Back to work today… and back to bringing lunch.
I’ve been trying to reduce the amount of waste that my lunch creates. No, I’m not talking about eating foods without fiber. (!) I’m talking about the unnecessarily wasteful packaging.
I’ve started to bring my lunch in a reusable insulated bag. I drink my water throughout the day from a Mason Jar. I used to use a BPA-free Nalgene bottle (I had it for a year), but after 365 days or so, it started tasting like plastic, and I decided to switch to glass. Plus, I have a feeling that glass is easier on the environment than plastic (correct me if I’m wrong.) In any case, my water no longer tastes like plastic, and it’s a nice feeling to drink out of a glass bottle every day.
I’m also using glass storage containers for my food – no plastic leeching into the food, and better for the environment. (This glass container pictured here does have a bit of plastic in the snap hinge, but does helps the food to not leak out, which, if it happened, would defeat the purpose of a storage container.)
My goat cheese sandwich today was in my newly-purchased natural wax paper sandwich bags.
I like these bags a lot. And they actually seem sturdier than their plastic counterparts, making it less likely that something will crush your sandwich.
I had my cousin over for dinner tonight, and we enjoyed a mostly-local spread of pasta and vegetables: locally-made fresh spinach fettuccine, topped with yellow tomatoes from my farm share and locally-made grated gouda crafted from grass-fed cows’ milk. Sides were vegetables: spinach sauteed in olive oil and then topped with locally-grown minced garlic, and green beans from my farm share also topped with olive oil and garlic.
Ever since reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I’ve become a lot more focused on trying to eat locally-grown food. Luckily, with the help of a great farmer’s market and a great farm share, I’m able to oftentimes enjoy food that doesn’t require lots of fuel miles to get to me. It’s a nice bonus to be able to talk to the people that grow and make your food.
Have you ever enjoyed locally-made, handcrafted cheese? I’d be interested in hearing about your tasting experience compared to supermarket cheese.
Crisp and Verdant 