As you probably know by now, it’s often the simple things that make your business more cost-effective and eco-friendly. You’ve already turned off your office’s light bulbs, rid the building of printers, and purchased new toilet paper. You’ve even “greenified” your trash. So you’re saving all the money you possibly can, right?

Wrong: you can always change what you’re eating for lunch. While it’s no doubt important that we all get a break from work, lunchtime doesn’t have to be a break from reducing your overhead. Below are four suggested steps you can take to lower food costs, decrease your carbon footprint, and maybe even eat a little better in the process.

Step 1: Bag it up.
Encourage your employees to bring their own lunches to work. While it may seem convenient to order from the local pizzeria, both you and your employees will save time, money, and calories if the food comes from home. Encourage workers to plan lunch together or bring in dishes for the entire office. Indeed, events like potlucks can be a cheap alternative to catering and an effective bonding exercise for coworkers. The Dollar Stretcher provides a great article about keeping potlucks cheap and delicious here.

Step 2: Ditch the fridge.
If you run your business from an office, chances are that there’s some kind of refrigerator in the building, and chances are that it’s underused, mostly populated by a few unclaimed containers of substances that have matured long past edibility. What you may not realize is that by keeping the refrigerator plugged in, you could be running up the building’s electric bill. Cut costs and be more energy efficient by stocking up on non-perishable snacks, like nuts and dried fruit. (Besides, office fridges have proven to be quite hazardous in the past.)

Step 3: Get fancy.
A great way to reduce waste and give your office a touch of class is to invest in sets of reusable silverware. Plastic cutlery and paper cups and plates, while cheap, become costly in the long run and produce a significant amount of mostly non-biodegradable waste. Instead, use metal utensils, cloth napkins, and glasses or hard plastic cups. In addition, promote the use of reusable, sustainable coffee mugs, which have the added benefit of decreasing burns. Such an item can be found here.

Step 4: Eat greens to save green.
If you want to make an ecologically- and economically-sound choice and your employees are up for it, consider promoting vegetarian options for lunch. You could even designate a certain day—say, every first Friday of the month—as a non-meat or non-dairy day. Doing so would offset the carbon emissions from animal farming and can benefit local, organic food producers. Visit this site if you’re interested in  vegetarian catering options in your area.

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By Matt Lurie

Matt Lurie can be contacted at MattLurie@gmail.com.