The Plan:
Day 1: Beef and barley stew, Crusty bread
Day 2: Spinach and mushroom quiche, Spinach and blueberry frozen fruit smoothie
Day 3: Homemade pizza
Day 4: Pan roasted chicken with lemon garlic green beans and potatoes
Day 5: Spinach salad with roasted beets, chickpeas, radish, shredded carrots, olives, and homemade lemon & olive oil vinaigrette
Day 6: Grilled brats, Sauerkraut, Orange slices
Day 7: Butternut squash soup
This meal plan was curated using local foods that are in season now or preserved during the peak growing season in the U.S. Midwest. The plan is an exact replica of what our family is eating this week unless we are out of town. Meal plans are developed using whole foods and my meal planning system (click here!) and are meant to be healthy and easy to prepare. Most recipes will take no more than 30 minutes of active cooking time. Occasionally meals may require all day slow cooking, advanced prep, or some oven time. Recipes are provided when available. I sincerely hope this will help with your own meal planning!
Pantry Shuffle:
Out of Storage: (preserved when in season and coming out of my root cellar, freezer, canned, or dehydrated stash)
- Celeriac (from refrigerator root cellar)
- Beets (from refrigerator root cellar)
- Daikon radish (from refrigerator root cellar)
- Round steak and pork brats from Mastodon Valley Farm meat share
- Blueberries (picked in summer and frozen in zip top bags)
- Green beans (cut and frozen in zip top bags)
- Butternut squash (already cubed and frozen in zip top bags)
- Pumpkin puree (frozen in zip top bags)
Into Storage:
- Chicken broth
Notes: Microplastics in your blood?
Happy Earth month! This month I am continuing to share more about plastic free living; why it is important and how you can make changes. Last week was my first challenge and I shared my monthly goal, which is to focus on buying only American made products. See my post from last week to find out why this ties into plastic free living. This is week #2 and I’m moving onto microplastics.
Microplastics = small plastic particles less than 5mm in size
Scientists have already found microplastics in food, water, soil, human feces, other animals, snowing down in the artic, and in the air we breath, but now a new study has detected microplastics in the human bloodstream for the first time. This was a small study in the Netherlands that found 77% of subjects had microplastics in their bloodstream. That means that plastics can cross human tissue membranes. This news made headlines in the past couple of weeks, but given that microplastics are now everywhere in our environment, is this really a surprise?
The study published in Environment International last month identified polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene and polymers of styrene (Styrofoam), and poly(methyl methacrylate) in the blood. Where do these plastics come from? These are the materials used to hold our beverages and fast food. The sandwich bags we use to pack our lunches. They are in personal care products and cosmetics. They are in the packaged water we drink. It is near impossible to avoid consuming any microplastics these days.
The next steps for the scientists are to find out where these microplastics are accumulating (which organs), which cells can carry them, and what effects they have on our health. As a pharmacist, it has always bothered me that pharmaceuticals are required to go through phases of studies prior to being allowed for use in humans (as they should) but chemicals (hello PFAS and glyphosate!), plastics, and other materials that are interwoven into our food supply chain have almost no regulations. Federal law presumes most chemicals are safe until proven toxic.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want plastic in my body.
Earth Month Challenge #2: My plastic challenge for you this week is to identify 1 product that you regularly use that either contains microplastic or that comes in direct contact with your food. Let’s find a more healthy alternative. Here are several ideas:
- Plastic bottled water: try filling your own stainless steel or glass bottle. There are even gallon sized glass bottles available that you can use to fill up with filtered water at the grocery store and reuse over and over.
- Chewing gum: Yes, almost all chewing gum is made from plastic, typically polyethylene which is one of those plastics found in the human bloodstream!! Eco Watch recommends trying Simply Gum, The Humble Co, or Glee Gum, which are all plastic free. You could also switch to breath mints.
- Tea bags and coffee filters: Researchers at McGill University conducted a study where they brewed plastic tea bags at normal brewing temperature and found that each single bag released about 11.6 billion microplastic and 3.1 billion nanoplastic (even smaller) particles into the water! That is significantly higher that what has been previously found in other foods. Making a change here can have a big impact. The same goes for coffee filters, most of which are made from nylon (aka plastic) now. Look for paper tea bags and coffee filters. I like Equal Exchange and Yogi brands for tea and If You Care brand for coffee filters. Or try loose leaf tea with a stainless steel tea ball.
- Toothpaste: While there has been an effort to remove microbeads from toothpaste, there are still other microplastics in this product that you likely use in your mouth twice day. Polyethylene (PE), polypropylene, PEG, poloxamer, carbomer, and PVP are a few of the common ingredients you will see that are used as cheap plastic fillers. Check out your toothpaste ingredients, and if you can’t tell if there is plastic or not, it is time to switch. I’ve been using toothpaste tablets that are 100% plastic free (Bite, Un-paste, and Georganics are a few brands). My kids use Tom’s of Maine toothpaste, which is made from all natural ingredients.
- Tupperware: Plastic food storage containers have gotten a bad wrap over the past decade for containing BPA. Now companies are bragging that the BPA is gone, but these products are still made from plastic and still come in contact with your food. If you use Tupperware or other plastic containers you should definitely make sure you do not heat them with food inside as this will increase the chances of transferring chemicals and plastic into your food. Better yet, switch to glass or stainless steel containers. I love my Snapware glass containers. U-Conserve also makes nice stainless steel containers.
- Sandwich bags: This swap was so easy for me. We have switched to silicone zip top sandwich bags from Stasher. Yes, there was a bit of an upfront cost to get one for each of my three kids, but so worth it in the long run. They can go right in the dishwasher and contain no plastic!
- Styrofoam take away containers: The next time you are going out to a restaurant, bring your own take away container that is plastic free. As above, I love my Snapware glass containers. If you eat out a lot keep some in your car and you can run out to grab them if you have leftovers to take home.
- Condiments: look for ketchup, mustard, salad dressing, and mayo in glass containers. Or try making your own. Olive oil, lemon, salt, and garlic powder is delicious on salad.
How are you going to keep those microplastics out of your blood?
