Yes, you read right! One free bottle of barely used Heinz Ketchup and one brand new bottle of Safeway brand Worcester sauce available to the first person at my door. Both contain "high fructose corn syrup" and have hence been replaced with Annie's Organic Ketchup (with plain old sugar) and The Wizard's Organic Worcester Sauce. "
We just did a refrigerator door clean-out...and, while we have few items anymore that contain ingredients we no longer allow in our grocery bag, the items that did (or that were out of date) took a trip down the disposal, and their containers were dutifully recycled.
When was the last time you cleaned out your condiments? Check the dates. Check the ingredients. If you can't pronounce it or don't know what it is, look it up and make an educated decision about whether or not you want to continue adding it to your food.
Salad dressings can be bad. Check the labels. Mustards tend to be good...as do horseradish and anything with a vinegar base. But ketchup often contains corn syrup. And lots of creamy dressings contain all kinds of crazy additives.
While you're at it...just clean out the whole fridge and freezer. This is a great opportunity to start over. We threw out a bag of frozen strawberries that was older than our son and a bag of frozen stir-fry vegetables we've had for at least a year. I also have 2 tupperware containers currently thawing in the fridge just so I can find out what is actually in them (yikes! guess I better start labeling them better).
Then, head on over to the pantry or any food-containing cupboards/shelves and start putting together a bag for donation. We are thankfully nearly done with most of the vegetables we have little use for. What's left is bulk rice and beans and several varieties of canned beans. Anyone who's big on food storage for emergency purposes would probably get a sudden case of nervous hives after looking at how clean our pantry is right now, but, I'll be working on building it back up in a more natural way! Bulk bins and glass storage cartons, here we come!
I'd also like to find someone who could make simple freezer bag sized, re-usable cotton bags to use for filling at the bulk bins, so I don't have to use plastic bags anymore! Any takers? My brain and your sewing machine could really be on to something!
Baby steps and genius ideas. Think about it!
3 comments:
http://www.snacktaxi.com/
http://plumcreekmercantile.com/
(This one is local.)
Check these out.
-stacey
Rather than cotton bags, why not just bring in the storage containers? You'll have to get them weighed before filling them but if you write down the tare weight you'll only have to do that once.
I've been thinking about reusable bags for produce, along the lines of these http://www.chicobag.com/c-29-produce-stand.aspx
I'd love to find the recycled PET fabric and mesh they use. Maybe if we can find the right material we could have a crafty afternoon with you and I cutting and the queen of B street working her magic on the sewing machine.
-Irene
Yes...I think we should definitely get together and have a crafty afternoon. Given my gift for craft...I'll bring the wine and cheerlead heartily.
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