by Alexa Napoleon, Rodale.com plastic-free crusader
After noticing the pile in our recycling bin versus that in our garbage, I decided in February 2011 to take Rodale’s plastic free challenge. If I could do one more thing to reduce my footprint and control chemical consumption, it has to be good…and can’t be that hard, right?!? WRONG. The first trip to the grocery store took nearly two hours, as each item on my small list presented a challenge. Why is every small fresh herb sold in a little plastic box? Why are regular-sized carrots now wrapped in plastic and sitting in a Styrofoam tray (as I’m trying to avoid the plastic bag in which the organic baby carrots are packaged)? Why can’t I just buy a pile of cheese in butcher paper and not covered in a plastic sheet, in a plastic bag? My husband was at wits end, and, I believe, I frequented the grocery store alone for the remainder of the month.
At that point I realized that, as with any sustainable change, you have to start small before you can go big. The cabinet full of plastic leftover containers went straight to the recycling bin, and I went straight to Marshalls to stock up on glass reusables. The plastic water bottles, coffee mugs, and reusable bottles never came into the house again, and were instead replaced by stainless steel bottles, insulated Klean Kanteens, re-purposed 360 vodka bottles, and glass pitchers for refrigerator-cold water. Orders were in for stainless steel and glass straws (which, by the way, I LOVE), and I was starting my own weekly yogurt stock, stored in mason jars. Things were going well…small changes.
Near the end of the month, with his leftover lunch in a glass container, my husband called. One of the containers had flown from the shelf in his office and nearly knocked him out. Serious head injury from leftover containers doesn’t happen with plastic! My husband, for a slight moment, thought I had gone mad. Then came an inspiring snippet from a Rodale editor on plastic use and its direct correlation to decreasing sperm counts. My husband instantly warmed-up to the idea of plastic-free. He refused receipts at the store and grabbed for only the glass and stainless containers at home. He was on-board, our household plastic use had greatly diminished, and BAM…I was pregnant. Coincidence? My husband thinks not.
So, here we are one year later, focused on another round of plastic reduction, only this time with a new set of challenges (and a BIG life change!). How do we sustain our plastic-free efforts while pregnant, and as we prepare for a child?
Challenge 1: the morning smoothie.
With being pregnant comes the morning shock…no coffee. I had to find a new filling pick-me-up, and turned to making a daily smoothie. The beverage provides me with at least three necessary fruit servings and a serving of calcium. Surprisingly, its awakening benefits have proved to be better than coffee, as well. In last year’s plastic-free challenge I focused on containers and vessels, so the Klean Kanteen insulated coffee mug turned into a daily smoothie coozie and the stainless and glass straws are getting heavy use! But, the world of plastic just got a little bit larger. How do I keep up with my home smoothie factory using no plastics? How do I continue a healthy diet in the winter, when the main ingredients for my morning routine are housed in plastic?
Walk around the fruit section of a grocery store. All berries come in plastic containers. The frozen fruits to add the smoothness all come in plastic bags. Last year I simply avoided these plastic-wrapped fruits for a while, but this year I need to continue to use them, while, of course, also making staples of the pineapples, mangoes, etc. that you can buy standalone. With the cost of frozen fruits, I have recently decided to buy fresh fruits in bulk (one container has to be better than five containers and numerous plastic bags), use what I need fresh for the week, and clean the remaining berries and bounty for my frozen fruit stock. But, one topic I failed miserably at last year is back to haunt me this year—how do I freeze these items without the trusty plastic freezer bags? I might as well start now, since I’ll need to have a good solution in place before baby comes and I’m looking to freeze any leftover homemade baby food.
I attempted freezing a meal in a freezer-safe glass container, and as I had it sitting out to remove the contents and adjust the glass to room temperature, the container broke. These things are too expensive to lose each time you need to freeze! Unless you’re a Miss Moneybags, freezing solely in glass containers can be a bit pricy for a budget. So, do I turn to mason jars? This is another advertised alternative to plastic, but after freezing fruit once, you realize that the pieces stick together in chunks, which make it virtually impossible to get out of a tapered-neck jar. Although not a solution for the near-term smoothie factory, mason jars could be my solution come baby food time.
