When I was a kid, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were part of my daily sustenance. Now that I’m an adult, I still enjoy a good PB&J for lunch at least once a week. This week’s sandwich will most definitely be consumed on Friday, in honor of PB&J Day.
That’s right, Friday, April 2 is officially PB&J Day, an event created by the PB&J Campaign to promote that most healthy, eco-friendly of sandwiches.
What’s that? You didn’t know that PB&J’s were eco-friendly? It’s true! According to the Campaign, eating a few PB&J sandwiches a week can help you shrink your carbon footprint, reduce your greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the amount of water you use, reduce the amount of habitat destruction committed in the name of agriculture and reduce pollution.
Actually, it’s not just about PB&J’s. You’ll get the same benefits from any plant-based meal, as opposed to a turkey club or a hamburger. Raising meat (and meat products like eggs) requires more water and more space, while livestock require more food to raise them to the point where you can, in turn, eat them. Plants, on the other hand, are much more efficient to grow, and therefore much more efficient to eat.
Of course, PB&J’s aren’t the only solution for an eco-friendly lunch. Any plant-based meal will do, says the PB&J Campaign, like this recipe for curry hummus with raisins.
Me? I’ll go for the good old-fashioned sandwich, but I’ll take a few steps to make it even healthier. We make our own whole-wheat bread, which is not only delicious and organic, but costs much less than store-bought bread. That lets me spend a few pennies more on the peanut butter, like Smart Balance Chunky, packed with Omega-3. And then there’s the jelly. Pick a nice, all-natural jelly and avoid anything full of preservatives or extra sugar. Traditional grape jelly is fine, but there are so many extra flavors to tempt your tongue: cherry, pineapple, peach, you name it.
I could go on, but I’m getting hungry. Time to go ahead and make that PB&J for the day.
Photo by Renee Comet, via Wikimedia Commons.