Not so Fantastic Plastic

There's been a lot of press lately about the dangers of plastic that is used to store our foodstuffs and especially plastic that comes in contact with food when it is being heated.

There is now conclusive evidence that plasticides (DEHA) from some food wraps (clingwrap) leach and migrate into food - particularly when that food and plastic are heated. (Such as in a microwave) Here are some of the steps I have taken to reduce the amount of plastic being used by our family.

If I use clingwrap (rare now) I make sure it does not come into contact with the food it is covering.

I got rid of the microwave and thus the temptation to quickly reheat things.

I use nude food containers for Miss R's lunch or waxed paper if required.

I have now converted my entire pantry to glass storage containers. I did this gradually over time to cut down on the cost. I do have quite a small pantry but because I am at home full time I can pick up what I need for dinner fresh each day. Storing less food means less food waste at the end of the week.

Here is my pantry

Is anybody else reducing the amount of plastic in their homes?

I knew I was kidding myself that I'd have a restful school holidays but today was full on. After Rhianna cooked herself some breakfast, we went op shopping and then to the park.

Back home again, I started on dinner as my energy was getting low. Pumpkin soup and a batch of scones.

A spot of cubby house building and then into the cubby to colour in and play some games.

Then outside for some trampolining and then some ironing. Phew, I don't think I can keep this up for another 2 weeks.

Saturday

The first birthday party of the year for Rhianna today. It was for a little boy in her class at school. I racked my brain trying to think of a home made gift for a 6 year old boy but I just couldn't come up with anything that wasn't a bit lame. Hence a trip to Toys R US. Does anybody have a suggestion for next time?

A lovely friend named Michelle has taken on the challenge to teach me to crochet. We started last week while our daughters were at dance class. Below I present one hours worth of crochet. Unfortunately, my dog Finn got hold of the ball of wool this crochet was attached to and had his own attempt.

Sorry Michelle, I owe you one ball of wool.

Rhianna decided to recycle the remains of the wool into "spaghetti cupcakes" - Close your eyes now Michelle.

This is my food waste for this week. Again with the shallots. They are the bane of my existence.

Dinner tonight - seafood vol-au-vents. We've been doing these for years and we all love them.

Hope everybody is enjoyong their weekend.

Wheat Bags and Worm Farms

I mentioned a few blogs ago that I am on the school fete committee this year. It's my first time as a parent and its interesting so far. Our class (1C) is in charge of the craft stall. There about 6 Mums in our class who are very interested in craft so we've formed a craft committee to source stock for our stall. We've asked the rest of the Year 1 mums for donations of craft items or resources but at this stage it looks like we are going to be making a lot of the items ourselves.

I've decided to make one item (x10) per month. For March it's going to be wheat bags that you heat up in the microwave. Here is the first one below.


This very unattractive looking item is my worm farm. I've had it for a year now and it's taken that long to really get going.

For those that aren't sure how it works: You put food scraps in the top (except meat, onion and citrus) and the worms eat it. It stops an awful lot of food going into landfill and you get the added reward of worm tea which drips out the bottom of the baskets.

Here is my worm tea ready to go. You dilute the tea 1:10 with water and water your plants and garden with it. It's packed full of nutrients and out plants are thriving. It takes no effort at all and I personally love to vist my worms each day and feed them our scraps.

Food Waste Friday

The lovely Angela over at My Year Without Spending has inspired me to start Food Waste Friday. This is where I have to go through my fridge, pantry and freezer and get out any food that is quite obviously past its use by date - in other words - waste.

What is the purpose of this?

Well, I have blogged previously that Australians toss about 25 % of all food they bring into the house. Not only is this terrible for your wallet but its awful for the environment. When food is put into landfill and begins to break down it realises a gas called methane which gets released into the environment. Methane is a nasty and if its not floating around for us to breathe in, its heading up to attack the ozone layer.

So eating everything you bring into your house is a step in the right direction in preventing the formation of this gas.

Here is my waste for Friday.

I have some shallots - which I just couln't figure out how to use them up and some roasted pumpkin which I cooked to snack on and then couldn't get through it.


The pumpkin goes into my worm farm container, which is a container I keep on my bench with scraps for the worms, (post on that coming later) but the worms won't eat onions so they have to go in the bin.


Do you know how much food waste goes into your bin every week?