For fruits, one can quickly eliminate thoughts of paper storage, since this would seem to hold no barrier to the moisture in fruits. Therefore, the next logical solution would be aluminum pans (the kind with the cardboard lid) and aluminum foil. After talking with my neighbor, this is all she uses! Ah ha! Maybe this can be my answer! It turns out that this will work for regular meal storage and meats. But, after doing some reading on the efforts of other wannabe greenies, foil is not recommended for high acid foods and soft fruits. The aluminum, although often thought to be better than plastic for food storage, can leach into fruits, leaving them in some way polluted and tasting bad.
So, this brings me back to the plastic freezer bag. If the other freezer solutions don’t work for fruit and berry storage, I still have to use something. Here’s hoping that the freezer-style bags they sell are made BPA-free! This seems to be readily advertised on everything except plastic bags. Seriously, what did we use before plastic?
To help with your “clumping” issue when freezing, try freezing smaller quantities in ice cube trays (stainless steel) first, and then transferring them to your storage containers. Some people take it a step further and remove the cubes, place them on a baking sheet and put them back in the freezer for a bit before transferring them. This method helps with portion control, and is great for homemade baby food.
Hi Alexa,
You had some great ideas. I have a couple of ideas for you.
1. for the broken glass container that had been in the freezer. You didn’t say if you had it placed directly on counter . I always place mine on a folded towel & not directly on the counter to thaw. 2. For your frozen fruits & vegetables. Try layering them on cookies sheets ,cover with waxed paper, then place in freezer. When they are froze , transfer to your jars & then they won’t stick together.
Hi Alexa,
Great efforts and good suggestions! way to go! try buying in bulk? i carry these cloth bags and fill up lentils and such from the bulk aisle at the health food stores…sometimes I admit I have to reuse some small plastic bags but then immediately put the bulk foods in mason jars for storage….also I notice that usually – at the winter markets and the farmers markets and CSA’s, there is less plastic or no plastic at all. Paper bags are usually used by the farmers.
A key is staying out of the large supermarkets. Honestly, every time I go into a supermarket (its been maybe 4 times in the last 10 months that I frequented a large store), I’m appalled by all the packaging. The icing on the cake was in July when I went in to the supermarket for recycled toilet paper and saw live lobsters in plastic mesh bags on ice…horrifying! Anyway, I digress.
Thanks for the great story and good tips! And congrats on the life change!
Hey Alexa! Thank you for the article. Have you checked out Lunchskins? They are washable bags made of fabric that I use for sandwiches and snacks instead of ziplock bags.
Great information in your blog and from the other responders. Always great to hear more ways to reduce our dependency on plastics!
I’m trying to avoid plastic too and feel your frustration. I’ve decided to apply moderation to going green, just like everything else. If every family chose one or two chemical products and used them sparingly, I think the environmental impact would be a manageable one. After all, I don’t think anyone plans to give up ever having a fire, which releases carbon monoxide. To that end, I use reusable plastic containers where there seems to be no other option. I eat seasonally so my need for using plastic is small.
My son and daughter-in-law just recommended “Plastic Planet” for my viewing. Well, after that, I’m on the board at GO and I could never go back to my ignorance on this subject. The way I will tackle “overwhelming” is one day at a time, one plastic product at a time. I know at the end of this year I will look back and see progress that makes a difference. I have learned that “overwhelming” can lead to defeat, so I reject the thought and just get to work doing what I can, with the knowledge that I have. As my knowledge increases, the choices and actions I make change, and over a bit of time tremendous change occurs. Keep up the great sharing of your ideas and knowledge base so that those of us who care about our health, our loved ones and our world can continue to make a difference and set an example!
