Staying Sustainable at the C-Store

            With the end of the spring semester quickly approaching, many of us will be purging our left over dining dollars at the convenience store in the effort to use them all before summer. Ursinus loads the C-store with everything a college student could crave—from soda to Reese’s candy to Doritos—but they also stock it up with options that are much more environmentally sustainable and healthy in comparison. Today we will help you navigate the C-Store and identify the goodies available for an environmentally-conscious bear like you!

Tips:

Certifications

Look for certifications on packages that indicate products meet various sustainability-related standards such as organic, non-GMO, fair trade, rain forest friendly, etc. Here are some examples:

Less is more!

                Check out the ingredients on the back of product packaging. Generally, fewer ingredients means less processing. The planet takes a toll for the processing of food products as it usually requires more transportation and fuel and consequently emits more greenhouse gasses and creates more waste. When considering the environment within our C-Store purchases, aim to buy foods with four ingredients or less. Also, the more natural the ingredients are, the better. Not being able to pronounce a certain ingredient or not knowing what one is can serve as red flags indicating highly processed foods as well. However, these could also be vitamins and other micro ingredients. Use your cell phone to quickly look up questionable ingredients to figure out how much processing goes into it!

Eat plants for your planet

                As we have stressed many a times on this blog, a diet of plant-based foods is an ideal way to eat for the well-being of the environment. Meat, animal products, and their production processes, provide us with inefficient sources of food in regards to our plant, water, and land resources (to name a few). In addition, animal agriculture is a huge greenhouse gas emitter and cause of other types of pollution. When buying snacks, try to stick to plant-based options. This is typically very easy to do, and you most likely have some vegan favorites already, but sometimes animal products can make an appearance without us noticing it. This applies especially to dairy products. Dairy can be present in several forms besides the obvious of milk and cheese. These include lactose and whey, a sugar and protein derived from milk, respectively. Look for these while you are checking out the ingredients in your snacks before you buy them. If you are still not sure, the allergy information provides a great short cut, since it will identify if the product contains milk.

Look for brands you can identify as local!

Some Suggestions!

Hungry?

Annie’s Mac n’ Cheese

Right Foods Dr. McDougall’s Vegan Pad Thai Noodle Soup and Vegan Tortilla Soup

Macro a Vegetarian: Thai dumplings, pad Thai, sushi, sesame noodles, etc.: Locally sourced, made in Monroe Township, NJ.

Channa Masala: No certifications, but it is vegan and made with some non-GMO ingredients.

Amy’s meals and burritos – non dairy, non-GMO, mostly organic ingredients

Garden Salad

Snacks

Mary’s Gone Crackers crackers and pretzels: USDA certified organic, non-GMO verified, what and gluten-free, nut-free, whole grain

Cliff Bars: Rain forest alliance certification, 70% organic ingredients, vegan

Tostito’s organic blue corn tortilla chips: USDA certified organic, non-GMO verified, three ingredients

Late July Organic tortilla chips: USDA certified organic, non-GMO verified, 100% whole grain, zero trans-fats, lower sodium. Be on the lookout for some flavors that have seasoning contain whey though.

Drinks

Naked Juice (various flavors): Non-GMO verified, 100% juice

Aloegloe (lemonade, crisp aloe, white grape, coconut): USDA certified organic, sourced in North America and produced in California

Honest Tea (Half tea/half lemonade, honey green, and pomegranate blue): USDA certified organic, fair trade certified hibiscus and sugar, non-GMO

Rosenberger’s Dairies milk: If you choose milk, Ursinus provides us with a pretty good choice as the brand carried in the C-Store is local, from Hatfield, PA.

Sweets

Newman-O’s: A great substitute for Oreo’s because they are made with organic flour and organic sugar. They are also vegan, believe it or not!

Lucy’s Cookies (ginger snap and chocolate chip): Many organic ingredients, non-GMO verified, vegan certified, kosher certified, nut-free, gluten-free

Bark thins snacking chocolate (pretzel, almond, mint): fair trade certified, non-GMO verified, vegan

 

    

A Sweet Sweet Potato

One classic Wismer food item is the sweet potato. Did you know that sweet potatoes are native to the Americas? They were originally grown in the tropical Americas. Then they were later introduced to other parts of the world like Europe, Africa, and Asia. The cool thing about sweet potatoes is that they can be grown all most anywhere, as long as there is deep, moist soil. They can thrive in both tropic and temperate zones.

