phasing out plastics
So, I keep hearing all this creepy stuff about plastic and what its leaching into...and something recently about baby bottles (wanna say it was called BHT?) anyways...I use a microwave and thats probally bad enough for me, I shouldn't be using plastic too. A thing I just saw on the news was saying how this certain chemical is especially dangerous when found in a womans body who conceives a child and the fetus is exposed to it...then when said child grows up they are more likely to develop prosate and breast cancers as well as hyperactivity and other disorders....scary thing...its in 95% of all American's urine. :o My grandma used to sell Tupperware so I have all the super old school stuff at my house...plastics for any purpose you can imagine...cupboards and cupboards full of it...poisoning me :-X ...
I always save my jars and such, but what about freezing things. What could I freeze in? And how do I cover dishes (instead of Tupperware) Do they have giant glass bowls with screw on lids like a big jar lid? anyone here plastics free? Should I be worried about the chemiclas used to make the glass/metal/wood?
I'm nearly plastic free. It took four or five months to transition because a dozen canning jars are $8-$12, depending on size of jar and store so I wanted to spread out my jar purchases.
I use wide mouth canning jars for to store and freeze foods. The jar sizes I have range from cups up to quarts.
I don't use my microwave much. Microwave directions say to let your food sit for two minutes afterwards because there is still microwave action going on in your food. It's kind of worrysome, so I reheat using using a pot my stove.
At work, where reheating means using a microwave, I use a ceramic bowl. What I want is a small Pyrex dish and lid set so food doesn't boil over.
The place where I'm not plastic free is spices. I buy bulk spices. Some of the oranish-colored spices will make the outside of the bag sticky. Plastic and spice interactions are never good, so I use them fast or put them in small jars. However, I haven't found jars small enough for the amount of spice and storage space I have, so they're still bagged.
i went to the thrift store (actually three different ones) and cleaned them out of all those jars with claspy lids on top... washed them all out and i use them to store my dry goods. i also save all my salsa and tomato sauce, etc jars; i asked my flatmates to save theirs too. since two out of three of us are college students, we go through a lot of pasta sauce, so it was a pretty quick transition.
i would just say that if you buy any used jars you should boil them first, like you would when making canning.
other peoples germs can be gross
If you really want jars for spices, you can either ask friends/family to save their spices jar (undoubtedly there's someone in your life who's not clever enough to buy spices in bulk!) or you can buy new jars from Penzeys.com. I don't buy spices from them anymore because I buy all my bulk stuff at my co-op, but if you don't have bulk spices at your HFS, I whole-heartedly recommend them. Their jars do come with plastic lids, but unless you're storing them upside down, I really don't think you'd need to worry about it.
We still have a microwave, but we only use it once every few months or so these days! It's just easier to heat stuff up on the stove.
The only thing I find really hard about being mostly plastic-free is getting rid of plastic bags. We bake our own bread and slice it and freeze it after a day or two, but what to put it in? We are still using a zip-top freezer bag.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/rooms/kitchen/10523/
a few options at ikea
This one says it's freezer safe!
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20100249
The place where I'm not plastic free is spices. I buy bulk spices. Some of the oranish-colored spices will make the outside of the bag sticky. Plastic and spice interactions are never good, so I use them fast or put them in small jars. However, I haven't found jars small enough for the amount of spice and storage space I have, so they're still bagged.
Here's a link to the Penzey's jars Sharway mentioned. I was going to mention them too, but she beat me to it!
http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeysjars.html
Their jars have nice wide mouths and are pretty durable!
oh those look cool Jennifer! I might look into getting few of those! Its funny, like glass Tupperware.
For spices you may consider babyfood jars. You can either get them from a family friend who recently had a baby or post something int eh wanted section of Craigslist...if you don't get any bites after a while offer like 50 cents ajar or something...Also liking the thrift store idea! I found a ton of old gallon sized jars in my Grammas back yard with lids. They are cool shapes and everything. I'm gonna rinse those out and boil them...use them for dried beans and whatnot. ::)
The place where I'm not plastic free is spices. I buy bulk spices. Some of the oranish-colored spices will make the outside of the bag sticky. Plastic and spice interactions are never good, so I use them fast or put them in small jars. However, I haven't found jars small enough for the amount of spice and storage space I have, so they're still bagged.
