Plastic plastic everywhere. If you are careful about not using single use plastic, and you've had the misfortune of spending a day or two in a hospital, you will have been horrified by how much plastic is wasted there. Every pill comes wrapped in plastic, which is opened by a disposable pair of plastic scissors that was also wrapped in plastic. The “food” (if you can call it that) arrives on plastic disposable plates with plastic utensils in plastic wrappers and all this is on a Styrofoam tray. Guests have to wrap themselves in plastic before visiting a patient. On the “outside” (to use verbiage that is used to describe which side of a prison wall you are on) there is plastic in our cars, plastic in our gardens, plastic in our pet supplies, plastic in our clothes, our furniture, our water, our technology and our food. It sometimes feels like such a huge problem, why should we bother saying “no straw please.”?
Many of us think “The plastics for our foods are recyclable so it’s OK – I am making a difference by putting this water bottle in the recycling bin”. But we all know by now that little of this actually gets reused even though we are required by law to dispose of it “properly.” Slowly but surely we are being made lawbreakers if we dare to use a plastic shopping bag or a straw, but never mind the plastic garbage bags, the plastic the kitchen appliances are made of, the plastic paints on our walls, the plastic in our furniture, our kayaks, our food processors, juicers, immersion blenders, power cords and and and...
Plastic is everywhere. And that is not right.
For me the biggest wake-up call was looking in my refrigerator and noticing how much plastic was in there. This set off a crusade on my part to at least reduce that, even the supposedly recyclable bits.
Here are some very simple changes I made that greatly reduced the plastic in my fridge:
• I buy raw milk in glass jars that the suppliers recycle themselves.
• I make yogurt, kefir, and cheese from this milk because I noticed that most of the plastic in my fridge contained dairy products.
• I of course take shopping bags whenever I go shopping and have reusable bags tucked inside each of those for loose fruits or products sold in bulk.
• No more take-out food for this family, unless it’s from a store that packages it in cardboard or paper. Unfortunately I live in NYS, the state that makes everyone a lawbreaker for their own good (I gotta get outta here), and it is against the law for a store to package the food you buy in a container that you provide.
• Out with the plastic wrap, in with the beeswax coverings and waxed paper.
• Out with prepared foods, which are a huge source of non-recyclable plastic, from little plastic windows to see what’s inside to polypropylene bags encasing the whole product. In with a whole lot more cooking and dishes.
Here are the food products I haven’t managed to eliminate plastic use for:
• Meats. I buy all of these from the farmers, and it’s all shrink wrapped and frozen. This is my biggest use of single use plastic. Even if we were to raise and butcher our own large animals, much of it would get frozen in plastic. If anyone knows how to avoid this, please post about it! I’ll be raising chickens for consumption one of these days, and eggs and poultry can be eaten without encasing them in plastic first. Rabbits too. Hunting for small game and fishing are also options, and I have @myjob for inspiration to fish. If you haven’t checked her out, please do!
• Berries – these always come in those horrible plastic containers. I buy as much as I can from farmer’s markets in paper bags or cardboard, but those blueberries. We need those blueberries.
At least those containers can sometimes be reused, such as for germinating seedlings.
• Coconut products, such as sugar, aminos, and dried coconut.
• Plastic lids on glass bottles such as for vinegars, oils and spices.
I cringe when I see the insides of most refrigerators - they are usually LOADED with plastic!
Open up your refrigerator, yeah that one that is made of a ton of plastic, and look at how much plastic is on the inside too.
This is my entry for the @ecotrain and @naturalmedicine challenge: https://steempeak.com/naturalmedicine/@naturalmedicine/alternative-consumer-challenge-week-1-wrap-up-spot-sbi-prize-due-date-june-15th
There have been some very valuable posts for this challenge! Go check them out!
The image is mine of the yogurt I put up today. Thank you for reading this.
