We have settled into a pretty natural rhythm with our Zero Waste efforts and are finding what works for us and what doesn't, like:
1. New breakfast item: Chocolate Banana Muffins. I've made these for Austin for the past month on Sundays and they last him the whole week. Trick for ripening bananas quickly so they are ready for bread: Put the bananas in a paper bag and close the bag. They will release ethylene that quickens the ripening process (putting an apple in there will also ripen them faster). This trick works for other fruits like avocados, peaches, and pears as well!
2. Up til now, we have been buying bread (for Austin; I can't eat bread) at the bakery and wrapping it in a towel so we don't get a bag. Fresh bakery bread is pretty expensive. A few weeks ago, though, my parents gave us their bread machine since they don't use it anymore. Austin has been pumping out loaves ever since and they are turning out really well! The first thing he made with it was a grilled cheese, and when he was eating it I mentioned that it looks like Zaxby's bread. He said it tastes like Zaxby's bread. (How I miss Zaxby's bread). It ends up costing about $1.50 per loaf with all of the ingredients. This was super cool and we are enjoying not having to buy bread anymore!
3. We finished toilet training our cat, FINALLY!!! I'm so excited and proud of her because we've been working on this for a loooong time. (Yes, I know this is one of those things that makes a person "weird," but I invite you to be weird with us because this is pretty cool and convenient). We stopped using clay kitty litter over 2 years ago because it gave me terrible migraines (clay cat litter is also non-decompostable and filled with toxic chemicals that are harmful to both humans and kitties). We used a toilet training kit and since we have an extra toilet in our house, we just let her take her sweet time in getting used to it. It's also really funny listening to our cat use the toilet like a human. If you don't want to toilet train your cat but want to use an eco-friendly cat litter, there are corn, wheat, paper, and even walnut based litters on the market that do the job without creating hazardous waste. If I can catch her on the toilet one of these days, I'll post a photo, but here she is at our old apartment when we began training her. (No, she doesn't wipe. No, she doesn't flush. Rude.)
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| Invasion of Privacy |
4. Zero Waste Fail: TOOTHPASTE. When I made our second batch of toothpaste, we used it for about a week before I said to Austin, "This isn't really working for me. What do you think?" He agreed that our homemade toothpaste was not really cutting it and we weren't brushing our teeth for long enough and that we wanted to use toothpaste again. So, we researched brands and bought some Kiss My Face toothpaste. The first time I used it, after months of using coconut oil, I said to Austin "This is the most amazing experience" and he agreed. We have decided toothpaste is something we're not willing to compromise on, but now we have a newfound appreciation for toothpaste and almost every day we remark on how amazing our teeth feel and how grateful we are for toothpaste. I never had such appreciation for toothpaste before (it's something we've always taken for granted), but this challenge has done that for us.
5. A few people have asked about our diet and how what we eat is related to Zero Waste. Austin eats a pretty normal pescetarian diet heavy on carbs, nuts, and fish. I eat a lot of vegetables, fruits, and eggs. We both drink an inordinate amount of tea. I'll share a post soon that goes into more detail on what we eat and how we keep the earth in mind when we buy our food :)
6. Here is all of our trash so far this year (January and February). It seems like a lot to us, but at this rate we should achieve our goal of only one trash bag for 2017.
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| January+February trash |
Happy March! Hopefully we can all discover new ways to be kind to each other and the earth this month.
