This week has been a practice in non-consumerism for me, beyond my normal plasticlessness. This is entirely due to overspending during the previous week...it was a whirlwind of concerts, paid parking, happy hours, and eating out every night at the Fondue Pot and other delicious restaurants while Dave's friends were in town. I then realized I had $80 left to spend for the rest of the month, and a $35 massage scheduled this week. Its a soft budget based on saving part of my paycheck and normally I would be ok with spending a little more certain months, but for the sake of a challenge I wanted to see how close I could get to sticking to it even after being a little reckless.
So after acknowledging that I couldn't buy anything but food, I asked myself what someone with no money would eat. Most of the answer was using what I already had. So I did. And I skipped the coffees and the urge to stop and buy oranges for work when I already have apples.
A sub-part of the answer was dry lentils and beans. I'm really beginning to appreciate those little guys. They're good for your heart...plus they're really cheap, can be purchased bulk in a reuseable bag, will never go bad, are impossible to mess up, are endlessly versatile and will feed you for days. The trick is soaking them the night before you want to use them, then just boil with salt and few whole cloves of garlic and eat! Or make a chili, refry them, etc. In my opinion, black beans and rice with grilled onions and peppers and some carefully rationed meat is a respectable meal and probably cost me $1.50 per serving. Leftovers for lunch.
Another partial answer was soup. This particular soup was one that Jessi made, but I contributed a bit of wilted spinach, some lentils, some chicken stock base and some of that same carefully rationed meat. And when you make a soup using whatever is going bad in your fridge, its arguably free. Leftovers for lunch.
Finally, I was craving some bakery bread so I hit the dumpster with Sarah, and a toasted french baguette graced the side of my plate of salad with the rest of that meat.
The result? Besides the massage, I spent $11 this week...on 3 pounds of chocolate chips for cookies and some spinach. $34 left in my wallet, 2 weeks to go. If I pull this off, I'm going to Ruth's Chris on December 1st :)
Friday, November 13, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
I love meat...
...and I was having trouble finding it plastic free until today! After some awkward conversations with various butchers, it seemed to be not ok to bring your own container for raw meat in a regular grocery store. I found a butcher shop in my neighborhood that said I could bring my own container in, but they're only open M-F 7-4. But when I called the meat manager at my beloved Ballard market (who happened to have an adorable, unmistakably New Zealand accent), he said they could definitely help me and he would tell his guys that I was coming in. Huzzah!
Now if my requests for glass bottle milk go equally well (the dairy manager has tired of my calls and perhaps the calls of other crazy Seattle hippies and claims that they are working on ordering it), I won't have to go to three separate places to get my staples. (Still need to go to farmers market for cheese, but not every week. And they have bulk dry parmesan cheese topping at the BM! Thank you, god of bulk bins.)
And with all this foraged, plastic free food, I'm still eating well...
My diet this week included a vegetable soup into which I threw every part of every vegetable in my fridge. This included wilting radish greens, the orange AND green parts of my farmers market carrots, a drying onion half, leeks and a few fresh beans. Threw in some chicken stock (from the bulk bin in a reused bag of course) and let it simmer for two days. My roommate Sarah tried it and asked how I got it so thick...we agreed that it was the starch from the beans. It was delicious! Mmmmm, tastes like responsible choices.
This week's package free convenience food: refrigerator cookie dough. You know those tubs of cookie dough that you can buy at fundraisers or at the store? A regular tollhouse recipe works the same way. I made a batch a few days ago and froze half, and kept half in the fridge (I reused big yogurt containers that my roommates have been saving for me). Last night I baked 4 cookies. Package free and without having to eat 2 dozen cookies!
My count this week:
*1 square inch of plastic - on a rubber band holding my 3 heads of organic broccoli together, touting the farms good practices. I may call that organic farm and tell them to just use the pesticides. Kidding!
*A sheet of butcher paper and a plastic bag from flank steak at Fred Meyer. This is the last one!
Coming down the pike: I'm in the market for a new toothbrush. PCC sells ones made from recycled yogurt cans. Anyone know how to make one out of hemp?
Now if my requests for glass bottle milk go equally well (the dairy manager has tired of my calls and perhaps the calls of other crazy Seattle hippies and claims that they are working on ordering it), I won't have to go to three separate places to get my staples. (Still need to go to farmers market for cheese, but not every week. And they have bulk dry parmesan cheese topping at the BM! Thank you, god of bulk bins.)