🏆 Hi @owasco! You have received 0.05 SBD reward for this post from the following subscribers: @carolkean
Subscribe and increase the reward for @owasco :) | For investors.
As a follower of @followforupvotes this post has been randomly selected and upvoted! Enjoy your upvote and have a great day!
Thanks for using eSteem!
Your post has been voted as a part of eSteem encouragement program. Keep up the good work! Install Android, iOS Mobile app or Windows, Mac, Linux Surfer app, if you haven't already!
Learn more: https://esteem.app
Join our discord: https://discord.gg/8eHupPq
@owasco I was scrolling my feed page and your post interested me on the overuse of plastic, it is a good read. But then I saw you mentioned me, I was amazed. thank you. Fishing is a great way to get food that is nutritious I would say it is free food but it is not, you have to buy a fishing license and tackle also bait. I do not mean to discourage you, but would not want you to get a ticket.
I get a license every year just so that I can sit on a dock with a fishing pole. I never ever catch a thing though - I have no idea what I am doing. I really enjoy your work stories! I would like this community to read them too.
@owasco thank you, I am glad you enjoy my stories/life. when fishing off a dock cast near shore if trees overhang, or even right by the dock, if you can see any structure fish by it, I assume you are freshwater fishing if wanting to catch bream use a cork and set it where your bait floats if fishing for catfish do not use a cork use a sinker, for freshwater bass or trout use a top water plug. I hope this helps
You’ve been visited by @walkerland on behalf of Natural Medicine!
I LOVE homemade yogurt! My husband has been looking into an eco butcher paper as an option for wrapping his meat. There is one brand that uses a soy wax coating rather than plastics. could be a good option for you. Great entry to the contest - re-steemed & upvoted!
Come join us in the Natural Medicine and Ecotrain Unite: 🚂 The Alternative Consumer Challenge! 50 Steem in Prizes! 🌿
Oh thank you so much!
I would be very interested in that paper! There has to be a way to preserve a large animal, besides smoking, sausage etc.
Great community. I am so glad I found it.
We tried using butcher paper for meat for 2 years. It just does not seal well and there was a LOT of freezer burn. When we went to butchering a steer every other year, we HAD to vacuum seal the meat for it to store that long.
as for the meats I'm guessing it is vacuum sealed? you could ask your cutter to wrap in butchers paper, we use several butchers here since we raise our own meat, all of of our cuts are paper wrapped, even the bacon!
never hurts to ask them!!
I buy it all at farmer's markets, and those guys all send their animals out for processing, get them back as plastic wrapped frozen cuts, then bring the cuts to the market frozen. My daughter even helped butcher a pig a few months ago and she was paid in plastic wrapped frozen meat. Can you freeze your meats wrapped only in butcher paper? I would definitely do that, maybe slip them together into one large reusable bag to guard against freezer burn.
We did not have good luck with butcher paper. See above comment.
yes maybe a little digging around and try to find any local cutters and ask them directly? Any butchers who process wild game might also order beef and pork for sausage/jerky.... you could always phone them and ask about packaging:)
as for the meat wrapped in paper, it obviously wont last as long as plastic wrap but we get through the year just fine, very few issues with freezer burn. we get 3 sides of beef and 2 pigs every fall so by end of bbq season we will pack up all the freezers and send off all the meat for sausage/pepperoni/jerky which gives it new life.
as for the comment below mine I'm not sure what issue they had with paper but if I can remember ill take a picture after work to show that the meat is still very much red and free of freezer burn, and this is from our butchering last fall.
That was my comment! No need to take a pix I believe you. Thank you so much for this. I will talk to my producers and see if any of them will make the switch. Excellent info.
no wait it wasn't my comment, I spoke too soon. I'm going to talk to a bunch of them and see if I can't get at least some wrapped in paper. I don't buy by a whole side though, not yet anyway. If I did, I'd worry all the time about losing power.
