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Tonight I was thinking of frugal ways to save the planet while buying dinner makings and as I perused the pasta section, spaghetti sauce came to mind.You can buy it at my grocery store in 4 different ways.

1. In a 2 serving plastic container

2. In a 4 serving glass jar

3. In a 4 serving aluminum can

4. In a 2 serving foil and plastic pouch

Now I bet you can guess which one I prefer, but I’m gonna tell you anyway.

First the 2 serving plastic container…I’ll be honest and tell you that I have bought this sauce before. It tastes much better then most of the jar and can sauces and you kinda get a 2 for 1 deal since you can use the plastic container again. But if you are on a plastic free quest, like me, this is not the answer. Not only is it made of plastic that helps to fuel our oil addiction, it’s a smaller serving that costs almost twice as much. Neither one of these things gives it high marks on my list.

Obviousily the glass jar is my pick for the most econimical and earth friendly but let’s talk about the other items first.

Aluminum is recycable, so if you are a diehard canned sauce fan this is not the worst you could do. It also comes in a larger size so you can get more servings out of the can, but iit doesn’t have a lid so you can’t store the leftovers very easily and the inside of the can is lined with plastic. Still not a great choice but not the worst one.

What is the worst choice you ask…the 2 serving foil package. Granted it’s pretty cool that you can warm your sauce in the microwave in it’s own pouch but gesh aren’t you about to pour it over hot pasta that will warm it up anyway? Personally I think it’s an ingenious design, but look at all the extra plasticy foil packaging that is left over. You can’t reuse it. You can’t recycle it. You can’t do anything with it but throw it away in the trash. This is a bad bad choice!

Like I said before, the winner is the 4 serving jar of sauce. The jar itself is recycable. It’s resealable so you can store the leftovers. It’s alot cheaper then the foil pouch and plastic container and as for taste it ranges from ok to really tasty. The other plus…you can buy several different flavors like garlic, mushroom, veggie lovers. So it means that you can get more bang for your buck and you are not stuck eating the same thing over and over again.

Leave comments on this question…What sauce do you buy and why? Could it be considered eco-friendly?

So today after months of trying I finally went to the Farmer’s Market, finally!  I spent less then twenty bucks on more then a weeks worth of fruits and veggies and the best thing is that I supported community farms and not the big industrial supermarkets.  I did go to the supermarket when I was done and to my surprise free-range chicken was on sale for $2.99 a pound, gosh that’s cheap!  So of course I bought as much as possible, unfortunately since I bought so much they wrapped it in plastic, more on that later.

Anyway…at the Farmer’s Market I bought butter beans, corn, tomatoes, peaches, apples, cucumbers and lettuce.  What makes me sad is that the market is only open for a few more weeks and during the winter I won’t be able to go and get really tasty fruits and veggies.  I don’t know what it is but produce from the grocery store really doesn’t taste as good as farm fresh produce.  It’s probably cause they pick it early to ensure that it won’t be bad before it gets to the store.  I can’t explain it but something happens to food when it’s picked before it’s ripe.

The only problem with the Farmer’s Market…it’s not necessarly organic but lately, since I have been shopping at the grocery store, I haven’t been eating organic and with food prices who can?

I know, I know…you should only eat organic since it’s better for the environment but when I started this blog it was supposed to be about being green and practical.  And since my food budget hasn’t changed and the price of food has, something has to give.  While I agree that using pesticides are bad for your body and for the planet, so is paying $3.00 for a head of lettuce when you are trying to feed 6 people on $150 a week.  The trade off?  The way I see it…I am not buying one of those unnecessary convenience bags of pre-cut lettuce, that not only has been trucked around the world but has also contributed to our petroleum dependency.  When I buy lettuce from the Farmer’s Market I am buying a product that has been shipped less then 100 miles and hasn’t been packaged unnecessarily, especially when I bring my own bag to carry it in!

Now more about being practical and saving the planet…there is a fine line that we walk to help keep our planet in better shape and not break our pocketbooks.  Recently I was laid off because of the down turn of the economy, I worked in the sports industry and when people cut back on buying extra things the people that make those things take a hit and being the low-man on the totem pole I was the first to go.  But it’s made me really think about what I buy and how I can buy smarter.  Luckily I was able to find another job almost immediatly, it’s making quite a bit less then what we are used to so what we are able to buy will change dramtically.  I’ve been looking into local CSA’s and subscription services.  We found a food ministry called Angel Food Ministry, where for $30 you can get a box of food that will feed a small family for a week.  Typically the amount of food in the box would cost me $65 to $70 at the grocery store.  You don’t have to qualify, it’s open to anyone and there are delivery locations all over the US.  If I remember right there were 10 within 5 miles of my home.  You have to pay for the food upfront and by a specific date and then about 2 weeks later you pick it up at a nearby church.

