Bee a locavore

What was once made up, is now for real. Locavore was the 2007 Oxford American Dictionary word of the year. 

What’s a locavore?

Locavore: Someone who eats locally produced food.

I’ve been a flexitarian for some time, but Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, No Impact Man, and Sleeping Naked is Green – all sparked my interest in sustainability and supporting local farms.

I found a great “How-To” to Eating Locally Guide on the Simple-Green-Frugal blog. This guide tells you how to find (and eat) locally produced food.

Did you know that most food travels 1500 miles from farm to plate? When you buy local food, transportation costs are minimal, your money stays in your community, less pesticides are used compared to large corporate farms, and the products taste great.  

Support local farms. It’s good to have food grown close to home.

Slow Food USA: Supporting Good, Clean and Fair Food

Local Harvest.org: Find farmers’ markets, family farms and CSAs in your area

Large packages, large Americans

While reading Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink, I came across an interesting idea.

Large packages can save you money and delay a store trip, but have you ever thought that large packages contribute to overeating? In Mindless Eating, Food psychologist Brian Wansink shows us how what’s around us influences how much we eat.

For example, two groups were asked to make a spaghetti dinner. The cooks in one group were given a medium box of spaghetti, a medium jar of sauce and 1 pound of ground beef. Another group of cooks were given a large box of spaghetti, a large jar of sauce, and 2 pounds of ground beef.

The results?

The cooks with larger packages prepared 23% more food.

Did they eat it all?

Yes.

Typically people eat 92% of the food that’s served. The larger packages resulted in more calories being consumed.

When a package is large we naturally pour more. The bigger the package the more we eat. We may only eat 20% more, but over time this extra consumption can increase the size of a muffin-top by say… 20% (muffin-top: The flab that spills over the top of the waistband of low rise jeans).

For snack foods, overeating is more dramatic.

In another study, a group of movie-goers were given a 1/2 pound or a 1 pound bag of M&M’s. The group that was given a 1/2 pound bag ate 71 M&M’s on average. Those with the 1 pound bag ate an average of 137 M&M’s. Almost twice as many M&M’s - 264 more calories.

Ouch! I knew there was a good reason to avoid 1 pound bags of M&M’s.

I enjoyed reading Mindless Eating - it’s fascinating and fun, rather like Malcolm Gladwell’s books. Wansink describes the many influences behind overeating: package size, labels, lighting, family and distractions like TV.

Why do you think we overeat?

No Christmas gifts this year dot com

I stumbled upon a great I Will Teach You To Be Rich Project called No Christmas Gifts This Year.

Every year millions of Americans buy gifts whether they have the money or not. Christmas gifts are sacred. But do they need to be? 

NoChristmasGiftsThisYear.com sayz:

“Instead of buying things we can’t afford, here’s a way to do something more meaningful.”

The web site let’s you send a note to your friends and family offering to share time together, instead of a gift.

Hi (name):

This year, the economy has made it tough, so instead of buying Christmas gifts, let’s do something more (fun/helpful/exciting) together like: (a list of options)

I love this idea, but the editor in me can’t resist a little editing. I marked out the bit about it being a tough year. Why? Because it’s not necessary. I don’t think we need a reason to say “instead of a gift, I’d love to do something together with you.”

My sister did this last year for our Mom. Instead of a gift, she asked if they might do something together like put up holiday decorations or make cookies. My Mom agreed and they had a lovely time.

Often the greatest gifts can’t be bought at the mall and or wrapped up in a box.

Give the gift of an experience. Make time for someone. Your time is a gift in itself.

What are your thoughts on holiday gifts?

Homemade banana bread

When I spy with my little eye something that begins with the letter O (overripe bananas), I think smoothie or banana bread. This morning I chose banana bread.

This loaf took 15 minutes to assemble and I think it was worth every minute. There’s nothing like homemade banana bread. Yum.

