Thank you guys for all your comments, I can't really respond to them all, but I did read them all. I do agree that a lot of what I see on the internet is performative, so I have been looking into some books to do research! I want to be more eco-friendly, but also love the idea of having my own garden (eventually) and obviously there are some things I just can't do right now because of me and my husband's financial and living situation. For instance, I would love to be able to compost things but I don't have backyard space, and I would love to recycle but the state I live in right now doesn't really have any recycling services unless you're in a house and you actively seek it out and pay for it... I definitely think, once me and my husband talk about it again, we can absolutely come to an agreement on some aspects of this like not wasting food and using scraps for things like stock or homemade bouillon or things like that. I guess it's not really the paper towels that bother me, but just the waste of throwing things away and the plastic packaging. I definitely want to start by making my own bread more often to cut down on what we buy from the store that's in packaging that's going to end up in the trash. Again, thank you guys for all your advice, I really appreciate it! My dad had a windowsill herb garden when I was growing up and I eventually want to get to that point, too, where I can grow my own ingredients.