Seemingly overnight, everyone was boasting "BPA free!" products that were, of course, better (right?) At that point I was trying to reduce plastic whenever possible, whether it was BPA free or not. Well, last week, NPR reported on a study that tested a variety of every day plastic food packaging products and found out that almost all of them, even the BPA free ones, had easily detectable estrogen-like chemicals that were leaching into the food. This leaching was significantly increased if the plastic was microwaved, put into dishwasher, or frozen. Awesome.
At least I felt good about switching to glass-bottled milk a few months ago. It is fresh, local, not homogenized, minimally pasteurized, and organic (I don't know if it's a coincidence, but since I started buying it Lucas began drinking 10 times more milk).
I still try to avoid plastic as much as possible. But it's hard (maybe impossible?) to avoid it altogether -- yogurt/sour cream/cottage cheese tubs, frozen vegetables, cheese, and baby carrots are currently in plastic bags or tubs.
It's still unknown if these chemicals are really harmful to us or not. I just wish we found out BEFORE packaging everything in plastic.
These are some things I use at home to avoid plastic:
Glass jars from IKEA ($3-$4) in various sizes to store dried beans, pasta, granola, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and so on.
Large Hill Jar with Lid for sugar (I'm not a huge fan of this particular brand because the lid doesn't have a rubber ring around the edge, so the lid loosely sits on top and slides when I move the jar)
Snapware glasslock storage containers instead of regular tupperware. I love these! They wash easily, don't stain and can be used in the freezer. The lids are plastic so I don't put them in microwave or dishwasher.
Lunch Bots are perfect for sandwiches that Zach takes to work! They are stainless steel with a tight (not water tight) lid. Can fit two sandwiches on top of each other. Some come with dividers and are perfect for snacks like nuts or grapes.
Klean Kanteen -- I love these! They are stainless steel (remember that cheaper aluminum water bottles are lined with thin plastic) and come with the cap you see pictured or a sports cap (they are convenient but slightly leaky if you lay the bottle down). We also have one for me and Zach and a smaller one for Lucas! I will get Anya one soon too with a sippy cup top.
Lunch Skins are cloth reusable snack bags. These have velcro. I have a few that are much thinner cloth (different brand from New Seasons) that just fold over like lunch sacks. There are a lot of patterns on the internet to make these yourself (which I hope to do some day)
I use a variety of glass jars (canning ones or I reuse glass jars from pasta sauce and such) for freezing home made broth and sauces as well as random storage needs. We also frequently drink out of them (Lucas loves to drink out of the smaller jars)
I know I am a little paranoid... but c'mon... shouldn't we know what we package our food in?
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9 comments:
I am impressed Kesenia! I like to avoid plastic when possible too. I recently just purchased all of us metal water bottles and glass storange containters for my flour, etc. Where if I may ask, do you purchase your milk? I know we live south of you guys by an hour or so but I thought I would just ask.
Now you just have to watch out for milk anemia... we are all going to die!!!
Rachel, we get ours at New Seasons Market, but the same milk is delivered to a local pick up site by a CSA as well. (I don't use a CSA for milk because you have to order it and pick up weekly, with new seasons around the corner I can just get the same stuff there any time I run out... I will post more on CSAs in a day or two). If new seasons was not around I would probably order it from the farmer.
Try here:
http://www.norisdairy.com/delivery.html
also
http://www.eatwild.com/products/oregon.html
i've been using some reusable fabric bags (lined on the inside so you can just wipe them out) that I found at walmart-they're made by munchkin in the baby section and totally adorable! They're just snack size but work great for the boys for bribe food while I have to run into the store or whatever.
and as far as the carseats go-i have a britax marathon for ethan and they didn't sell the same carseat cover when i went to buy bennett's carseat so i bought the next closest match which was the britax roundabout 50. it has a higher weight limit than regular roundabouts. they are usually smaller than the marathon but this 50 version is actually bigger than my marathon. Oh well. We love them. :)
i love your posts like these!!! :)
yes it's so hard to get away from plastics since producers want to keep things "fresh" longer and give them a longer shelf life. I've had lots of discussions about plastics with friends in the past and this post made me rethink about all the things in my cupboards that are currently in plastic.
With my kids being such climbers and into everything glass presents it's own hazards since my kids would break it too easily. Wish there was a happy medium.
Oh and I totally want to know more about what you have to say about CSA. I've actually found an organic farm right down the road from us that does a summer, 18 weeks, season for fresh veggies for $450 and you can add on things like fruit for $150 or beef, eggs, honey etc. for more. I think it sounds like an awesome thing but I've never known anyone who's done it.
Traci -- I totally understand your concern with breakable plastic. I know all kids are different. Since Lucas has been dealing with glass his whole life he is now really good at it (I don't know how much of it is just his personality and how much he has learned). Only one drinking glass has been broken so far. Stainless steel is a really great choice because it doesn't break, but those products are more expensive.
CSA post coming!
BTW, those little "lunch bag" things have vinyl lining most of the time, which is pretty much as bad as plastic.
Love you mwah.
Oh no... how do I know when they do?
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