Hi Honeys
How are you today? Our furbaby Jade and I have spent today pegging out laundry working on a few tiny organisational projects and we've had a great day 😊 I still have a while before Hubby will be home from work and I thought I'd share a few tiny changes we've been making in the hopes of cutting down our use of plastics and what we're using instead...
The last few months have been all about change here honeys. Not huge, mind blowing changes, just a whole series of little things we've done to try to be healthier and to try to make sure the things we use every day aren't having a negative impact on the world around us.
Why not grab a cuppa, and maybe a cookie, and meet me back here in a few minutes and I'll show you the tiny changes we've made. No lectures from me dear ones, I promise, just some solutions I've found that I hope might help and wanted to share in case they do. See you back here in a few minutes...
Back again honeys? Do you have your cuppa? Me too ☕ Let's jump in shall we? 😊
Living Without Single Use Plastic Straws...
I mention straws first dear ones because they've been the topic of the day all over the media these past months. A solution simply has to be found because they're causing so much harm these little plastic tubes.
I'm sure no one thinks of the wide spread damage being caused when they're sipping their drink and maybe even think that if they're careful and make sure the straws always go into the bin when they're done everything will be fine but it's not fine honeys.
No matter how well intentioned the users of plastic straws are, straws are ending up on the beaches and in the oceans and are causing so much pain and suffering to sea life.
There are lots of alternatives to plastic, single use drinking straws and I'll add a link to an interesting article at the end of this post if you'd like to read about them honeys but I thought I'd share the solution I've found and has been working for me.
Rosie, you're a grown up! Why do you even need to use a straw? I hear you ask honeys. Well the answer is simple and more than a little scary. For as long as I can remember, literally, I've suffered from involuntary spasms of my trachea or windpipe. The trachea is a tube that connects your larynx to your bronchi, the main airways just before your lungs.
I was born with bronchitis, an infection of the main airways of the lungs or bronchi and was ill every winter growing up. Even now I have to be very careful when drinking because I never know when my airways will simply spasm and close. This is why I need to use a straw and have for many, many years.
Wishing to find an alternative to the plastic straws we've all been using for so many years, I tried paper straws. Yuk. Nope, not for me. Both glass and metal straws simply terrify me. I really am far too clumsy and thanks to the arthritis I'm starting to lose the feeling in my finger tips so I'd end up putting an eye out or something so just nope to both.
Then, while browsing on Amazon I spotted this product and immediately ordered a set...
A padded envelope arrived a few days later and inside was the prettiest velvet drawstring bag and inside the bag were a set of silicone straws...
As you can see they're supplied as a set of eight straws. Four are regular sized straws and the other four are much larger, and perfect for smoothies. Completing the set are two handy cleaning brushes.
These straws really have been, as the saying goes, a game changer, for me honeys. Some of my medication is effervescent, in other words I have to dissolve it (more on that in a moment) and there are no longer any straws in the break room at work so now I can take my own with me in my lunch bag.
I was so impressed with these straws that I hopped back onto Amazon the same week and ordered another set.
I wash my straw in warm water and allow it to air dry on my drainer in the kitchen but you can also pop them into the dish washer too.
I've only used one straw from the two sets so far so I think the two sets will last for a very, very (very!) long time honeys and no more plastic! Yaaaay!
Silicone Travelling Cup...
Remember I said I had to dissolve one of my medications honeys? Well, a great way to avoid using paper (or plastic!) disposable use-them-once-and-they-go-into-the-bin cups is to use the coolest little travelling cup...
The entire cup collapses down into itself and fits neatly inside the lid...
Again, it's made from silicone and I'll get many, many uses from my tiny cup and never have to use a plastic or paper cup when I'm away from home. I keep it in my lunch bag for work and it really does fold up small enough to fit into any handbag or even a pocket.
I've been using this little silicone cup for quite some time now, you can see my original post about it here, I actually have two of these silicone cups (they replaced a plastic one I originally had) I rotate them, they haven't worn out and actually still look as new as when I originally bought them over two years ago!
Ditching The Plastic Lunch Containers And Replacing Them With The Much Healthier Glass Option...
Last, but certainly not least honeys, we come to the product I'm so happy about I can hardly stop grinning whenever I walk into the kitchen and see them on their kitchen trolley where I store them ready for meal prepping...
A fabulous way to cut down on the packaging, wrappings and other assorted waste products from takeaway food outlets, save money and a great way to work towards a healthier lifestyle too is to meal prep your lunches and take them to work with you.
For quite a while Hubby was using those square, plastic tubs with the four sided click and lock lids for his lunches each day. I've always made sure he takes a healthy, cooked lunch with him so that the farthest he has to go in the office during his lunch break is to the office microwave.
