fed their measurements into a life-cycle analysis — which incorporates existing data on emissions throughout the supply chain — to estimate the total emissions for each stage of the process: agricultural production, packaging production, distribution, supply chain losses (for example: unsold grocery store food), consumption and food waste. “This study is a good first step towards understanding the environmental impacts of meal kits,” says Rebecca Boehm, an economist who studies food and environment at the Union of Concerned Scientists, “but more research will be needed to understand the whole picture.”

Source: www.npr.org