Child activists.

https://youtu.be/yx1-VItmYbg

Almost zero waste tacos

We like to eat Mexican food and I have a gluten intolerance and so corn tortilla are a good option. I was buying a bag of crispy tostitos every two weeks or so, but that plastic bag is of the un-recyclable kind, solution... I learned to make tacos. There are lots of online tutorials and so I won't worry too much about describing the details. The maseca can be bought at most health/specialty stores. There is a bit of a learning curve but I can make 15 tacos now in about 5 minutes, which isn't much more time than going down the aisle for them at the grocery store. You do have to get the tortilla press, these are easily available at a kitchen specialty store and looks like it will last for ever. I would get a larger size next time, buy the biggest one you can. You do have to use a plastic liner, I use cut up cereal bags and I'm able to wash them off and use them many times. The maseca bag is paper and will make 10 or so batches of tacos. I did buy a two burner grill which makes it much faster.

Other ingredients and avoiding packaging:

Cheese: I buy this is big packages... leave it sealed at the back of the fridge and cut off what I need each week for the cheese drawer. That way I am only throwing away one large bag each month instead of 4 or 5 small ones. Keeps fine in the plastic bag and well sealed at the back of the fridge.

Beans: I cook them in big batches in the instant pot and then portion out into glass jars which go in the freezer... I can buy the beans in bulk in my own bags.

Cream Cheese: I understand you can make your own and it's not very hard. I use the fresh yogurt instead, it's delicious and I'm making it anyway.

Veggies: are easy... buy fresh and take your own bags to the grocery store.

Salsa: Make your own - the vitamix makes very quick work of this.

Sounds like a lot of work but it's not really much more than buying the kits if you're organized and extra benefit?? they are so much more delicious.

  

Almost zero waste school BBQ #2.

Shout out to the student government and environment club at KCVI (Kingston high school) for having an almost zero waste BBQ today. Fed the whole school... no napkins or plates, large reusable thermos' of juice. Free veggies if you brought your own bottle or glass. Pretty simple right?

"When you act, hope is everywhere." Greta T.

Almost zero waste school BBQ

It's about mindset - and that new mindset will put pressure on the economy that it can't ignore. This week we had Greta Thunburg to remind us that "bit by bit what ever I can do" isn't enough anymore. Our resources are not only finite... they are literally running out. Mindset - not bit by bit whatever small thing I can do adds up - but what big change can I do that will wake up and scare the establishment. I have no economic basis for this but figure but I feel like even 5% of the market saying "no, I won't buy it if it comes in packaging" would have a big impact on companies. "Well, just for today but maybe not tomorrow" doesn't have the same weight.

However, I still believe that big changes have to happen bit by bit in order to be sustainable. We've been working hard on getting single use plastic out of our lives... making changes every week to our routine, diet, habits - for nine months and I'd say we are only just starting. But - the changes that we have made have stuck. Make sense? Bit by bit, and fast, and maybe small changes... but LOTS of them. That's where I'm headed.

Today we had a school BBQ. We've been before and know how it rolls. The school serves the hotdogs and hamburgers on coffee filters, but sell drinks in plastic bottles. Knowing that, with a little bit of prep, I can reduce our impact by a lot.

Spot it? I prepped and packed a lemonade. I make it in the Vitamix - which makes it really fast. Brought some cloth napkins and cups. That way the only waste we create (besides the secondary waste of the packaging that the burgers were in) are the coffee filters. Besides, I get to carry this pretty basket (which I bought second hand) - makes me feel like Little Red. It's heavy and a bit inconvenient. More inconvenient than figuring out how to create oxygen when the ecosystem collapses? Nope... not that inconvenient. 

Thanks Greta for reminding me to talk it straight. 

Baking Prep

Not buying things in plastic containers means making more things yourself. I've found a couple of short cuts. One of them is "mason jar mixes". Basically I take my favorite baking recipes and pre-mix the dry ingredients in a mason jar. Then when I need to make a fresh batch I can dump the mason jar in the mixing bowl, add the wet ingredients and put it in the oven. Here are 3 batches of muffins ready to go, one in the mixing bowl and two in the mason jars for another day. It really does save time, especially on the evenings that I realize - at 8:30pm - that I have no lunch time snacks for tomorrow.