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How much energy does it take to put a meal on a plate? Here’s the best answer that I’ve come up with so far: it takes about the equivalent of one third pound of oil to produce, harvest, process, transport, store, package, and prepare every pound of food on the planet. This does not include solar radiation and other natural energy used by plants and animals or energy used to travel to shop for food or to dispose of food waste. The bulk of the energy used across the life cycle of food is fossil fuels, and most of it is oil.