This is good thing because the sweet potatoes that we all eat in Wismer probably come from within the US, cutting back on food miles and transportation that can cause emissions that are harmful to the environment. Compared to foods that have to travel long distances in order to reach our mouths like bananas, sweet potatoes are a healthy food option with relatively few food miles.

Here are three different ways to switch up the way you eat your sweet potato and make it an even sweeter experience!

1. Grab a packet of peanut butter from the Deli Bar. Mix the peanut butter in with the potato. Then top it all off with some cinnamon!
2. To give your sweet potato a little extra crunch and flavor, you can mix in some cranberries from the Yogurt Bar.
3. Now instead of always adding items to your sweet potato, you can instead add your sweet potato to some of your other foods. Cut up your sweet potato and add it as a topping to your salad or pasta. This is a great way to get an extra dose of veggie!

And, of course, brown sugar is always a full proof way to enjoy a sweet potato!

Now sweet potatoes are typically grown in Pennsylvania during August and September, so right now the sweet potatoes you eat are not necessary local, but they still likely come from within the US. Thus the most ideal time to eat them is right when we return to school from summer break.

Happy Eating!!

Source Info:

https://worldcrops.org/crops/sweet-potato

Strawberry Bruschetta

            As we are sure you all have noticed, strawberries have made their way into the Wismer’s fruit bar! We know you are as excited as we are (because who doesn’t love strawberries?) so this week’s recipe features the little ruby gems.

Did you know that Pennsylvania is one of the country’s top producer states of strawberries? It is important to note, however, that although strawberries are coming into season, it is still very early for Pennsylvania producers to be harvesting them. This means that the strawberries available to us in PA right now are most likely from other states with warmer climates, like California. Therefore, having strawberries in April comes with a toll on the environment due to the transportation required to ship them to us. Since transportation most often requires the burning of fossil fuels, which releases carbon emissions into our environment, the farther our food must travel, the more it contributes to the climate change. This is why sourcing our food as locally as we can is an important part of having an environmentally sustainable diet.

Ursinus’ dining service, Sodexo, makes an effort to buy locally, with a goal of 20% local sourcing of the food they distribute by 2020. A regional producer that Sodexo already collaborates with, Amoroso’s Bread & Rolls, provides Wismer with the majority of its bread. This is why we feature bread in today’s menu item.

The best time in Pennsylvania to enjoy strawberries varies slightly each year. Strawberry plants can produce their fruit as early as May, but this typically peaks in June, and then the fruit stays in season through the remainder of the summer months. Though eating strawberries in PA is not ideal for the environment now, we recommend ample amounts of strawberry consumption in a few months! In the meantime, you can take advantage of this rare treat in Wismer, and the recipe below can help you do so while simultaneously spicing up your dining hall meal options.

Strawberry Bruschetta

What you’ll need:

• Strawberries (~2 or 3)
• Bread of choice
• Feta cheese
• Spinach
• Olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• Soup bowl, plate, knife, and fork

Instructions:

1. Grab some strawberries from the fruit bar, a soup bowl, a knife, and a fork.
2. Head over to the deli to pop one or two slices of bread into the toaster. If you wish to make your bruschetta on a roll or other type of bread behind the deli, ask the deli worker to toast the desired bread for you.
3. While your bread is toasting, take a seat to slice your strawberries into pieces of your size preference with the knife.
4. Put the strawberry pieces in the soup bowl and bring it to the salad bar. Cover the strawberries in balsamic vinegar. While you are here, get some spinach leaves.
5. Retrieve your toast, place it on a plate, and head over to the Mediterranean bar. On the way, stop at the salad bar again to drizzle some olive oil on the toast. At the Mediterranean bar, get some feta cheese and place it on top of the toast.
6. At your seat, use the fork to smoosh down and evenly disperse the feta cheese on the toast.
7. Place several spinach leaves on top of the cheese.
8. Next, scoop out the now marinated balsamic strawberries using your fork, letting the excess vinegar drip back into the bowl before placing them on top of the spinach.
9. As a final touch, sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper on top of the bruschetta. If you prefer a more authentic pepper than the one in the shaker provided on your table, a pepper grinder is provided near the dressings at the salad bar!
10. Enjoy!

