This June, Good Food Oxfordshire is launching the Great Big Green Lunch: a fun, delicious and impactful way for workplaces across the county to take part in Great Big Green Week (9-15 June 2025) and take action for people and planet through the food we eat.
Evolving from our previous and successful Switch Up Your Lunch annual campaign, this new initiative puts even more focus on sustainability, team spirit, and community. Whether you’re a business, organisation, office team or local group, the idea is simple: pledge to eat at least one sustainable lunch during the week.
That could mean:
- Eating a plant-based meal
- Choosing locally-sourced and seasonal ingredients
- Making your lunch zero-waste (using up your leftovers, opting for recipes that are waste-free, etc)
It’s an easy, inclusive way to get involved with Great Big Green Week and every bite makes a difference!
Why Does It Matter?
Currently, the average European lifestyle uses the resources of three planets, which is far more than the Earth can sustain. Here in Oxfordshire, food is responsible for 43% of our ecological footprint. (Moore, 2019)
That’s largely down to diets high in meat and dairy, which have a significant environmental cost:
- Animal agriculture accounts for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions: more than all transport combined. (FAO, 2013)
- If everyone in the UK had just one plant-based day per week, we could cut emissions by 49 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent annually (the equivalent to taking 16 million cars off the road). (WWF, 2021)
Even one workplace lunch swap can have a huge impact. According to World Meat-Free Week, a company of 500 people choosing a plant-based meal for just one day saves:
- 🚗 The emissions equivalent of driving 5,059 km
- 💧 The same as 12 years of water use for one person
- 🔥 The daily recommended calories of 18 men
Small steps really do add up.
What’s in it for your workplace?
- Reduce your environmental impact through food
- Take climate action and join national sustainability campaign
- Promote well-being with healthy, sustainable lunches
- Spark conversation and build team spirit
- Support Oxfordshire’s local food producers and economy
What You’ll Get
When you sign up, you’ll receive our free campaign toolkit with:
- Easy recipes and plant-based inspiration
- Tips on sourcing local, seasonal ingredients
- Posters, email templates and social media assets
- Links to Oxfordshire’s producers via the OxFarmToFork partnerships and GFO’s Supplier Directory
You can also find ideas like lunch swaps, potlucks, or zero-waste lunch challenges to make it extra fun.
Sign Up
Ready to take the challenge?
Register your workplace now: sign up here.
Pick any weekday during Great Big Green Week (9-15 June 2025), and let’s make this the greenest lunch break Oxfordshire has ever seen!
Spread the Word
Follow us @goodfoodoxford and tag your lunches with #GreatBigGreenLunch. We’d love to see what you’ve been cooking up!
Got questions? Get in touch at mail@gfo.org.uk