We have all been affected by the turn of the economy and over the next few weeks I am going to continue to talk about what we can do to keep costs down but make a real difference in the life of our planet.  What have you had to do now that food costs are rising and paychecks are shrinking?

I’ve had a couple of people email me and ask when the plastic usage pictures and posts will be back.

Well let me give it to you straight…I am ashamed of my plastic usage so I don’t really wanna show you guys anymore.  But don’t fret, I will start back this weekend.

When I shopped at the granola store it was very easy for me to not buy plastic but now that I am shopping at my local big box grocery store, I can hardly find plastic free/less replacements for the things that I normally buy.

For example…when I shopped at Wild Oats they had great organic juices in glass bottles.  At Schnucks they have one or two types of juice in glass bottles but no one in my family would drink it and paying $4.50 for a pint seems a bit unreasonable.  So to not buy large quantities of plastic, we started buying canned juice from Juicy Juice.  It’s still expensive, not as expensive as the organic juice from Wild Oats but for concentrate it’s a bit pricey. But here is the problem…aluminum cans contain a layer of plastic on the inside so the contents don’t eat through the side of the can during their long journey to your table.  So whereas it’s better to buy less plastic there is still plastic involved.

At the granola store they would wrap my deli meats and cheeses in paper and at the grocery store they will not for any reason put the deli items into anything but their own plastic baggies.  I protested but after the look that I got from the deli manager, my protest did not go any further.  I can bring my own bags (oh! I have a story to tell about a BYOB convert!) but I can’t bring a plastic container of my own to put food into?  What’s up with that?  I’m sure that there is a Health Code or something but gesh, if I’m gonna spend $6 a pound for turkey I should get to have some say as to what I take it home in.  Anyway…I’ve tried to get away from eating luncheon meats totally but it seems that my 6 year old is on a PB&J protest (that I can buy in glass) and is refusing to eat peanut butter totally.  So at least for the rest of the summer I will have to buy the luncheon meat so that the poor child doesn’t starve. I do have one nice thing to say about the butchers at the meat counter at my local Schnucks, they have stopped using the plastic baggies to wrap the chicken and are only using butcher paper.  I guess my persistence with that department has won them over to the green side!

The one thing I can’t get away from is block or shredded cheese.  I know that even Beth at Fake Plastic Fish struggled with this issue too.  Since I don’t drink milk and most of my kids don’t either, we have to get our calcium from somewhere and cheese is it.  We have cheese on our baked spaghetti, tacos, enchiladas, chili dogs, turkey burgers and especially on our pizzas.  I can’t give it up but the worst part is I have no idea if the cows that produce this cheese are happy or not.  It’s definitely not organic like the milk and eggs that I buy so it’s even worse to buy it then I originally thought!  I’m going to the Farmer’s Market this weekend .  Yeah right, I keep saying that!  Pray that they have some happy cow cheese that I can start to substitute, at least then I would only be breaking one green rule.

Of course there is always the plastic wrapping from the turkey that I buy, but I don’t really count that as bad since I buy the turkey instead of beef since we all know what cattle does to our environment…don’t we?

There is a fine line that we walk between being green and living the way a normal consumer does.  I say it’s always worth doing!

Over the past few weeks, I have been contemplating over what to say next.  I have been very concerned about the economy, the state of America and what it is doing to my family and others that I know.

But it all came to me yesterday morning…

My husband and a band that he belongs to ( The New Memphis Hepcats) were scheduled to perform on a local daily news program, so I had the tv at work tuned to something besides the Golf Channel.  Well the President preempted the program, but I left it on since I was curious as to what he had to say.  Now let me “preempt” this by saying I voted for George Bush…2 times.  I am ashamed by this. You know what they say…”Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.” I haven’t decided whom I am voting for in the next election but I assure you, my decision will be well researched and thought out. 

So, I believe that I have the right to complain, I put my trust in him and he let me down.

As I listened I was appalled as to what he had to say.  What I heard was a bunch of, “I told you so’s” and “its all congress’s fault”. 

