The best advice I can give on being a responsible consumer of food is to learn to cook at home and do it often, incorporating fresh local seasonal ingredients as much as possible. Simple. Unfortunately, there are far more bad choices out there than good ones and many very large corporations whose livlihood depends on us consuming their processed foodstuffs. There’s a plethora of information out there and I’m not interested in piling on, but thought the information below was unique and useful enough to share. I also recommend reading Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, if you haven’t. I’d bet your local library has a copy on the shelf.

image via elitenutritiondc.com

Fruits & Vegetables
I wanted to share this extrememly useful chart which lists the best storage method for maximized freshness of various fruits and vegetables. I have a hard copy posted on the side of my fridge at home for easy reference when I’m putting away my groceries.

Fruit & Vegetable Storage Chart, via divinecaroline.com

In addition to the enrichment it adds to your life, cooking at home is healthy and a great way to minimize your food costs.

Here’s a nice post by Darya Pino on her Summer Tomato blog on how to get the most out of your food dollar by knowing what, when and where to buy.

Here’s another good one by Kerry Taylor on Squawkfox.com on how she stretched one whole roasted organic chicken into 22 healthy meals for $49. Extreme, but quite interesting.

Seafood

Alton Brown with wreckfish (marketed as atlantic sea bass), image via eatingwell.com

Commercial fishing has a significant impact on the viability of our favorite seafood species and the health of their ecosystem. Many chefs, including Alton Brown, have taken up the cause of making intelligent and responsible choices when we cook and eat seafood. Not only is it the right thing to do, he argues that it tastes better and is more nutritional too. He covers the subject in his characteristically silly, yet informative way in Good Eats, Season 13, Episode 11: The Once & Future Fish. Basically, opt for the smaller species of fish…catfish, tilapia, trout and wild Alaskan salmon are good choices.

Good Eats, Season 13, Episode 11: The Once & Future Fish, Part 1
Good Eats, Season 13, Episode 11: The Once & Future Fish, Part 2

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is an excellent resource for everything you’d need to know about seafood sustainability. For easy reference at a restaurant, they have both an iPhone and Android app. You can also print a pocket-sized guide here: National Sustainable Seafood Guide. They also have more specific lists broken down by region. In addition to Moneterey Bay Aquarium’s lists, here’s a chart listing several popular seafood species and the best time of the year to consume them:

East Coast and Gulf Region United Sates Seafood Availability Chart, via gourmetsleuth.com