I live in a northern town with unreliable power grid, but if freezer is full it can last a good 2 weeks as long as it isn't opened more than once/twice per day... also as the freezer empties I will fill watter bottles and store them as ice blocks... helps keep a freezer frozen during power outage plus ice cold beer in the cooler come summer :)
good ideas. thanks
hey I know its been awhile but I found the answers to the freezer bag wrapped cuts of meat mystery, found it in a butchers manual. its called wet aging.
its a commercial form of aging the meat, they hang the beef just long enough for rigor mortis to set in, then fast process and freezer bag the cuts so that the meat breaks down in its own juices and tenderizes inside of the bag.
the reason they do this is because they can process alof of sides, like any assembly line, in and out in a couple days instead of the 2-3 weeks of hanging in the cooler. dry aging shrinks the meat but bag aging does not, so essentially they get a side cut and out the door in a couple days without the freezer costs and also charge that extra 30% that would otherwise be lost to the dry aging process.
It's so hard to completely eliminate plastic. We're going to have to find alternatives at some point, when the oil runs out, but so far there is a reluctance for companies to find alternatives.
Posted using Partiko Android
The alternatives would likely cost producers more, both in materials and work. But it sounds from the comments here that there are people working on it, and we didn't always have plastic or fridges. Maybe butcher an animal and distribute it to a lot of people instead of filling only one family's fridge with it? A smokehouse in every back yard? We may all have to go back to these ways someday.
definitely a fan of stainless over plastic from the fridges !! plastic is more of a disposable and that's a huge part of the problem. a good made in usa stainless steel lined fridge would last forever and id gladly pay more for it !!!
this was just a random pick from our freezer. we buy the calfs in spring and are lucky enough to have a friend with property to tend to them, butchered in October so its 8 months in the freezer now. fed all organic none of that hormone or steroid/antibiotic garbage feed pure free range and sweetened with oats and candy before butchering. was hoping for a nice Tbone but guess its sirloin for dinner tomorrow :)
also twice as tender and tasty as commercial meat so even a normally tough cut comes out amazingly tender !!
I had asked my butcher about the packaging the paper is lined with wax fully compostable/biodegradable if you want I can phone to ask for the supplier
Yes, the alternatives would cost more and often in more ways than one. I recently spoke to a company about the chances of changing their butter packaging to a plain paper one, rather than the paper/plastic/foil mix they use and they replied that they would have to change all their packing machinery in order to do that.
Posted using Partiko Android
that's 100% true we will always need some plastics. my family we always just avoided using single use that ends up in landfill. I still use recyclable bottles for storing grains/rice/sugar/salt or for ice blocks but yeah I guess its a matter of finding good alternatives for the wasteful parts of our lifestyles. im definitely not a fan of those damn paper straws I wish they would make them from biodegradable vegetable based rather than this paper garbage!!!
I'm not a fan of straws, personally, but I get that you need them with things like Boost and other take out cups and can see the issue with paper straws. Compostable plastics have come a long way, so you'd think the could make straws from them. Imagine a food court where all the rubbish could be put in one bin for composting.
Posted using Partiko Android
I've found a paper straw that is fine. Expensive, but works great. Straws were all paper when I was a kid. I've tried some compostable plastic-y ones and they break too easily. I need them for a bed bound person I care for or I just wouldn't ever have straws here at all.
Thank s for your contribution to the challenge and for adding to the global discussion about LESS PLASTIC! We need more innovaiton and creative solutions!
Leading the curation trail for both @ecotrain & @eco-alex.
Together We’re Making This World A Better Place.
Click Here To Join the manually curated trail "@artemislives" to support quality eco-green content.
@ecoTrain
Hello!
This post has been manually curated, resteemed
and gifted with some virtually delicious cake
from the @helpiecake curation team!
Much love to you from all of us at @helpie!
Keep up the great work!
Manually curated by @vibesforlife.
Thank you!!!!
And thank you @vibesforlife!