Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Cooking without the Permanent Eco-Footprint

Happy 2011 Everyone.  I hope all of you are just as excited as me to begin a new year of transformation.  We've already gone down quite a long road of planetary destruction, now it's time to climb out with mindfulness and creativity, starting in our kitchen.  It's not a road of sacrifice, it's actually a road of increased well-being, health, and community.





One way my husband and I have decided we can help Mother Earth and all her blessed creatures is to significantly reduce our food packaging.  One of my husband's favorite pastimes is picking up litter in our neighborhood and down by the lakes (see pics above).  Unfortunately, most of the trash is single-use food packaging. The amount of styrofoam cups, Starbucks coffee lids, salsa packets from Taco bell, plastic bags in the trees, is truly enough to make your eco-heart cry.  The lakes have accumulated small bits of plastic around the edges that the fish and ducks eat.  This phenomenon has had devastating effects all around the world, including soil and water contamination as well as a conglomerate of plastic twice the size of texas that has accumulated in the Pacific Ocean.


(learn more about plastic pollution here: http://plasticpollutioncoalition.org/learn/basic-concepts/

I think it may be quite unwise to wait until the world changes around us, so let's begin with things we can actually do in our own homes to reduce trash.  We must ALL take responsibility for this occurrence immediately, and we can start by taking action into our own hands.  "Be the change you wish to see in the world", Right?  Ghandi was brilliant!


How we got started:



After observing the absurd and ridiculous amount of plastic packaging during even one week's worth of grocery's from Trader Joe's, we started shopping at a local co-op with the goal of avoiding all foods with plastic packaging.


The only way to avoid plastic is by taking some extreme measures (tips for the "busy busy busy person listed later)

 1) Cooking for yourself on a consistent basis
 2) Buying foods that are whole and raw (choose veggies and fruits not in plastic netting)
3) Buying everything else in bulk

The following are steps over the last month that we have taken to SIGNIFICANTLY decrease our kitchen waste:

1) Switched to a small (bathroom-sized) garbage can to be more mindful of trash output

2) Replaced standard plastic garbage bags with small biodegradable bags (we got ours at Target)

3) Started saving glass jars from finished tomato sauce, salsa, honey, jams, etc as containers for our future bulk collection

4) Cut out buying food with single-use plastic packaging immediately (this is harder than you think) and refusing plastic bags (not only at the grocery store but ALL plastic bags)

5) Slowly built up a very nice collection of bulk foods that are supplemented by whole, raw, organic, natural fruits and vegetables, nuts, and grains.  What we currently buy in bulk:



  • Spices
  • Currants
  • Dates
  • Walnuts
  • Almonds
  • Wild Rice
  • Oats
  • Breakfast Granola
  • Wheat berries
  • Quinoa
  • Red Lentils
  • Green Lentils
  • Pumpkin Seeds
  • Sunflower Seeds
  • Hummus Mix (just add water)
  • Nature Burger Mix (for veggieburgers and veggie meat loaf)
  • Falafel Mix
  • Vegetable Broth Mix
  • Brown Rice and Radish Seeds
  • Black Beans
  • Chickpeas
  • Wheat Flour
  • Sugar
  • Baking Soda
  • Baking Powder
  • Corn Flour
  • Loose Leaf Tea
  • Canola Oil
  • Olive Oil
  • Coconut flakes
  • Honey
  • Almond Butter
  • Coffee


6) Switched to a milk product that allows us to bring our glass jars back to the grocery store when we are done using them to be cleaned and reused by the company.


7) Bought a French press so we can make Tea with Loose Leaf Tea and Coffee at home.  We also have reusable tea and coffee mugs we take with us.  For to-go loose leaf tea, get a loose leaf tea strainer. This one fits in my to-go mug.




8) Experimented with new recipes and learned new cooking skills to help facilitate our transition to an increased time in the kitchen

9) Enjoyed every scrumptious meal made with organic, whole foods with very little weighing out our eco-conscience.




Results:

The results have been remarkable.  Our weekly trash has drastically been reduced (about 2 small bags/wk), and most of our trash is kitchen scraps that one day will be composted (that's the next step).  Then we'll virtually have zero trash!  Our food has been much more delicious, nutritious, and satisfying.  We've learned several new recipes.  I'm sure we're healthier for it.  My husband and I also spend a lot of quality time cooking and eating together, which is one of the most primordial ways of bonding.  I recommend it for any couple or group of friends or roommates :)

On a different note, there are some drawbacks.  We decided to compromise our packaging values for some vegetarian meats and cheese and the occasional bag of chips.  These are basically the only things we buy with packaging though.

This kind of lifestyle does take commitment.  For those of you who have a pressed schedule, don't let our extreme changes scare you to inaction.  If we all walk slowly in the direction of trash reduction, the  results will be plentiful.

Ways to begin on this road if you are a "busy busy busy" person:

1) Become aware of your waste habits: Save all your trash for one week or one month to see how much you individually contribute to landfills.  This means bringing coffee cups and lids, takeout containers, etc home.  It may blow your mind enough to change immediately.  Also, after changing you can feel really great about seeing the difference in trash output. (Remember, only 3-5% of recyclables are actually recycled, most end up in landfills, and ALL plastic is permanent)

2) Make a commitment to cook at home a few times a week, or bring lunch instead of getting takeout.  Both habits often ease the stress on your monthly budget and provide more nutritional meals. Buy non-plastic eco-friendly to-go containers that you can reuse over for your lunches.

3) Dine at the restaurant instead of getting takeout, i'm sure you can spare the 20 minutes to enjoy the ambience, even if you are by yourself!   Bring an eco-friendly to-go container with you if you frequently request a doggy-bag.

4) Each week buy one bulk item and experiment with it.  You could try getting some nuts and dried fruit to make your own work snack (these items are often very guilty of plastic packaging).  Or maybe an item you use frequently, like rice, quinoa, or pasta.

5) Continue to educate yourself.

Here's one article about choosing eco friendly foods

Good luck and let me know how it goes!

In the coming weeks I will post dishes that we've been cooking lately to give you an idea of how we cook without packaging.

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