Tip of the week:

If you were wondering what is currently in season in PA, the answer is asparagus, lettuce, and tomatoes. Perhaps these three would work nicely together with strawberries in a salad! Happy eating!

Sources:

https://uvfdining.sodexomyway.com/planet/local.html

http://extension.psu.edu/business/ag-alternatives/horticulture/fruits/strawberry-production

http://www.simplesteps.org/eat-local/state/pennsylvania

Sustainable Lower

Hello Ursinus Community,

We all know that Upper Wismer isn’t the only place to get food on campus, so to switch things up for this week we are giving you three sustainable food options from Lower Wismer. Our focus for sustainability this week is going to be water and how much water it takes to grow the food you are eating. Clean water is a valuable commodity and is getting more and more scarce in the U.S. Therefore it is becoming more and more important for us to conserve this finite resource. Here are three filling food options that are also being relatively water conscious.

                                                                                                                                               

Veggie Rice Bowl from Sandella’s

Order a Make Your Own Rice Bowl from Sandella’s including brown rice, black beans, any veggies you want, salsa and/or guacamole. For vegetables we suggest broccoli, tomatoes, carrots, and onions. Here are the amounts of water used to produce each vegetable:

Broccoli	19.5 gallons of water
Carrots	7.4 gallons of water
Onions	9.5 gallons of water
Tomatoes	7.6 gallons of water
Rice	299 gallons of water
Wheat Bowl	154 gallons of water
Beans	5 gallons of water
Beef	29.6 gallons of water

All four of these vegetable have a relatively small environmental impact, so feel free to load up on those. Now as you can also see in the chart both rice and wheat bowl are water intensive resources. This is why we suggest only getting the rice and skip the wheat bowl, as an easy way to save water. Likewise, per gram of protein, beans are less water intensive than beef and other meats. You can check out this video to see what other benefits beans have as compared to beef - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE_FpSSK94k. Lastly, make sure to put on salsa and/or guacamole. This will not only add extra flavor to your rice bowl but are made out of actual foods like avocados, tomatoes, onions and chile peppers.

Using these ingredients you will be able to make a more environmentally conscious rice bowl and one simple decision can save a lot of water!

Sources:

·         http://graphics.latimes.com/food-water-footprint/

·         http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/food-water-footprint_n_5952862.html

·         http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/from-lettuce-to-beef-whats-the-water-footprint-of-your-food.html

Salad from Jazzman’s

Making a salad at Jazzman’s is another great option that Lower Wismer has to offer. For the base of your salad you could use either lettuce or spinach. Both lettuce and spinach are healthy greens that don’t use a lot of water. Then you can add the same veggies listed above: broccoli, tomatoes, and carrots. You can also add apples and cucumbers to switch things up. As you can see in the chart even though their water usage is more then the other vegetables they are still good sustainable options.

Lettuce	6.8 gallons of water
Spinach	11.1 gallons of water
Apples	33.8 gallons of water
Cucumbers	25.4 gallons of water

Now, for dressing, we suggest just get plain olive oil or vinegar because they are the least processed dressings.

Sources:

·         http://graphics.latimes.com/food-water-footprint/

Hummus Wrap from Sub Connection

We all know that there is the Mediterranean Bar in Upper Wismer, but did you know you can get hummus added to your sub from Sub Connection? Hummus is a great source of protein that does not use a lot of water. Beef uses 1,847 gallons of water per pound, while chickpeas use 1,217.2 gallons of water per pound. That is a 630 gallons difference!! So next time you want to get a sub from Lower order a Vegetarian Sub and load it up with all great vegetables we talked about earlier. Then when your number is called simply ask the server to add hummus on your sub; easy!

Sources:

·         http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/food-water-footprint_n_5952862.html

·         http://graphics.latimes.com/food-water-footprint/

Make sure to order these three (more) sustainable food options in Lower this week!! Also make sure to check out this virtual water calculator to find out the amount of water that is used to make one of you favorite meals: http://graphics.latimes.com/food-water-footprint/. Happy Eating!