Social Commentary « (y)our food choices™

Since going plastic free some of our regular purchases have been nixed from our shopping list. We used to eat Kashi shredded wheat squares for a quick breakfast and sometimes as a late night snack. It was organic and healthy with not a lot of sugar, and even though it was in a cardboard box we weren’t okay with the packaging since the inner bag was made of plastic! Our response was, Is the plastic bag really necessary? The way we see it, all it does is add to the shelf life of the product, meaning that the manufacturer —Kellogg’s now owns Kashi–can keep it on the shelf much longer than it really should be there. What if Kellogg’s decided to use a waxed paper bag instead? It could still stay on the shelf for just as long. Or, even better, if they decided to sell the delicious squares in bulk instead of in boxes, eliminating the need for packaging all together. Kellogg’s executives, if your reading our blog (which we both doubt), we’re asking you to start selling your cereals in bulk. We’re not anti-corporation, we just think that there’s a better way to sell your products and eliminate the need for unnecessary plastic and paper.

A weekday morning breakfast; granola and bananas in milk.

The bulk section at our grocery store, Rainbow Grocery, sells only granola and muesli. I make my own muesli, so I thought how hard can it be to make granola. I found out it’s not hard at all. With Martha Stewart’s granola recipe as a blue-print, I started on my own recipe with items I had on hand. I’m sure Martha’s is just as good, if not better, and one day, when I have all the ingredients, I’ll give it a try. For now though, what follows is my granola recipe. Use it as a morning cereal with milk or yogurt, an ice cream topping, or just eat a handful as a snack. However you eat it I hope you’ll enjoy the “healthy” benefits of the cereal.

This is the reason we don’t start a home business. Even Moe likes our granola.

Granola (Version I)

2 tablespoons light flavor oil (canola, grapeseed, etc.)
5 cups oats
¼ cup flax seeds
2/3 cup pumpkin seeds
2/3 cup sunflower seeds
2/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup agave syrup (or honey)
1 orange (zest and juice)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup cranberries
½ cup currants or raisins
½ cup dehydrated coconut

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Lightly oil two sheet pans with 1 tablespoon oil each. Toss the oats, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds in a large bowl. Heat the maple syrup, agave syrup (or honey), orange juice and zest, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, until barely starting to boil. Toss the syrup with the oat mixture and spread out between the sheet pans.

Place the sheet pans in the oven for 45 minutes, stirring the mixture and rotating the pans every 15 minutes. Allow the granola to cool on the pans. Put the toasted granola in the large bowl with the cranberries, currants or raisins, and coconut. Toss everything together and store in an airtight container. It will stay fresh for at least 2 weeks.

Cheers, Jason & Steve

Its been a little over a week since we started our low-impact diet. To remind people of what this diet consists of, it’s a lifestyle change to go plastic-free. The concern for the ocean, ground water, and our health has started us on this change. To keep me motivated I’ve been reading No-Impact Man, and thinking about what impact I’m leaving on the planet. I can honestly say that I have not used any new plastic wrap or baggies in the week since starting. And aside from the minor set back, Steve as well has stopped his use. I sort of feel like I’m in AA. If only there was such a place for plastic addicts. Maybe a support group needs to be started. “Hi, my name is Jason and I’m addicted to plastic.”

I have to say that giving up plastic wrap hasn’t been as hard as I thought it would be. When we make our bread we have replaced plastic wrap with a damp kitchen towel to cover the dough as it proofs. A left over half an onion or lemon now goes into a Tupperware container, or glass jar. Steve’s sandwiches are going into containers now too, instead of tossing them into plastic baggies. It’s really amazing what other items you can find to store food in when you make a conscious effort to not use plastic.

Our goal is that by the end of the year we will no longer have a trash can in our apartment. I know most of you are thinking, that’s not possible? Where will you throw away your trash? First, we plan on reusing containers. Glass jars are great for storing items, and for buying things in bulk. Second, composting is such an easy thing to do. Even things like tissue paper used to blow ones nose can be composted. Third, recycle. As a last resort if we can’t compost or reuse something we will recycle it. And the things that can’t be reused, composted, or recycled we will need to eliminate from our lives. I think it’s the least we can do for living in such a wonderful place like America.

Remember the public service announcement from the 1970’s with the Native American looking over the trash dump with tears running down his face. The caption was something like, “People start pollution, people can stop it.” Well, I don’t want to pollute America any longer. Look, plastic is a petroleum by-product, which essentially is just waste from petroleum refinement for fuels. (I won’t even go there about petroleum.) So, if plastic is just waste to begin with, and the only place it ends up is in our water supply and landfill, aren’t we all just wasting America every time we use it?

I’ll get off my soapbox for now and return to the topic of our blog in the next entry, good sustainable food. Occasionally we will keep you updated about our progress and let you know of clever ways we’re going without plastic. Like in the next few days I plan to write about our attempt at making home-made kefir and yogurt. This is in an effort to stop buying the yogurt and kefir in plastic containers. In the meantime, if you’re keeping up on our blog and trying to reduce your impact, think twice about using plastic wrap or plastic baggies. There are better alternatives out there that won’t trash our world.

Cheers,
Jason