School Snacks

My daughter, like most kids I know, prefer to eat small amounts of food throughout the day. To me, a snack is a piece of fruit, a handful of almonds, or a small piece of cheese and a couple crackers. To many kids, a snack is often times something filled with sugar and not much nutritional value: a cookie, granola bar, and yogurt in a plastic tube (gross), chips or some other salty concoction. These snacks appeal to kids because they like sweet and salty and "everyone" eats them. Parents tend to like them because they are quick and easy to pack. With a little planning you can prepare healthy snacks and save money.

Below are some of the snacks that my daughter enjoys. I purchase these items come in bulk without plastic which saves money and waste. Snacks are packaged in small stainless steel containers or an insulated stainless container.

• cheese (bring my own container to the deli and have them slice a hunk off their big cheese rectangles or rounds) and rice crackers.
• hummus with crackers and carrots
• applesauce (home made or purchased in large glass jars)
• fruit: apple, pear, etc.
• plain yogurt (Berle Farm in glass) with berries and/or granola and a little maple syrup
• slice of homemade pumpkin or banana bread with apple butter
• plain or dark chocolate almonds and/or raisins
• granola pieces
• an 8 oz. smoothie made from plain yogurt and fresh/frozen fruit

Any other ideas? Please share them.

Plastic Free Pantry (almost)

I wish I had done a "before" picture! I love my new almost plastic free pantry. It's simple and everything is easy to find and I can quickly determine what I'm low in when creating my grocery list for the week.

So, here is my "before" and "after" pantry overhaul. Some of my glass jars are repurposed, such as my glass yogurt containers (with the names of the cows listed on it) with plastic lids courtesy of Berle Farm. Others are Mason jars (cheap and made in the U.S.A) which I also use for some canning. And, I did purchase some 2.1 quart hermetic storage jars (made in Italy) and 12 oz. french terrines from The Container Store (they had great prices and shipped in paper packaging as requested). For my bulk bin shopping I bring my own cloth muslin bags (see previous post).

BEFORE:	AFTER:
Pasta in plastic bags or boxes with plastic “windows”	Pasta purchased from the bulk bin and put in a glass jar (no plastic)
Rice in plastic containers or plastic baggies (from bulk)	Purchased in bulk and put in a glass jar (yogurt container w/ plastic lid)
Almond butter – purchased in glass jar or in plastic tub from bulk bin	Bring my own glass container and fill it at the bulk bin or at the grind your own machine
Honey – purchased in glass jar	Bring my own jar and fill from bulk
Cereal – purchased in boxes with plastic liners or from bulk in a plastic bag	Bring my own bag and fill from bulk bin
Baking supplies such as powder, soda, flour, sugar – in plastic bags, paper bags, boxes, or plastic containers	Bring my own bag and fill from bulk bin. For cleaning I use cheaper baking soda and buy in large cardboard box.
Cocoa powder – plastic container	Can’t find it in bulk ( yet) so still buying in either plastic or plastic lined cardboard container.
Crackers – box with plastic inserts	Can’t find a way around this yet and not sure I am going to spend the time to learn how to make crackers. Trying to find alternatives instead to cut down on crackers.
Tortilla chips – paper bag lined with plastic	Love these and haven’t found a solution yet. I was going to try and buy from a local restaurant but they closed/moved.
Nuts and Snacks – in plastic bags or containers purchased or from bulk.	Trying out new snacks from the bulk bins such as sesame garlic crackers, rice crackers,  or mixing my own using granola, chocolate or yogurt raisins, almonds, etc.
Sardines – cans lined with BPA	Now buy from Wild Planet (awesome company!). Sardine cans are BPA free and recyclable.  Sustainably caught fish.
Seaweed – plastic bags	Can’t find non-plastic and not in bulk. Seaweed lasts quite awhile in my house since we use it more as a condiment or in cooking (Khombu for beans) and the bags can be recycled. So, will keep looking for options.

Ice Cream

ICE CREAM

We've had some gorgeous days lately and the desire for ice cream on a warm fall afternoon. However, since we are trying to go plastic free buying ice cream in a container (the most economical) is out since the paper containers are lined with plastic.  Yes, we can just go to the local ice cream store and purchase it in a cone, but I do like to bring a pint home to share. So, I have contacted our locally made ice cream store (SoCo Creamery in Great Barrington, MA) to find out if they will pack ice cream into a stainless steel pint container for me at the same price they sell their pre packed pints. I'll keep you posted. Please comment with any other ideas you have; but not making my own ice cream because that isn't going to happen. I'd go without or go with just buying a cone once in awhile.

IT'S FEELING LIKE FALL

I love fall! The smell of the air, the cool nights, leaves changing color, replanting my garden with fall veggies, and apples. Love the apples! Thanks to my neighbors trees, Rob and I picked 32 pounds of apples yesterday after cleaning up from our tag sale (fall is also a great time to clean out!).

This morning I opened with windows for that fall air while I peeled, cored, and cooked 24 pounds of apples into applesauce, just over 10 quarts. 5 got processed in the canner and the rest is in the crock pot bubbling away for apple butter, some of which will become Taylor's teacher gifts for the holiday's. The smell is divine!

SUMMER'S BOUNTY - HEIRLOOM TOMATOES

Can't beat $1 per pound for slightly overripe organic heirloom tomatoes (thanks to Taft Farms in Great Barrington, MA)! 15 pounds or so have been skinned and cooked down into wonderful marinara and are ready for the freezer in my Weck canning jars.

While the tomatoes simmered I took the opportunity to gather basil and parsley from the garden to make pesto and basil cubes (chopped basil in olive oil, frozen in ice cube trays).

Ahhh, yummmn...will be so nice this winter!

PLASTIC WASTE - WEEK 1

Most of my garbage is plastic, so I decided to really take a look at the amount of plastic I recycle and throw away each week and find ways to do better and reduce  it.

This past week (8/24-8/31/13) I had over 70 pieces of plastic.

The plastic on the left 2/3 of the picture is recyclable, the right third is not and goes to the landfill.

Here are some ways I am going to reduce my use of plastic:

• Bring cloth bags and get as much as possible from bulk bins (pasta, rice, cereal, flour, etc.). I started using these great organic cotton muslin bags. 
• Bring glass bottles and fill in bulk (maple syrup, olive oil, body soap, dish soap, almond butter, etc.)
• Use cloth bags or no bags for produce items (and try to support the local farm markets)
• Continue to bring my own cloth bags for lugging the groceries home

Not only is buying in bulk better for the environment by saving huge amounts of packaging and shipping costs (for the manufacturer which provides savings to the consumer), it costs me less money. 

COMPOSTING

We've been composting all our acceptable food scraps, yard waste, etc. for several years. Did you know you can compost cat litter (as long as it is natural)? Meat and fish bones? Not in the same pile you compost your food scraps and yard waste, but it can be done.

Found a great blog with tips on how to compost cat litter: glenbrookzerowaste Got mine set up today and since it was such a beautiful day I turned the regular compost (it's lookin' and smellin' good). The EPA has helpful tips on composting too! Click here.

Tomorrow I will be digging the hole to bury the chicken carcass we had for dinner last night and was used today to make broth. I'll keep you posted on how it works out. Click link for tips on composting meat bones.