I use wide mouth mason jars for leftovers and for freezer containers. I also save and re-use plastic bags and containers. I’ve recently been reading about the health concerns relating to plastics which is how I came to read your article. Kudos for your efforts, and I appreciate the other comments as well. I will check out the stainless steel straws.
By going to a farmers market or farm stand you can buy your berries without the plastic containers. Also you are buying local. Or you can go to farms when they are in season and pick your own. Or better yet, grow your own.
I agree with Karen’s advice to freeze on cookie sheets first, but there’s no need for the wax paper on top – which is pretty much plastic in most cases. We’ve eliminated most single-use plastic by buying bulk and storing in mason jars but we haven’t switched the freezer over yet. I think glass is the only way. We also make most things ourselves to avoid packaging and we picked all our fruit in the summer and then canned or froze it.
I’ve read in the past that the typical canning jars in the U.S. have lids with chemicals. I came across a website, WeckJars.com, a German company, that sells canning jars with glass lids & rubber rings. They also have plastic BPA-free lids. Read their ‘canning notes’ for description of product features. They have been written up in Martha Steward Living Magazine. Worth considering, in my opinion.
I hoard pickle, tomato … anything jars. My kids often prefer drinking from a mason or pickle jar and my fridge is a sea of re-used jars. A pickle jar stores my stock. A honey jar is perfect for a packed lunch soup. I’ve found the more I spend on glassware the more my family hates it. I’ve broken so many $9 pyrex containers and never broken a pickle jar. Its kind of ironic.
We should take a lesson from former generations. They canned, dried, had root cellars… They ate over the winter what they “put up” in summer.
There are good glass freezer containers that don’t break. I have had best luck when you can find the USA made ones. I found some Anchor Hocking that had non-BPA lids.
Also, I would like to see more info on how much oil and natural gas is used in plastic production. It seems all we see is about our auto usage. It has to be an enormous amount with all the plastic in everything we use.
I wish we would go back to food and beverages in glass with required deposit. There would be less trash out there as well as be healthier.
I started going plastic-free in August of last year. I started a blog about plastic-free cooking in November. I have lots of ideas for plastic-free cooking if you want to check it out. http://theplasticfreechef.com/
For me, food is definitely the hardest part of going plastic-free. But one thing that really helps is shopping at the farmer’s market. There’s hardly any packaging at the one I go to.
Thank you everyone for at least making an attempt to change from plastic to anything better & green. I started quite awhile back by giving up pop (soda), tooo much sugar in regular and poison in diet soda…I couldn’t give myself 1 good reason to drink the stuff & all that plastic in the land fills. Suprisingly it was a very easy give up. I use leaves or litter to clean up my little dog’s poop, plenty of leaves to go around and the litter needs to be picked up too! We also grow our own catnip, my cats eat the cat nip right out of the containers…re-used yogurt, ricotta, cottage cheese containers, just poke holes in the botton & I use the lids to catch the excess water, I keep a re-used container of fresh catnip outside for the stray cats too and the plastic berry containers are great for any kind of plant starters & they have holes already in them, can be used over & over…I love to start a bunch of Sunflowers inside to give the birds an abundance of food instead of them digging up the individual seeds…took me awhile to figure that one out & the Sunflowers look so pretty, good for the bees too! I’ve learned to use the seeds that I used to throw away from peppers, tomatoes, cantelopes, etc…, makes an inexpensive garden & yummy home grown from your own back yard, no pesticides & it’s so nice to know where the food your eating is coming from & what’s not in it! Nothing like picking large red tomatoes, zuccinni, basil & red peppers, garlic & anything else you have growing that you like & stir frying them in a little olive oil and tossing them with some Angel Hair pasta & Peccorino Romano cheese…talk about fresh from the garden, on your menu and so much fresher than a restaurant’s menu…I had no clue until I started planting, I never knew there were Beautiful edible flowers on the zuccinni plants until I saw them at Whole Foods for $5 a flower & it dawned on me that I had a bunch of these zuccinni flowers in my back yard…I started to eat these flowers straight from my garden, along with some Strawberries…We pretty much share everything with my neighbors & the birds…& there’s no plastic of any kind carrying the homegrown veggies & flowers from my yard to my kitchen & If my timing is good I can catch my neighbor walking back from the mailbox past my house and I give him handfulls of whatever he wants & his wife will call to thank me and it’s all just GREAT! This is the time of the year when she makes Paska bread and send her husband over with a warm loaf of Paska bread wrapped in a cotton kitchen towell, no plastic waste! Polish Hill, Pittsburgh, PA is where all this real love is being passed on…No plastic love here!
