So as you might be able to tell, I am not only a liberal Democrat, but I also strive to be more green everyday. And there are days that my being is reminded that I am not doing AS much as I could.
I picked up the Sunday LA Times last night, yes I know that is was Monday yesterday, however they still had it and I forgot to buy it on Sunday, and saw this article. I was shocked when I saw how much money we are throwing away on wasted food. And I will admit I have been guilty of wasting food. While the article suggests giving the leftovers to your pets, I am not a big fan of that. While my animals do LOVE what we don't eat it really isn't that good for them so I try and eat whatever we have leftover. However they also had some good tips.
-Plan weekly dinners. I gotta tell you, I do this already. If I have a plan for what to make for dinner I can go to the store and only pick up $40 worth of food and it WILL feed all three of us, and usually enough for company as well. I do keep basics in my house, so there is 1 shopping trip a month where my food bill is about $100, but the other three weeks it is only about $40. This being said, I do give myself wiggle room, I buy items that are on sale, and items that can be substituted, for instance if we want pot roast instead of burritos tonight.
-Rethinking portion size. Lets face it, Americans are getting heavier and heavier. While we might think it ok to have such large portions of food served to us at a restaurant, do we really need to cook that way at home as well? Cutting recipes in half will not only negate the need for "what to do with the leftovers night" but it will also cut down on your food bill. I know what food people in my house will want the next day so I make regular portions on that. However if I make something new, I usually half the ingredients until I know whether or not my family will eat it.
-Meatless Monday. This is a really good suggestion. And this is an option most people can get easily do. My brother and mother LOVE enchiladas and lasagna, but meat is expensive and not always healthy. Making cheese enchiladas and vegetable lasagna are a great way for my family to go meatless once a week. I make crock pot enchiladas so they are even easier.
-Recycling. Everyone seems to know about recycling. However many products out there can be recycled and many people do not know it. Did you know you if you have recycling container picked up every week that you can recycle your sandwich bags? Waste Management is my garbage company and they now offer recycling on almost every product: cardboard, plastic bags, steel, aluminum... If you are ever in doubt on whether or not you can recycle something, just call your garbage collection company. They can give you the lowdown on what you need to throw in the garbage and what you can recycle.
That's all I have for now, is there anything YOU do to make the world a greener place that you would love to share with me?
I would like to point out that a 'paper' newspaper is starting to be considered non-eco friendly. My brother yelled at me for getting my mom a subscription (hey, I like the coupons) since all that paper was bad for the environment. He also argued it was 'old news'. Very true. I don't remember the last time I read something on paper news-related.
ReplyDeleteOverheard: APU students are doing their part to be green... they are peeing in the shower.