December's Green Challenge: Shunning the Waste
Join the Green Challenge every month and make one small change to help the environment. Keep us posted on your progress throughout the month and keep an eye out for spectacular giveaways.
I'd like to share with you where I am on this month's Green Challenge to rethink my food purchases in order to reduce my packaging waste. I've been encouraged as I peruse the grocery store shelves as I've found that less packaging often leads to lower prices.
The first item in the pantry that I tackled was individually packaged applesauce. I typically buy individual servings because I worry about applesauce going bad in the refrigerator. However, after two weeks in the fridge, I am happy to report that there is not mold in the jar and no one in the house has been poisoned.
I only saved about ten cents by buying a jar of Santa Cruz Organic Applesauce over the individual cups. However, there is no doubt that the glass jar is more easily reused or recycled than the #7 containers used for the single serve portions. In addition to the plastic, the individual portions are packaged with the use of aluminum and cardboard which at best gets recycled or at worst, clogs the landfill.
Verdict: I'll be buying our applesauce in a glass jar from here on out.
The most pleasant surprise that I've had thus far is popcorn. We are a household that loves its popcorn and I've always bought the microwave stuff. As you probably know, the popcorn comes in individual disposable, non-recyclable bags, encased in non-recyclable plastic. All of those are tucked into a paperboard box. I opted recently to go old-school, buying a single bag of popcorn to pop on the stove. The bag that it came in is not recycled by my service but takes up considerable less space in the trash than six paper bags and wads of plastic.
I don't have a fancy popcorn popper so I pulled out a dutch oven with a lid, put about a tablespoon or two of organic canola oil on the bottom and poured in the kernels. The popcorn popped beautifully with significantly fewer unpopped kernels than the microwave stuff. I had complete control over the amount of oil, butter and salt used and I saved myself a fair amount of money. Plus, it took no more than five minutes to make a batch. It made me wonder why I ever bough microwave popcorn to being with.
Verdict: Never going back to microwaved popcorn.
All in all, I feel like I'm made some good progress this month. I'll be doing a wrap up in a week or so. How are you fairing?
I'd like to share with you where I am on this month's Green Challenge to rethink my food purchases in order to reduce my packaging waste. I've been encouraged as I peruse the grocery store shelves as I've found that less packaging often leads to lower prices.The first item in the pantry that I tackled was individually packaged applesauce. I typically buy individual servings because I worry about applesauce going bad in the refrigerator. However, after two weeks in the fridge, I am happy to report that there is not mold in the jar and no one in the house has been poisoned.
I only saved about ten cents by buying a jar of Santa Cruz Organic Applesauce over the individual cups. However, there is no doubt that the glass jar is more easily reused or recycled than the #7 containers used for the single serve portions. In addition to the plastic, the individual portions are packaged with the use of aluminum and cardboard which at best gets recycled or at worst, clogs the landfill.
Verdict: I'll be buying our applesauce in a glass jar from here on out.
The most pleasant surprise that I've had thus far is popcorn. We are a household that loves its popcorn and I've always bought the microwave stuff. As you probably know, the popcorn comes in individual disposable, non-recyclable bags, encased in non-recyclable plastic. All of those are tucked into a paperboard box. I opted recently to go old-school, buying a single bag of popcorn to pop on the stove. The bag that it came in is not recycled by my service but takes up considerable less space in the trash than six paper bags and wads of plastic.
I don't have a fancy popcorn popper so I pulled out a dutch oven with a lid, put about a tablespoon or two of organic canola oil on the bottom and poured in the kernels. The popcorn popped beautifully with significantly fewer unpopped kernels than the microwave stuff. I had complete control over the amount of oil, butter and salt used and I saved myself a fair amount of money. Plus, it took no more than five minutes to make a batch. It made me wonder why I ever bough microwave popcorn to being with.
Verdict: Never going back to microwaved popcorn.
All in all, I feel like I'm made some good progress this month. I'll be doing a wrap up in a week or so. How are you fairing?
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