Great article Alexa.
Congrats to you and your husband,
I have heard of freezing food in the paper milk cartons . Fold and tape the top to seal it, Use the organic milk ! Apparently no freezer burn with this method. See you guys this summer!!!
Pete and Sandy in Pine Grove
I’m trying to go plastic free. It’s hard to find anything in the grocery store that’s not packaged in plastic. I like shopping at Earth Fare because they use a lot of glass containers instead of plastic. I, too, save glass jars from pickles, jelly, olives, etc. Please keep offering tips on getting rid of plastic. Also, thanks for the info on stainless steel/glass straws. Can’t wait to order some.
Thanks for the article and all the responses and new ideas! Had to laugh as I recall when I started freezing individual fruits/veggies, I too covered w waxed paper before I asked what purpose it served. I also use jars (canning and repurposed), esp the wide-mouth ones — leave enough head room when freezing (never had breakage). I use/reuse plastic freezer bags right now and first use paper sandwich bags to ‘line’ for sloppy joes, stuffed peppers, italian beef, etc. Have begun to make bone broth and freeze half in muffin tins before storing in plastic bags. Freeze pureed meals for our grandson in muffin tins and store for his visits. Items frozen in plastic are thawed in glass containers. I make my own yogurt and ricotta. Have a good grater for parmesan & romano which we use almost daily. We belong to a co-op about an hour away so rarely have the magnitude of packaging problems that come with being tied to a large grocer. Every year we’re able to improve. Putting veggies in our flower pots this spring for the first time. It’s a journey!
What about cellophane? Any experiences or opinions pro or con?
Here’s a website that mentions about materials to use for freezing. http://www.aces.edu/dept/extcomm/specialty/freezing_foods.html Freezer cellophane is supposed to be very good for solids. Glass jars are not good for liquids. Cellophane is made from wood but cello (faux cellophane) is polypropylene. Manufacturers of polypropylene bags claim theirs are superior to cellophane because cellophane yellows as it ages. They have great clarity and a high gloss. (What’s a little yellowing going to hurt, I say.)
This site explains about cellophane and claims it is 100% biodegradable.
http://www.cellobag.com/sub1.htm
I haven’t yet used cellophane. But I would like to get some of that freezer cellophane as my system of wax paper inside of containers — solid plastic or glass — is clunky. I could just use the plastic to store non-food items as it is a bit scratched inside. Otherwise I can’t see donating it to someone who might use it for food storage. However, in our town throwing it away means it is burned in a giant trash burner.
Which brings me to the question of disposing of things that are in my opinion the equivalent of “hazmat.” Plastics and lead containing items like faux Christmas greenery — should you let them be burned? Any opinions?
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I reuse empty wheat germ jars (my father has boxes of them saved in the attic and my mother is only too happy to send them home with me) to freeze food. I don’t fill them the whole way and when I thaw one I set it in a bowl on the counter or in the fridge. I have only ever had one break (I over filled it with broth) in the many years I have been doing this. My parents also freeze food in these jars and haven’t had problems with them breaking. My father also uses the foil liners from his cereal boxes to freeze food. He puts the food in, folds over the edge and puts a rubber band around it. Not sure how eco friendly that is but it is free.