Hubby likes this because he doesn't have to stand in queues for fast food (which neither of us likes anyway) and I'm happy because I know he has a nutritious meal when he's at work. He works hard and long hours and I want to know he's eating and not just grabbing something from the vending machine with a coffee.
Fast forward to my seeing an alarming article online saying that by microwaving food in these plastic containers it's possible, over time, for the plastic to leech into the food! This really did scare me honeys because we both have cancer in our family history so those containers were leaving our kitchen!
How to replace them with a healthier alternative though I wondered and then, as if by magic.... well, no, not really magic 😃 I was surfing, as I often do (it's my happy place) the Ikea website and there they were! A product that looked so similar to the items I wanted binned that I immediately thought "oh look, Ikea sell those tubs too..." Indeed the Ikea 365+ range does have plastic versions available too but it was the glass containers that had caught my attention.
They do look very similar honeys, even down to the "clips on all four sides" lids...
These containers are in a whole other league though. The containers themselves are made from a very heavy glass. They're freezer proof, you can bake in them, I've made lots of apple crumbles, Chicken Oven Bakes, yummy healthy vegetable (zucchini) bakes etc and nothing has stained the inside, not even tomato sauced dishes like lasagne!
Oh, and those lids? They're so airtight that I can meal prep individual, freshly made salads into these containers and they're still as fresh on Friday (or even Saturday... we've tried) as they are when I make them the Sunday before!
We're building quite a collection of these wonderful glass containers now, having ordered four different assorted multiples of them since our first order and I'm about to order more too because we've really gotten into meal prepping and I'm finding the larger containers are constantly rotating between the freezer and fridge with all kinds of yummy dinners inside, planned and prepped ahead of time.
They seem to be available in four sizes, or at least that's what I've found online so far. Let's take a look shall we honeys?
From the left hand side in the above photo:
Round, Small Glass Container: These are the containers I now use to meal prep fresh, lovely healthy salads on the weekend for Hubby's lunches all week. I originally used the larger, square, 600 ml containers but since Hubby is sent off to work with his salad and something to eat with it, maybe home made chicken fajitas, a yummy oven bake etc he asked me to use the smaller, round containers so now I do and they are a perfect size for a lovely yummy side salad 😊
Round Larger Glass Container: These larger containers are physically the same size as the smaller round containers but the sides are higher so they hold 200 ml more. They're perfect, since they have airtight and watertight "gaskets" in the lids (which are replaceable, great idea Ikea, you've outdone yourselves, sheer genius!) to transport foods such as soup, which Hubby has done 😊
Square Glass Container: The container that started my (nearly) obsession with this collection honeys 😊 Identical in size to the plastic ones Hubby had been using for his lunches for quite a while but so much healthier in glass, a perfect size for Hubby's lunch or when filled with lovely crunchy salad, way more than enough for both of us as a side to dinner maybe with baked potato, definitely one of our favourites 😋
Large Rectangular Glass Container: Perfect size for an oven bake, this container has a volume of (according to Ikea's website) 1 litre. All I know is that this is way more than enough for Hubby and I, too much actually! When I made a sausage & egg oven bake (too yummy! I'll share soon honeys) it had easily enough for four good size portions, Hubby took some to work next day 😃
Useful Links
Replacing Single Use Plastic Straws: There is an interesting article here honeys on all of the various alternatives to using single use plastic straws, it's worth a read.
Dangers Of Plastic Leeching Into Food When Microwaved: An interesting article in Time Magazine honeys. There are concerns over perfume too it seems.
Ikea 365+ Glass Food Containers: The range that these glass food containers are from can be found on here Ikea's UK website if you don't live in the UK dear ones, run a search on your own Countries Ikea site by searching for Ikea 355+ food storage (because the range also includes items such as textiles etc.) Also remember that you'll have to check the description on the item pages to make sure they are glass, the range includes plastic versions too.
Silicone Travel Cup: Again there are many different versions of these useful little cups but here is the one I ordered on Amazon.
Over to you honeys, are you trying to replace the plastic in your home too? We do still have plastic containers dotted around our home but for food that's going to be cooked or re-heated in the microwave it's glass only for us now.
Do you use straws? Have you tried any alternatives to the single use plastic ones? If so which is your favourite?
Do you meal prep? I've always tried to save time, energy and maybe get a head start on future busy days by, when making a lasagne maybe, making an extra one and cutting and freezing it, but I'm loving being able to plan Hubby's lunches for the week ahead so that he just has to open the fridge in the morning and lunch is waiting for him each day.
This has been another long post honeys, I'm sorry and thank you so much for reading to the end 💖 I hope you've had a fabulous week and that you're looking forward to a wonderful weekend. Till next time dear ones, smile lots and hug even more, hugs always x
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