And with all this foraged, plastic free food, I'm still eating well...
My diet this week included a vegetable soup into which I threw every part of every vegetable in my fridge. This included wilting radish greens, the orange AND green parts of my farmers market carrots, a drying onion half, leeks and a few fresh beans. Threw in some chicken stock (from the bulk bin in a reused bag of course) and let it simmer for two days. My roommate Sarah tried it and asked how I got it so thick...we agreed that it was the starch from the beans. It was delicious! Mmmmm, tastes like responsible choices.
This week's package free convenience food: refrigerator cookie dough. You know those tubs of cookie dough that you can buy at fundraisers or at the store? A regular tollhouse recipe works the same way. I made a batch a few days ago and froze half, and kept half in the fridge (I reused big yogurt containers that my roommates have been saving for me). Last night I baked 4 cookies. Package free and without having to eat 2 dozen cookies!
My count this week:
*1 square inch of plastic - on a rubber band holding my 3 heads of organic broccoli together, touting the farms good practices. I may call that organic farm and tell them to just use the pesticides. Kidding!
*A sheet of butcher paper and a plastic bag from flank steak at Fred Meyer. This is the last one!
Coming down the pike: I'm in the market for a new toothbrush. PCC sells ones made from recycled yogurt cans. Anyone know how to make one out of hemp?
Friday, October 16, 2009
I'm eating better!
This week went surprisingly well! So far, I haven't really felt much cramp in my lifestyle. I was really worried that by giving up plastic I would feel the sacrifice and eat the same things all the time. To my surprise, the opposite occurred. Between bulk bins, tupperware cheese shopping at the farmers market, raw vegetable buying, and glass jar milk, I have been able to get or make everything I have wanted to eat without plastic. The biggest thing that I've given up is packaged convenience foods and snack foods. Consequently, I'm eating a lot more healthy. I've also eaten quite a few foods that I wouldn't normally have the motivation to make or eat. Overall, I would say that this has inproved my quality of life. This week my plastic free diet included:
*Dave's homemade pesto pasta (thanks baby!), scallops (not plastic free, keep reading)
*Grilled flank steak, mashed red potatoes with dill and parmesan, sauteed kale
*Dave's homemade marinara sauce and pasta (thanks again baby!)
*Homemade potato and leek soup
*Lots of salads with olive oil and the best vinegar ever: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/sku7973050/?pkey=cpantry&ckey=pantry
*Lots of apples, bananas and almond butter
*Dumpster bread - I'm becoming a freegan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeganism
*Homemade ice cream from glass bottle milk - no plastic coated ice cream container
*Stovetop popped pop corn with popcorn oil (need to find that bulk) nutritional yeast and salt
I was afraid I would feel very isolated in this process but everyone has been quite supportive, including my awesome, progressive minded roomates. They are not going as hardcore plastic free as I am, but they've all been cutting down their packaging, and it shows in our garbage. Between composting in the backyard (we started a few weeks ago, learn how to do it here: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/feature/backyard/compost.html) and buying less plastic, our 32 gallon garbage can split between five girls is less than a quarter full so far this week! Our recycle bin also has a lot of breathing room.
My awesome, progressive minded boyfriend is equally supportive, and makes me lots of yummy pasta sauces and salad dressings that I couldn't cope without. And after one teary eyed argument last week about him not driving to a separate grocery store to buy glass bottle milk, I have accepted that not everyone will take everything "balls deep" the way he fondly describes my personality type to other people. And in all fairness, he is the person who, over the past year and without ever trying to influence me, influenced me to do this. Love you babe!
But interacting with strangers is different. I am learning how to better weave my new lifestyle into the mainstream world, though it takes just as much dilligence as the lifestyle itself. This week I learned a couple of lessons the awkward way...
1. When you go to a big chain grocery store, you need to be overly communicative about not wanting extra packaging, including bagging. A checker at Fred Meyer blindsided me and threw half of my things into a plastic bag while I was looking for exact change. I reached forward to slap her across the face, then thought better of it and asked her if she could kindly use the bag for the next customer if I removed the items and put them into the huge canvas bag that didn't match my outfit and was obviously slung over my shoulder for the purpose of carrying out my 7 grocery items the same way it carried them to the check stand. She said yes. I was also blindsided at the same store by the butcher - I asked him if he could wrap my things in paper so I didn't have to use plastic, and then he thew my scallops into a plastic bag and wrapped them with paper. I cringed but smiled and thanked him and took the package, because it would just go into the garbage if I refused it. But jeez they were delicious.
