Starting to move toward zero-waste proved to be most challenging in the kitchen. When we began this journey, we had no garden...and it was January, so there was no farmer's market either. I started to assemble my kit + started shopping at a different grocery store...one that offered bulk. I wondered if it was better to look at our favorite meals and try to figure out how to make them zero-waste...or to look at what I could find zero-waste and make meals out of that. Food just seemed hard.
Pictured are a couple of the meals we ate this week. The second picture is a more typical meal...grain + protein + vegetables. This one contains roasted sweet potatoes and potatoes, rice, kale and chickpeas + cinnamon, turmeric, salt, and grated fresh ginger, topped with feta (in our own container from the salad bar) and chives from the garden...completely zero-waste (on my end). Yum.
The first picture is of some yummy spring tacos made from beans and corn, avocado, foraged spring onions, watermelon radishes, lime, pepper flakes, and feta. This picture reveals a bit of the struggle to reach zero-waste. Usually I make taco bowls, when I make Mexican (probably our favorite category of food). This provides no issue with waste. Rice is the grain...beans for protein...plus all of the toppings. Sometimes tortillas are a treat and corn adds some enticing sweetness. Corn would be a great thing for me to husk, cut off the cob, and freeze in the summer...noted. And tortillas...I promised myself that I would find a place to buy them fresh and package-free before posting this...and I did! So I'll let you know when I make the well-worth-it trek to buy some.
For now I will make sure to put the bag from my corn and the tortillas in the grocery bag recycling bin at the grocery store. My strong desire is to avoid those bags. It is good to be aware that any stretchy plastic bag can be added to that bin for recycling...but again...plastic is plastic and won't go away...so let's really try to avoid it!
Keeping it real,
Jane
The first picture is of some yummy spring tacos made from beans and corn, avocado, foraged spring onions, watermelon radishes, lime, pepper flakes, and feta. This picture reveals a bit of the struggle to reach zero-waste. Usually I make taco bowls, when I make Mexican (probably our favorite category of food). This provides no issue with waste. Rice is the grain...beans for protein...plus all of the toppings. Sometimes tortillas are a treat and corn adds some enticing sweetness. Corn would be a great thing for me to husk, cut off the cob, and freeze in the summer...noted. And tortillas...I promised myself that I would find a place to buy them fresh and package-free before posting this...and I did! So I'll let you know when I make the well-worth-it trek to buy some.
For now I will make sure to put the bag from my corn and the tortillas in the grocery bag recycling bin at the grocery store. My strong desire is to avoid those bags. It is good to be aware that any stretchy plastic bag can be added to that bin for recycling...but again...plastic is plastic and won't go away...so let's really try to avoid it!
Keeping it real,
Jane
