Winter Grocery Produce
Day 1: Broccoli soup with cheddar toasts
Day 2: Pan-roasted chicken with lemon garlic green beans and potatoes
Day 3: Homemade pizza, Tossed spinach salad with carrots and radish
Day 4: Beef pot roast, Shaved beet salad
Day 5: Baked lemon butter cod, Sauteed Kale, Berry smoothie
Day 6: Tomato soup (frozen supply), Grilled cheese sandwiches
Day 7: Spinach and mushroom quiche, Orange slices
Notes: This week I want to do something a little bit different. Since we are in the midst of the plastic challenge, I’m going to share with you how I cut out the plastic from my meals. This is not meant to shame you at all, but rather give you ideas or goals to shoot for. Rest assured, I have worked hard at this for several years!
- Produce is bought “naked” without plastic wrapping or bags. I am lucky enough to have a store nearby that even sells loose greens, like spinach, that I can put in my own cotton produce bag. This week my loose produce includes broccoli, spinach, oranges, lemons, kale, mushrooms, and bananas.
- I use my winter storage produce received from a local farm at the end of last year. Potatoes, carrots, radish, beets, onions, and garlic this week.
- Some produce is from my frozen supply. These are fruits or veggies that I cut up and froze last summer. I store them in Ziploc freezer bags that I reuse again and again. This week I’m using green beans, strawberries and tomato soup.
- I make my own broth to eliminate the use of plastic cartons. I store the broth in Stasher bags or reused Ziploc bags in 1, 2, and 4 cup portions for freezing. I’m telling you, this is the easiest homemade item you will ever make!
- Many pantry items are found in the bulk grocery department. I take my own bottles to fill up. This week I will replenish my olive oil, flour, and balsamic vinegar.
- Pantry items not found in bulk are sourced in a glass bottle. That includes quick yeast, Better Than Bullion, and mustard this week.
- I buy bread from a bakery that allows me to put it in my own bag or just carry it out of the store without wrapping
- I visit the meat counter and ask them to wrap my meat and fish in butcher paper. Chicken comes in plastic trays that are recyclable (Bell and Evans brand sells this)
- Eggs come from my own chickens, but they are not laying much right now and we go through a lot of eggs each week so I get them from the store. I use the bulk option and bring my own carton to refill each week.
- Milk is bought in glass bottles that I can return to the store. I can no longer find cream in a glass bottle so now I find a brand that comes in a plastic #1 or #2 bottle for recycling and skip over the brands that are in Tetrapak cartons.
- One area where I have not been entirely successful is cheese. Since we eat a lot of cheese I am now getting large, 5 pound blocks directly from the cheesemakers (I live in Wisconsin so this is an option). The blocks are wrapped in plastic, but by purchasing in bulk, the amount of plastic wrap is significantly lower. I cut each block into smaller pieces and store in silicone bags in the fridge to keep them fresh. This only works for cheeses that don’t mold easily. I still buy mozzarella in small blocks.
Based on the above, you may be thinking that I am crazy and this is extremely time consuming. But that is just not true (well the crazy part might be). Once I thought about it and got my systems down, the rest came easy. The hardest part is the meal planning,and I’ve done that for you! I will say that I am very lucky to have a store nearby that offers a large bulk section and lots of loose produce and I know this is not an option for everyone. Overall, what makes this work for me is that I pick recipes that generally take less than 30-60 minutes to come together, using non-processed, whole foods that are mostly local and in season. The rest is all about doubling recipes or cutting up extra produce in the summer to freeze. Now I spend a couple of hours per week planning, shopping, and cooking. I don’t think that is too bad for something that we all have to do – eat! I hope you will continue to follow along and get ideas for seasonal cooking that is healthy for you and for the environment.
GLP Tip of the Week: Check food labels for palm oil. Oil is one of those tricky food categories that you never quite know if you are eating the right kind. I think the butter vs. margarine debate will rage on for centuries, kind of like the egg, which one moment is good for you and the next you are told it will kill you. But there is one thing that is known for certain when it comes to oils – palm oil is destructive. Not for your health necessarily, but rather for the environmental impact of production. You may not have noticed, but palm oil is in just about every thing these days. It is snuck into margarine, peanut butter, biofuels, lotions and other beauty products, cleaners, and half of all grocery store products, even ice cream! The price of these products is high; wiping out entire rainforests, displacing indigenous people, and leading orangutans and other animals to near extinction. Maybe you didn’t want to know this. Maybe it is just one more thing to have to worry about. But maybe the only way we can change our food system is to be informed consumers. So look at those food labels and if you see palm oil, check around and see if there is another product without it. You also can look for the Rainforest Alliance Certification symbol. This awesome organization gives their seal of approval to companies they have audited to adhere to strict environmental standards. Then you can indulge in your chocolate bar guilt free! (check out Chocolove, the are certified and have delicious chocolate bars. I indulge a bit too often!)
**I am working to prepare even better content for you and will be taking a break from posting a tip of the week. In the meantime, the plastic challenge will continue daily for another six weeks and I will post a weekly meal plan as usual. Enjoy!