2. On a related note, butcher paper is not the best option for me. Taking a glass or sturdy plastic container is. I didn't feel good watching them tear off a huge sheet of paper that I knew I didn't really need had I brought my own container. And I discovered that most butcher paper is coated with plastic anyways.
3. If I leave the house anywhere besides work, I must always carry with me: silverware, a travel mug, some plastic bags, and a small tupperware. I am then prepared for pretty much any unplanned shopping or street eating. Its sad to turn down free tea in a reception area because they only have styrofoam cups.
Here's this week's count:
2 plastic forks and 1 knife from when Dave and I got crepes downtown before seeing a movie (actually I would have gone without the knife but Dave got one and I used it). But I did keep both our forks and the knife for later use to eat a tamale at a farmer's market.
1 plastic bag and some plastic coated (didn't realize this until I got home) butcher paper from scallops and flank steak at Fred Meyer
1 mini almond joy wrapper - damn office candy again! I admit I thought about it and made the sacrifice. It was worth the guilt! :)
Coming down the pike: I am going to Leavenworth this weekend with a big group of people, and in addition to the food Dave and I are taking, I spent a half hour last night squeezing 40 oz of orange juice to bring as a mixer for the vodka we bought so I don't need to buy a plastic bottle of juice. I am interested to see if there are social situations that make it hard to the be the crazy plastic bag lady. Glass flip cup anyone?
*Dave's homemade pesto pasta (thanks baby!), scallops (not plastic free, keep reading)
*Grilled flank steak, mashed red potatoes with dill and parmesan, sauteed kale
*Dave's homemade marinara sauce and pasta (thanks again baby!)
*Homemade potato and leek soup
*Lots of salads with olive oil and the best vinegar ever: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/sku7973050/?pkey=cpantry&ckey=pantry
*Lots of apples, bananas and almond butter
*Dumpster bread - I'm becoming a freegan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeganism
*Homemade ice cream from glass bottle milk - no plastic coated ice cream container
*Stovetop popped pop corn with popcorn oil (need to find that bulk) nutritional yeast and salt
I was afraid I would feel very isolated in this process but everyone has been quite supportive, including my awesome, progressive minded roomates. They are not going as hardcore plastic free as I am, but they've all been cutting down their packaging, and it shows in our garbage. Between composting in the backyard (we started a few weeks ago, learn how to do it here: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/feature/backyard/compost.html) and buying less plastic, our 32 gallon garbage can split between five girls is less than a quarter full so far this week! Our recycle bin also has a lot of breathing room.
My awesome, progressive minded boyfriend is equally supportive, and makes me lots of yummy pasta sauces and salad dressings that I couldn't cope without. And after one teary eyed argument last week about him not driving to a separate grocery store to buy glass bottle milk, I have accepted that not everyone will take everything "balls deep" the way he fondly describes my personality type to other people. And in all fairness, he is the person who, over the past year and without ever trying to influence me, influenced me to do this. Love you babe!
But interacting with strangers is different. I am learning how to better weave my new lifestyle into the mainstream world, though it takes just as much dilligence as the lifestyle itself. This week I learned a couple of lessons the awkward way...
1. When you go to a big chain grocery store, you need to be overly communicative about not wanting extra packaging, including bagging. A checker at Fred Meyer blindsided me and threw half of my things into a plastic bag while I was looking for exact change. I reached forward to slap her across the face, then thought better of it and asked her if she could kindly use the bag for the next customer if I removed the items and put them into the huge canvas bag that didn't match my outfit and was obviously slung over my shoulder for the purpose of carrying out my 7 grocery items the same way it carried them to the check stand. She said yes. I was also blindsided at the same store by the butcher - I asked him if he could wrap my things in paper so I didn't have to use plastic, and then he thew my scallops into a plastic bag and wrapped them with paper. I cringed but smiled and thanked him and took the package, because it would just go into the garbage if I refused it. But jeez they were delicious.
