The sorry letter from Starbucks as to why they do not know whether their product can even be recycled.

Unable to find anything on the package about recycling (other than to recycle the box), I took the next step MissWhipLash from God’s Creatures encouraged me to do.
I wrote the company.

Press ‘n seal substitute

Maybe someone out there has a  better idea. A lot of the products we are using are not green. Once we finish them, we try to find a greener, or more creative idea. Being frugal is part of being waste free, and I’m not going to throw something out if I still have some left.

For example—Press n’ seal. 

Childhood disappointment

Before the pregnancy, I visited my father in south Georgia. We stopped to eat at a restaurant we frequented when I was a child.

Funny how you see things differently when you’re older.

Giving up steamable vegetables

Yes ma’am. As convenient as they are, I just could not deal with all the excess plastic.

To blow dry or not to blow dry.

This subject seems so frivolous, but I feel a twinge of guilt each time I chose the hair dryer over letting my hair dry naturally. Men have it so easy! It’s sort of like drying your clothes in the dryer rather than hanging them on the line. Not life or death, but it makes a big difference.

Letting go of air freshners

I read once that you don’t really need air fresheners. If your house is clean, it will smell clean. I thought that was a snarky comment, if snarky is even a word. Well, I’m using it anyway because I like it.

Ode to Red Solo Cup and a disposable society

Have any of you heard the country song about the Red Solo cup? It’s catchy and funny and great writing, but it’s the ultimate ode to a disposable lifestyle.

Why can’t you still “get lucky and proceed to party” from a glass instead of a red plastic cup? The song mentions it takes about 14 years for the cup to break down. The depressing thing is…that’s about right.

Aww…no more Weet-a-bix?

I was IN LOVE with this cereal. I thought, finally, a zero waste cereal! I don’t have to give up all cereal. The outside box made of cardboard could be recycled, the inside liner could be composted and the actual whole grain biscuits were like Frosted mini-wheats without all the sugar gunk. It was perfect.

I was wrong.

Giving up the stars!

In my cookbooks, I use a three star system.

1= I won’t bother making it again.
2= It was all right. Might make again.
3= equivalent to a 5 star. Delicious and will have again.

But who says I have to use stickers?

Afraid of the sushi man.

For a while, I passed the sushi aisle, feeling put out that I couldn’t eat my favorite, quick meal because I’d “given it up due to the packaging, blah, blah, blah.” Sure, I could still eat it fresh at a restaurant any day, but I just wasn’t so sure the handsome, smiling, Japanese man behind the counter at the commissary would be willing to place the homemade sushi rolls in the empty container I held out. Besides the fact, I’d have to arrive at just the right moment—first thing in the morning when they opened–while he created them, but before he packaged the lovely rolls. I had to time it just right…it seemed like such a pain.