I started a project where I would compare prices and the cost of gas between my local grocery store and the granola store.  Well I haven’t been able to finish the project because every drop of my gas is precious and I can’t (even for science sake) to use any more then what is needed.  Now I know that I could offset that travel by riding my bike to work, but when it’s 95 degrees with a 85% relative humidity, riding is a tad bit uncomfortable. 

But I say all this to get to my point…with the rising costs of gas and food, it’s not time to play the blame game, it’s time to fix the problem before middle-class families like mine can’t afford to by the simplest necessities. Not to say that the problems of the poor are not important, but 9 times out of 10 they can apply for some type of governmental assistance (that’s not the answer either), families like mine don’t qualify for programs like that and we are starting to suffer. 

I don’t mean to sound ugly, but now is the time to forget politics, forget about suffering in other countries and focus on America’s recovery and may I say that offshore oil drilling is not the answer.  I agree wholeheartedly that buying 70% of our oil from foreign companies is ridiculas and we need to do something about it, I don’t think that potentially ruining more of the ocean is the right thing to do.  The President doesn’t agree with me on this.  However, I agree with the principle of why he wants to do it.  The less we need, the lower the price.  But what about spending that same money on more eco-friendly or earth friendly fuel production.  I say that then say “No more corn ethanol” that is not what we need, save the corn for the growing food crisis.  Now other forms of ethanol are good to research but NO MORE CORN. 

Speaking of which, my favorite gas station that is connected to my grocery store, that consequently gives me a discount on my gas when I buy their groceries, has gone to putting corn ethanol in their gas.  That makes me sad, especially when they are not cheaper then any of the surrounding gas stations.

Now especially is the time to write to your Congress person and voice your concern.  Don’t sit idly by as things get worse.  Take a stand and let them know that what is going on is not ok and you won’t stand for it.  Give them reasons to support eco-friendly research like wind, and solar power.  you voted for them, make them hear you.

I went to the grocery store this past weekend to begin an experiment on the differences on pricing and products between the large chain grocery store and the granola store (which I realize is a chain too but there is only one here in the city).

I bought what most of what we needed and tired not to pay attention to prices because if I did the granola store would automatically lose the competition. I bought brand names and tried to stay away from plastic, but that was all but impossible. I want this experiment to show the pros and cons of both stores but especially the environmental costs.

What I do know is that I spent $155 on about weeks worth of groceries. I tried to only shop the outside isles where the best food is (fresh produce and the meat and fish counters) but I had to buy breakfast food and a couple other household staples. I actually spent $185 but about $30 of that total were non-food items that I will not count in my actual totals because those kinds of items are not bought on a weekly basis.

Next week I am going to shop at the chain store and at the Farmers Market to see what kind of difference that makes. The week after that will be at the granola store only and then the following week will be the granola store and Farmer’s Market. At the end I will compare all the pros and cons and ask you to make the decision as to where I should shop.

How is the increase in food and gas costs effecting you?

Well you know what they say about the best laid plans right? What about Murphy’s Law? All those things were working against me over the past few weeks, but now I am back and ready to get down and dirty again!

Now don’t you worry your pretty little head, while I was gone I still tried to stay away from plastic, in fact I had some plastic free weeks. But it’s been getting tougher and tougher for me to stay away from plastic though. I try to shop at the granola store, which is 5 or 6 miles from my home instead of my local grocery store which is less then a mile, because there are more plastic free alternatives at the granola store but with gas reaching $4 a gallon I just don’t know if I can continue to drive out of my way for groceries.

Another reason is with the rising prices of food I can’t afford to pay the already high cost of food from the granola store plus the rising cost. I’ve seen my grocery bill go up by $25 to $30 and when you only have a budget of $500 a month that added cost can mean the difference of eating well for the last week or not. I might have to stop shopping at the Farmer’s Market because they are passing on the high cost of gas to the consumers too. I’d like not to stray to far from my values but a budget can only stretch so far.

It’s not cheep to feed a family of 6, especially a family that has so many food issues. One doesn’t eat fish, one doesn’t eat vegetables, and the list goes on. Gesh they are picky, why can’t they all be like my oldest son and eat pretty much whatever I put on the table? I am going to have to open them up to some new cheaper dishes or we will never stay afloat. What will/do you feed your family now that the times are getting tough? Can you stay within your values and not sink deeper into debt?

Grocery shopping continues to get easier as the weeks go on and that’s great. No plastic bought except for the film that covers the half and half containers. I did spend more this week then last week, but that was a good thing. You see I have gotten my husband hooked on yogurt covered raisins and that’s great but expensive. I spent close to $15 on those raisins, but those are much better for him then other snack foods. I also bought a lot more juice since we went through it so fast last week.

