Dining out with friends and family can be a great experience, but it is not always the best for the environment. Restaurants are wasteful, expensive, and a lot of them don’t recycle. No matter how many vegetables there are on your plate, the truth is that restaurants are usually not all that green. There are some restaurants who take environmental concerns into consideration when preparing your meals and there are little things that you can keep in mind while eating out that will make your dining experience guilt free, at least when it comes to being green. The calorie guilt from dessert is another story.

Choosing the right restaurant is very important when it comes to eating out green. Try places that don’t serve meat or bottled water. Make sure the restaurant recycles and composts waste instead of scraping it all into the trash. Find out what kind of energy efficiency the appliances in the kitchen have. These are all important things to keep in mind.

Getting to the restaurant is another place you can develop some greener eating habits. Carpool or take public transit to the restaurant and home because it doesn’t usually burn any fuel to stay in and eat. This is also a good idea if you plan to drink alcohol with your dinner.

When ordering your food in a restaurant consider where it has come from. Are you eating sushi that has to be shipped across the country and sometimes the world? This is probably not a good idea if you are trying to eat green. The best foods to eat are usually vegetables that are grown close to home. There are even some restaurants that have their own year round greenhouses to grow fresh vegetables for customers. Food tastes so much better when it’s fresh, especially if it doesn’t need a passport to get to your plate. When it comes to the actual plate make sure it is washable and never disposable. If you order a glass of water make sure it’s from the tap and not from a bottle. Even if the restaurant does recycle tap water is much better for the environment than bottled water and just as safe to drink.

Left-over’s are great for breakfast the next day and so much less wasteful. If you can’t finish your whole meal ask for the rest to be packaged up and take it for your lunch at work. Chances are any food that you leave on you plate will be going into the garbage and that is a huge waste. It’s great if the restaurant composts, but most of them don’t.

Eating out every once in a while is a great way to treat yourself and reconnect with friends. The only problem is that most restaurants are not at all environmentally conscience. Try to find a restaurant that is eco-friendly and a green way to get there. If you can’t find one then try to make one. Instead of meeting up with friends and family at restaurants take turns hosting dinner parties. That way everyone still gets to enjoy a night out without having to cook, unless it’s their turn as host, and it is much easier to maintain a low impact on the environment. Just remember to eat your greens.