It takes a lot of water to get much of our food from the field to our forks. With football season underway, people enjoy gathering to watch their favorite teams compete – often with an abundance of food offered.
Watercalculator.org offers valuable information to help make water-friendly choices when selecting your menu of football treats.
Take potato chips, for instance. One single-serving bag takes 62 gallons of water to produce. A four-ounce bag of peanuts requires 119 gallons of water to produce.
You might need to wash down those salty snacks with a beverage. A 12-ounce can of beer takes 28.5 gallons of water. A can of soda requires 32.5 gallons of water, and a 5-ounce glass of wine takes 35 gallons of water to produce.
After noshing on some appetizers, the main dish is ready! A dozen chicken wings take almost 800 gallons (780 to be exact) of water to produce. A single slice of cheese pizza requires 78 gallons of water.
Do you still have room for dessert? A four-ounce serving of chocolate takes 516 gallons of water to produce.
| Food Item |
Serving Size (in ounces) |
Water footprint (in gallons) |
| Nuts |
|
|
| Almonds |
4 |
483 |
| Cashews |
4 |
427 |
| Chestnuts |
4 |
83 |
| Hazelnuts |
4 |
316 |
| Peanuts |
4 |
119 |
| Pistachios |
4 |
341 |
| Walnuts |
4 |
279 |
| |
|
|
| Snacks |
|
|
| Potato Chips |
4 (about half of a single-serving bag) |
31 |
| |
|
|
| Beverages |
|
|
| Beer |
12 |
28.5 |
| Soda |
12 |
32.5 |
| Wine |
5 |
35 |
| |
|
|
| Entrees |
|
|
| Hamburger (including bun, meat, lettuce and tomato) |
|
660 |
| Chicken wings |
About 2 wings |
130 |
| Side of celery |
4 |
6 |
| Pizza |
6 (a slice) |
78 |
| |
|
|
| Dessert |
|
|
| Chocolate |
4 (a little more than two Hershey bars) |
516 |
Watercalculator.org has some suggestions to make sure your football feast is more water friendly. Many four-ounce portions of fruits or vegetables, including broccoli, carrots, watermelon and pineapple, require less than 10 gallons of water.
| Food item |
Serving size (in ounces) |
Water footprint (in gallons) |
| Broccoli |
4 |
9 |
| Carrots |
4 |
6 |
| Cranberries |
4 |
8 |
| Cucumbers |
4 |
11 |
| Pineapples |
4 |
8 |
| Potatoes |
4 |
9 |
| Raspberries |
4 |
12 |
| Strawberries |
4 |
10 |
| Watermelon |
4 |
7 |
Now you have the playbook to score a water-friendly football feast.