I even stopped by an Easy Way to check out their prices to see if how they compare to Wild Oats (the granola store) and I was floored. Everything was wrapped in plastic and all they had was plastic bags to put things in. I knew that I only needed a few things so I grabbed a cardboard box to put the items in since I had used all my resuable bags at Wild Oats and the people looked at me funny. I am getting used to the funny stares and questions, but can’t a girl get a break? It doesn’t bother me that people are interested in what I am doing, it’s the funny look that I get when I tell them. Like today when I bought chicken. I simply asked that she not put the chicken in the plastic bag before she wrapped it in the butcher paper, not a big deal I thought…I asked the same question last week. But today was the day for wierd looks, she even scoffed at me for not wanting the plastic!

I think the worst part is watching all the other shoppers and biting my tounge as not to yell at them for their wastfullness. It was especially hard not to yell today because everybody is buying for the SuperBowl and excess reigns at those kinds of parties. The guy in front of me had bought ten 2liters of coke. How many people is he having over to need ten bottles of the same drink? Or is that all their family drinks at meal time? Does anyone really know what that stuff is doing to their bodies? Better get off my soap box before I fall down!

How did you fair this week at plastic free shopping? What does your family think about your new quest? Don’t worry if they are looking at you wierd…they will figure it out soon.

Last week I brought home 6 items that contained plastic, this week I bought none!  Well I take that back, the paper carton that contains the most precious coffee creamer is most likely coated in a plastic film.  I will be writing the manufacturer to find out for sure. 

I would have to say that we won’t be missing the milk, there is still part of a gallon in the fridge from last week, but what about the cheese?  I can’t do without the creamer, since it would be much better then using the small individual plastic containers that my office has.

I also spent much less then I expected.  I didn’t but any meat, but even with the expense of the glass juice containers I still only spent $60.00, my normal shopping trip is over $100.  I am guessing that the fresh produce is much less expensive then all the other “convenience” food.  Plus since I was really paying attention to what I was buying and making sure that I stuck to my list, I didn’t buy all the extra food that I normally would.  Even if I had bought the meat I would have only spent another $20 which makes a savings of about $20+.  That’s definatly gonna make my husband happy.  What do you spend on food, is all that convenience really all it’s cut up to be?

I have now shopped at both my local grocery store and the granola store for my weekly groceries.  It’s tough to say which one was better.  Besides the cost of meat, their prices seem to be about the same, and both have about the same amount of plastic free alternatives.  I would have to say that I prefer to shop at the whole food store because of their more earth friendly and fair trade practices.  Ironically I will be shopping across the street at the big box store for my meat.  My budget just cannot stomach the astronomical meat prices at the granola store.  Plus I have to travel to a completely different store (still in my neighborhood) to get the all precious ground turkey.  That store is so close to my home that I can ride my bicycle there, so I won’t be adding to my carbon output and since the turkey is packaged in plastic I can purchase several pounds and freeze them for later use.

What about you, where do you shop and why?

Went shopping yesterday at my local grocery store.  Was impressed by the amount of non-plastic wrapped items that I was able to buy.  Was especially happy about the prices of their chicken.  Wasn’t able to buy any turkey (they were all out) but I still have some of that “delicious” ground beef in the fridge that we can eat this week. 

Here is the plastic that I bought.  Only 6 items out of the 20+ that I bought.  The milk jug and the coffee creamer are recyclable and the bread bag will be used until it gets a hole in it.  So only 3 things wil end up in my box of non-resuable plastic.  Once I buy the turkey, all of those packages will go in there too, but I just can’t go on eating the ground beef. 

 The guy at the meat counter was really great about not wrapping my chicken in the normal plastic bag that then gets wrapped in butcher paper.  Unfortunitly he had to use a piece of plastic to put the chicken on the scale.  Not sure why he couldn’t have just used a smaller piece of butcher paper, but that is life.  The Rice-a-Roni was 10 for $10 so I bought a bunch.  Was afraid that it would taste like the cardboard that it was packaged in but it was pretty good, and since it doesn’t come with a plastic baggie for the seasoning it gets an A in my book.   

All in all it was a good trip to the store…took me a little longer than usual since I had to really look at all of the packaging but still took under 30 minutes.  I think they should make grocery shopping with kids into an Olympic sport, I am sure it would become the most watched sport on television.