Here's a link to the Penzey's jars Sharway mentioned. I was going to mention them too, but she beat me to it!
http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeysjars.html
Their jars have nice wide mouths and are pretty durable!
oohh- fantastic prices on those too!
50 cents a jar is more than babyfood costs!!!
Just go buy it and dump them out. ;)
I know I'm a waster.
Or buy the babyfood applesauce and use it as an egg.
I can't use babyfood jars cuz they are too wide for my spice cabinet. grr
yeah i thought they were cool to zealia i think i want some... they have a plastic seal at the top to keep the food airtight
or feed the contents to your companion animals...I know my babyies would luv dem some baby food! ::)
Three words:
Magnetic Spice Tins!
I splurged on ebay and got 3 sets (2 complete, 1 mostly) of one pattern of Pyrex refrigerator dishes, all with the glass lids. I have small, medium and large. Like the old ads used to say...from the freezer to the oven to the table (and now the microwave). They clean up like a dream by hand or in a dishwasher. They were a splurge and an investment. I will have them and use them for years. The old Pyrex and Corelle was a bit thicker and sturdier than it is now, so buying old is good. They don't even make the old fashioned rectangular frig dishes anymore! I love mine, they stack really nice to store them too.
I decided last year that plastics just didn't belong in the house anymore. I don't microwave in anything other than glass either. I can't tell you where that came from, I didn't read anything or have something happen, I had a wild hair. I thought perhaps that plastic residue might be contributing to my lupus and I 86'd it all. I mean, this modern life and what all we don't really know, you know?
Glass, all the way!
I dumped all my plastics. And ditched the microwave.
I live out of mason jars, and the wide mouth jars are the best for smoothies, herbal teas, etc.
For drinking glasses, I like old-time tempered bistro glasses. They're practically indestructible. Get them for a $1 at your local thrift store. I recently noticed that Williams-Sonoma sells tempered French bistro glasses for reasonable prices, especially if you get a set.
Pyrex glass makes great measuring cups and shatterproof kitchen items. Tempered glass cutting boards are fantastic kitchen surfaces, and I often cut vegees on wooden boards placed on top of these glass surfaces.
To keep glass jars and other glass surfaces free of mold and bacteria, I've found that a drop or two of liquid Grapefruit Seed Extract works perfectly. It's harmless and does a great job keeping glass 'sanitized' naturally. I highly recommend it. Get some at your local health food store (try the herbal tinctures or supplements section) or buy some here:
www.integratedhealth.com/hpdspec/citrus.html
By the way, regarding microwave ovens: I put little post-it-note stickies saying 'love and gratitude' on my friends' microwave ovens. I was amazed watching that Massaro Emoto DVD where this written message kept water in perfect condition during microwaving. But the sample that lacked the message was totally distorted. Seems to work quite well.
So, I keep hearing all this creepy stuff about plastic and what its leaching into...and something recently about baby bottles (wanna say it was called BHT?) anyways...I use a microwave and thats probally bad enough for me, I shouldn't be using plastic too. A thing I just saw on the news was saying how this certain chemical is especially dangerous when found in a womans body who conceives a child and the fetus is exposed to it...then when said child grows up they are more likely to develop prosate and breast cancers as well as hyperactivity and other disorders....scary thing...its in 95% of all American's urine. :o My grandma used to sell Tupperware so I have all the super old school stuff at my house...plastics for any purpose you can imagine...cupboards and cupboards full of it...poisoning me :-X ...
I always save my jars and such, but what about freezing things. What could I freeze in? And how do I cover dishes (instead of Tupperware) Do they have giant glass bowls with screw on lids like a big jar lid? anyone here plastics free? Should I be worried about the chemiclas used to make the glass/metal/wood?
Scary that "they" know what is 95% of our urine.