My Banana Bread Recipe (adaption of a Cooking Light recipe)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat together the following ingredients until well-blended: 

3 or so ripe bananas mashed
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup melted butter
splash of vanilla 
2 eggs

Now add the dry stuff:

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Butter a loaf pan and pour in the banana bread mixture. Bake until the middle is firmish – 40 minutes at 350 degrees (my kids like banana bread a little doughy). Let the bread cool for 10 minutes before attempting to remove from the pan.

If 15 minutes seems too time consuming for a single loaf, double the recipe. Then pop the extra loaf into the freezer for another day.

Homemade banana bread: A simple tasty treat.

4.7 pounds a day

As part of the No Impact Experiment, I moved my kitchen trash can to my garage. My thought was that the extra walk to the garage would heighten my awareness of what we’re throwing away.

Our week’s trash (family of 3):

Our trash was largely what I thought it would be: Plastic.

We recycled more than usual and continued composting our food scraps. And I finally called Allied Waste (my local recycler) to get my recycling questions answered.

What did I learn?

• No lids whatsoever. In the past I recycled large plastic lids if they had a number on them, but apparently this was wrong (oops!). No lids.
• Most plastic bags can’t be recycled. Ziploc type bags, food bags, and even bags inside cereal boxes can’t be recycled. This is disappointing. I had hoped that plastic bag recycling had moved beyond shopping and produce bags, but it hasn’t. Since I can’t recycle most plastic bags, I try to avoid them or reuse them.
• Shredded paper can be recycled if put in a transparent plastic bag and tied at the top. This differs from a neighboring city which has you put shredded paper in a paper bag with your yard waste.

Every city has it’s own rules and regs, so it’s best to contact your local recycling company and get your questions answered.

Since so much plastic can’t be recycled, I’ve reduced the amount of plastic I buy. Beth over at Fake Plastic Fish has lots of ideas on how you can avoid buying plastic. Beth tracks her plastic waste on a monthly basis (4.7 ounces this month). It’s remarkable how little plastic she wastes.

Our trash can is still in the garage. I’m thinking I might put a tiny trash recepticle under the kitchen sink. However, I rather enjoy hearing my daughter explain to guests why there’s no trash can in the kitchen.

The average American throws away 4.7 pounds of trash a day.

I’m working to be below average in this department.

How about you?

The non-consumer Halloween

Halloween is fast approaching and with it comes many opportunities to spend money. The National Retail Federation predicts that 5 billion dollars will be spent on Halloween products this year.

5 billion dolllars!

Drugstores and grocery stores are flooded with Halloween products. Such as…

Halloween shot glasses

   

3 pack of shot glasses (one is never enough) in an acetate box (landfill bound)

Plastic tombstones

and of course Halloween lighting

    

The Halloween eyeball light set

Do we need these items to celebrate Halloween?

No.

How do we stop the commercialization of Halloween? Simple, we need to stop buying Halloween stuff. If we don’t buy Halloween products, companies will stop making them.

<it’s time for the Wayback Machine>

My childhood Halloween memories include homemade or acquired costumes, community haunted houses, pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating with a brown paper bag. Decorations were practically non-existent and always homemade.

Does Halloween need to be any more than this?

In years past my kids have asked me to buy Halloween decorations: lights, spiders, plastic pumpkins…. “Come on Mom. Everyone else has them.” I politely said No (the ‘everyone else has them‘ argument doesn’t work with me).

This year my kids haven’t asked for Halloween decorations. Perhaps they know it’s hopeless to ask. Or maybe just maybe, they’ve come to realize that buying Halloween products is unnecessary.

Halloween can be fun without special Halloween shot glasses, plastic tombstones or lighting.

Have a Fun (non-consumer) Halloween!

Did I ever tell you how lucky you are?

Fall is here and with it comes heavy rain, shorter days, the need for socks and an extra cup of coffee (or two).

This fall I’m thankful for many things. With the current economic malaise, I’m especially thankful for a job that I love when so many people are unemployed or underemployed. This week I stumbled upon a Dr. Seuss classic: ”Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?“ Here’s some Dr. Seuss wisdom:

“Thank goodness for all of the things you are not!
Thank goodness you’re not something someone forgot,
and left all alone in some punkerish place
like a rusty tin coat hanger hanging in space.”