2. On a related note, butcher paper is not the best option for me. Taking a glass or sturdy plastic container is. I didn't feel good watching them tear off a huge sheet of paper that I knew I didn't really need had I brought my own container. And I discovered that most butcher paper is coated with plastic anyways.
3. If I leave the house anywhere besides work, I must always carry with me: silverware, a travel mug, some plastic bags, and a small tupperware. I am then prepared for pretty much any unplanned shopping or street eating. Its sad to turn down free tea in a reception area because they only have styrofoam cups.
Here's this week's count:
2 plastic forks and 1 knife from when Dave and I got crepes downtown before seeing a movie (actually I would have gone without the knife but Dave got one and I used it). But I did keep both our forks and the knife for later use to eat a tamale at a farmer's market.
1 plastic bag and some plastic coated (didn't realize this until I got home) butcher paper from scallops and flank steak at Fred Meyer
1 mini almond joy wrapper - damn office candy again! I admit I thought about it and made the sacrifice. It was worth the guilt! :)
Coming down the pike: I am going to Leavenworth this weekend with a big group of people, and in addition to the food Dave and I are taking, I spent a half hour last night squeezing 40 oz of orange juice to bring as a mixer for the vodka we bought so I don't need to buy a plastic bottle of juice. I am interested to see if there are social situations that make it hard to the be the crazy plastic bag lady. Glass flip cup anyone?
Friday, October 9, 2009
This is the first week of the rest of my life
Last monday, I read an artical about a plastic trash soup in the ocean:
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/the-worlds-rubbish-dump-a-garbage-tip-that-stretches-from-hawaii-to-japan-778016.html
Why is there 100 tons of plastic floating in the ocean? And then I threw away a used lipgloss container. Oh!!!!! I get it.
So, inspired by many other and better blogs on the same issue, this is my experiment to see how little plastic I can procure and discard for a month. One month! That's less time than it took me to get to expert level on rockband drums, gain 15 pounds in Spain, make a thousand paper cranes for my own amusement, create a fighting warrior internet pet...the list goes on. Sad to say, I've been a fool for lesser things. So for the next month, this is it!
My only rule: no new plastic. I will keep and use the plastic I already own. Also, I consider it fair game to dumpster dive, trash dig, solicite from someone who is about to throw something away, or otherwise save a piece of plastic from going into a landfill.
Here's the plastic count this week:
1 plastic bag from a taco truck (I gave the woman a reused bread bag and told her to put two bravo burritos with no wrapping inside the bag, no napkins and no hot sauce (plastic containers). She gave it back to me INSIDE another plastic bag. Gah!)
2 candy wrappers - 1 Mamba, 1 mini almond joy (damn the office candy jar)
2 plastic caps from my glass milk jugs purchased from PCC
1 tiny plastic bag from my floss, also from PCC (it said "no plastic packaging", liars, but thats better than the fully plastic container that most come in)
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/the-worlds-rubbish-dump-a-garbage-tip-that-stretches-from-hawaii-to-japan-778016.html
Why is there 100 tons of plastic floating in the ocean? And then I threw away a used lipgloss container. Oh!!!!! I get it.
So, inspired by many other and better blogs on the same issue, this is my experiment to see how little plastic I can procure and discard for a month. One month! That's less time than it took me to get to expert level on rockband drums, gain 15 pounds in Spain, make a thousand paper cranes for my own amusement, create a fighting warrior internet pet...the list goes on. Sad to say, I've been a fool for lesser things. So for the next month, this is it!
My only rule: no new plastic. I will keep and use the plastic I already own. Also, I consider it fair game to dumpster dive, trash dig, solicite from someone who is about to throw something away, or otherwise save a piece of plastic from going into a landfill.
Here's the plastic count this week:
1 plastic bag from a taco truck (I gave the woman a reused bread bag and told her to put two bravo burritos with no wrapping inside the bag, no napkins and no hot sauce (plastic containers). She gave it back to me INSIDE another plastic bag. Gah!)
2 candy wrappers - 1 Mamba, 1 mini almond joy (damn the office candy jar)
2 plastic caps from my glass milk jugs purchased from PCC
1 tiny plastic bag from my floss, also from PCC (it said "no plastic packaging", liars, but thats better than the fully plastic container that most come in)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)