One Success & More Plastic and Food Links - Setting Priorities for Action

We've had one clear success in eliminating plastic from our food.  I recently bought Westbrae Natural Vegetarian Unsweetened Ketchup which comes in a glass bottle instead of Hunt's No Salt Added Ketchup which comes in plastic. The new one is tasty and healthier too as it has no added sugar although it does cost more and have a bit of sodium. One food item checked off!

Let's narrow down our priority actions related to Plastic and Food.

This article from the Local Hazardous Waste Management Program of Kings County, Washington says to dispose of all "7" plastic containers and older clear hard plastic items that touch food. It also says plastic labeled "1", "2" or "5" do not contain BPA but you should still throw away or recycle any scratched or cracked ones . It also mentions that cash register receipts contain BPA so you should wash your hands after touching them! BPA in Plastic Bottles, Food Containers, etc.

Then there is this article (12 Tips to Reduce Food Contamination from Plastic) that says "1" plastic (PET) can lead to chemicals migrating into your food if the plastic gets hot. It also talks about the need to avoid other plastic based food containers.

Or look at this Rodale article on How to Freeze and Store Food Without Using Plastic

So what am I going to do?
- Never microwave anything in plastic of any kind
- Go through our existing plastic containers and food prep items and remove any "1"s & "7"s and any that are scratched
- Wrap meat/fish in aluminum foil before putting in freezer bag or buy some butcher paper as the outside wrap
- Transfer food unavoidably purchased in plastic to non-plastic container at home - for example transfer lentils, rice, etc. to glass jars
- Continue to search for alternatives to plastic packed food items for example I could take those glass jars to the bulk bins to buy more lentils, rice, etc.

What are your priorities?

Today's Decluttering Items
2 scarves & a necklace

Some small steps on reducing plastic contact with our food

I have already taken some small steps towards reducing the amount of plastic that comes in contact with our food.

- Finally bought a travel mug. Yes there is a plastic lid but the container is stainless steel. As an added benefit I'm no longer getting take out containers for coffee when I do go out for it.
- Moved some unused Pyrex casserole dishes into our storage container drawer and am trying to consciously use them first.
- Took the food I was going to microwave out of the plastic container it was stored in and put it on a plate before heating it up.
- Decided to stop buying yogurt as I'm not that fond of it anyway. I don't eat enough of it to make it myself and Hubby is lactose intolerant so he doesn't eat it.
- Started to look for the availability in glass packaging of products we do buy. Bought some raspberry vinaigrette salad dressing at Trader Joe's to try. 

Products I have found in glass containers at Trader Joe's but haven't tried yet:
- Other salad dressings
- Low fat mayonnaise
- Maple syrup (Publix does too but at a higher price)

Also, they have baking powder with no aluminum added in cardboard containers with a metal bottom and plastic lid. That is better than the one I have been buying that is an all plastic container. I'll be checking out Whole Foods today and see what else I can find although I'm not buying anything until it is needed. 

Today's Decluttering Items
No longer needed orthodontic supplies

Yikes! Lots of plastic touching our food

So how did that inventory of food related plastic turn out?

We buy lots of food wholly or partially packaged in plastic: Cereal, dried fruit, pasta, rice, legumes, bread products, crackers, chicken broth, canola oil, honey, brown sugar, maple syrup, baking powder, nuts, peanut butter, mayonnaise, ketchup, salad dressing, BBQ sauce spices, tea, mil, soy milk, nondairy spread, mustard, sun dried tomatoes, yogurt, hummus, cheese, lunch meat, meat, fish, frozen vegetables and fruit, frozen waffles and pancakes, veggie burgers, coffee, and lined cans. Toothpaste and mouthwash count too as they go in our mouth.

We store food in plastic containers, bags and wrap on serve it on plastic trays at times. We use plastic to prepare food: lettuce spinner, Teflon pans, nylon spatulas and spoons, measuring spoons and cups, whisk, pastry brush, vegetable scrubber, bowl, strainer, blender, food processor, waffle iron and ice bucket. Some of these items are rarely used or are hard plastic which I believe is less dangerous so they are low priority.

I did pull out some plastic containers that have the telltale sign of having microwaved tomato based food in them. They will be re-purposed to hold non-food items if possible and, if not, recycled.

So what is the plan? I am going to try to find substitutes for items as they are used up or in the case of plastic food storage slowly replace with non-plastic items. I started by moving three old Pyrex casseroles with lids that are never used into the food container drawer. I'm going to save a few jars to use to store items only available in plastic containers or to use for leftover food storage. I'll continue to reuse plastic produce bags and when they finally run out try to find non-plastic replacements. We do use plastic shopping bags as trash bags so I expect that will continue as will recycling what plastic we can.

First up on the research list is a glass orange juice container to replace the old plastic one.

Today's Decluttering Items
2 foreign coins worth a whole $0.08 and from an African country we never visited. Did you know you can send them to UNICEF as a donation?

Plastic and Food

I just finished reading Beth Terry's book Plastic Free and am highly motivated to start removing plastic from my life by addressing our plastic storage containers and food packaged in plastic. What made me want to do this? It was learning that putting hot food into plastic containers increases the likelihood of leaching out harmful toxins into the food.

Beth, who also writes the blog My Plastic Free Life , has done much, much more to remove plastic from her life. I don't know how far I am willing to go but I'm starting with the contact between plastic and food.

She suggests making one change a week and I think that is great advice. I'm going to make a list of current products and what I can substitute for them and go from there. Top of my list will be plastic food storage containers and at the bottom will be hard plastic measuring cups and spoons. I need to spend time filling in the middle!

My goal for this week is to make that list and start replacing plastic food containers.

So who is up for a Plastic and Food Challenge?

Today's Decluttering Items
2 CDs with work related material
4 CD cases
2 binders
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