Punkerish place? Yes, thank goodness for all the things I am not.

And then there’s the famous Duckie quote:

“When you think things are bad, when you feel sour and blue,
when you start to get mad… You should do what I do!
Just tell yourself, Duckie, you’re really quite lucky!”

What does this have to do with frugality?

Everything. For me, frugality is about enjoying what I have instead of wanting more. When I think about all that I have in my life, I realize that I am so very lucky.

I don’t need anything more than I already have.

How about you? Do you feel lucky?

Miles are smaller by car

The toughest part of participating in the No Impact Experiment has definitely been Transportation Day. Today we didn’t drive our car to school, but instead used alternative transportation: our bikes. We rode in the rain (we live in Seattle after all). Uphill. With our school things on our backs.

One and half hours later, we arrived at school exhausted but happy. Our journey took much longer than we anticipated. My nine year old cruised up small hills without the aid of gears, but had to walk up the larger hills.

 

What did we learn from this experiment?

• Hills are hard
• Everything seems close when you drive
• Seven miles on our bikes was the equivalent of driving 90 miles (timewise anyway)
• Hills you hardly appreciate by car are mammoth by bike
• Rain pants and fenders are nice, but not required

When we arrived at school my girls were incredibly proud of their accomplishment. Our ride was the story and the adventure of the day. How much did we pay for our family fun? Nothing. How much carbon did we save? Unknown. How much money did we save? About 84 cents (14 miles at .06 per mile). What was the value of the experience? Priceless. 

Later in the day when we drove our car, we were in total appreciation. Our car was so fast and so smooth, keeping us and our things warm and dry along our merry way. 

Today my girls were a source of inspiration and joy for me; both were so determined to complete the ride. And they both made many fun comments like…

“I never knew I could get so hot and sweaty in the pouring rain.”

Indeed.

Have you ridden your bike to school or work? What did you learn?

Trash day

This week my family is participating in the Colin Beavan’s No Impact Experiment. Each day we’re focusing on a different aspect of our consumption and today is Trash Day.

Trash Day is an opportunity for us to think about the trash we create and make an effort to reduce our waste. So today I moved our trash can from the kitchen to the garage. Now throwing things away will take extra effort, and with that effort I hope a heightened awareness of what we’re throwing away.

Sound crazy? Maybe, but it’s completely doable. We already compost kitchen scraps; we have a kitchen compost bucket that we dump into our yard waste can (thank you Seattle for making composting easy). So the messy bits don’t go into our trash.

What does go into our trash? I think mostly bits of plastic that can’t be recycled – or bits I don’t think can be recycled. Soon I’ll know exactly what we throw away because in addition to moving the trash can to the garage, I’ll be looking through the trash at week’s end with my kids. I hope to make the experience a fun and interesting family activity (and if not, a funny story for my kids to share).

The goal? By knowing what we throw away, we can make reductions in the amount of trash we create each week.

It’s never too late to be part of the No Impact Experiment. Take a look at the No Impact Experiment how-to manual for ideas on how you can reduce your impact. Any day and every day can be Trash Day.

Food Waste: Greens revival

It’s Food Waste Friday once again. Time to document the food I wasted this week, so that I can work to reduce my food waste.

Why do such a silly thing? Because I like silliness. And because what you focus on improves, and I’m interested in reducing my food waste. 

Food wasted this week: 

This week I wasted some leftover Indian takeout, some broccoli and some wilted chard. I’m currently trying to perk up some chard using a revival technique I found on Farm Fresh to You.

Submerge the wilted greens in cold water by placing them in a dish, filling it with water, and putting it in the refrigerator overnight. The next day the greens will be revived.

Greens revival? Sounds good to me.

To avoid broccoli waste in the future, I can blanch the broccoli and freeze the results for stir-fries. Blanching is great for vegetables like asparagus, green beans, spinach, cauliflower and broccoli. All too often I forget about using my friend Mr. Freezer when I have too much produce.

What are your strategies for reducing food waste?