Semi-Green (agian)

Its been a long time since our last post due to many family events and life, but hopefully we can get this going again. Its a New Year and the perfect time to start fresh and start living semi-green. We have had lots of new experiences on our semi-green journey and I look forward to blogging about them this year. I have included a few New years tips which we will discuss more in-depth over the course of the next few weeks.

Some simple New years Tips:

--Buy in bulk to save money and packaging (though make sure bulk is bigger packages not lots of smaller packages to get the greener effect).
--Visit your local farmers market for fresh in season produce (yes in many places there is still produce even during the winter though a smaller selection.
--Keep reusable bags in the car so you have them for that quick trip to the store (at many stores this saves money as well).
--Clear the clutter but not to the landfill. This is a great time to give away all of those unused items to goodwill or sell them on E-bay or Craigslist. This let you clear out your house without adding to the landfill and reduce overuse of materials.

"On the go eating"

On-the-go Eating and still being “semi-green”

We have established that most large chain restaurants use foods with lots of processed ingredients that have traveled many miles to your plate. These foods are often not as flavorful or healthy as other alternatives. Growing your own, finding farmers markets, and local farms is a great way to help offset these things, but what about the times when you need a meal fast and cheap…..

You have several options:

1) Keep easy to heat and serve meals ready to go at home. Many of you are envisioning microwave dinners or store bought spaghetti Os. Actually I am refereeing to tasty homemade meals that are quick and easy. For example, in my family we love chicken tenders (especially my 2 kids) but hate the bready processed chicken that you can get most places. So, we buy local chicken breasts and slice them into strips. We then bread them and fry them in our counter top deep fryer. Once cooled these can be individually frozen and bagged. We keep these in the house so that whenever I get off work late or we have an evening event to get to, I can take them out and pop them in the oven for 10 minutes, add some fresh veggies or fruit and we have a fast, cheap, and semi-green meal. Cooking soups and home canning them is another easy, semi-green meal. These meals save, time, money, and the planet. Often coming in at under 100 food miles compared to possibly over 50,000.

2) Find a local restaurant that buys locally. While most chains use centralized warehouses and such, there are great locally owned and operated restaurants that choose to use local ingredients whenever possible. Even if they are only using local produce it is a step in the right direction. You might be asking, how do I know where they get their products. Simple, just ask. This lets you know where they purchase their products, but also lets them know that it matters. So if they aren’t buying local now, they may start to buy local as more and more people ask them about it.

3) Pack your lunch…or dinner…or breakfast

When you go through the drive through at a fast food restraint and feed a family of four, you are going to spend about $20-$25 and maybe more depending on the restaurant and the choices. However, for less than half of that you can pack a meal that is more nutritious, better tasting, and better for the environment. You can use reusable plates and cups and limit the trash going into the environment, nutritious sides like slices of carrots, peppers, celery, or cucumber, fresh local fruit, and homemade chicken salad sandwiches ( or cold cuts, or any other sandwich topping). Even if the produce is purchased at your local grocery store you are still being more environmentally friendly by cutting down on paper waste.

Why eat green?

Let’s talk about food, a subject near and dear to our hearts, or more
approximately our bellies. Food is a universal experience, and an
easy way to lower your footprint on the earth. I’ll call this part 1
of a series that will deal with ways to ‘eat green.’

All of us have done it, we are in a hurry and need a quick meal. Ahh!!
Ahead are the familiar golden arches. Let’s order a cheeseburger and
see what we get. You get a burger, wrapped in a wax paper wrapper,
placed next to 4-5 disposable napkins, in a paper sack. Sure, it is
convenient but you are producing nearly as much waste as you are
consuming. Tell the clerk that they can keep the bag for the next
customer and they act as though you called their mother a bad name.
To add ecological insult to injury these chains use food that is
shipped to a central location and than distributed to their outlets.
Increasing the ‘mileage’ that your food has on it before it gets to
your plate. Even the mom and pops burger joint probably gets most of
their food the same way, trucked to a warehouse and trucked to their
kitchen. Let break apart this cheeseburger.

The bun: “Enriched bleached wheat flour (malted barley flour,
thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, iron, folic acid), water, high fructose
corn syrup, vegetable oil (partially hydrogenated soybean oil), yeast.
Contains less than 2 percent or less salt, wheat gluten, calcium
sulfate, ammonium chloride, ascorbic acid, azodicarbomide, diacetyl
tartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides, corn flour, soy flour,
calcium peroxide, mono- and diglycerides, propionic acid, phosphoric
acid, ethoxylated mono- and diglycerides, wheat flour, silicon
dioxide, sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate, fungal enzymes, calcium
propionate (as a preservative), sesame seeds on the Quarter Pounder
Bun. ”

The burger: “100% beef patty”

American Cheese: “Cultured milk, water, cream, sodium citrate, salt,
sodium aluminum phosphate, sorbic acid (preservative), sodium
phosphate, cheese culture, artificial color, acetic acid, enzymes,
lecithin.”

Condiments: Ketchup: “Tomato concentrate from red ripe tomatoes,
distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, water, salt,
natural flavors (vegetable source). “

Mustard: “Vinegar, water, mustard seed, salt, turmeric, paprika, spice
extractives. “

Pickles: “Cucumbers, water, distilled vinegar, salt, calcium chloride,
sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate (preservative), natural flavor
(vegetable source), alum, polysorbate 80, turmeric.”

Other ingredients: Onions, salt and pepper.

Quoted information from: http://www.dietriot.com/fff/mcd/mcd.html




Lets look at the components one by one.

The Bun: I count 31 ingredients, maybe 1-2 more depending how you
count a couple of fats. Many of these I can not begin to pronounce,
let along imagine how they effect the finished food. How many
ingredients do you need to make bread? The simple answer is 5; flour,
water, yeast, salt, and sugar. Some recipes will call for milk, egg,
oil, honey, spices, or whole grains. I guess it is a good thing
economically that 31 production facilities have to be operated to
produce a burger bun, but it seems like overkill to me.

Beef Patty: A proportion of beef for this restaurant comes from New
Zeeland and Australia and is (bravo) grass fed/free range beef. The
exact composition, ie cow, steer, particular cut, ect, is a relative
secret of Lopez Foods, a primary beef patty provider. I feel confident
in saying that the 100% beef burger patty you get is NOT 100% ground
chuck (like many first line restaurants use for their burgers, or you
might buy from your butcher).

American Cheese: Cheese needs 3 ingredients: Milk, salt, enzymes,
when time and technique are added you can produce a huge range of
different cheese. A few more bodied cheeses need bacteria, but that’s
another article.

Condiments: The “vegetable source” ingredient has a be a bit
concerned, but by and all these are the most sane ingredients in this
dish.

Bear in mind that each ingredient is produced separately, granted some
may be made at the same location, but all are individually processed
mixed together and produce the generic fast food cheeseburger.

The green lesson in all of this?

Consider where your food comes from and how much work has to go into
it’s production. Chances are good that there are local (less
transport + less storage + less handling = lower environmental impact)
high quality alternatives to many of the convenience foods that you
purchase, making them better for the earth and many time better for
your health.

Seek out the local alternative and reduce transportation demands. As
a bonus you get food that tastes better, is better for you, and is
what nature, or God intended you to eat, not some Franken-food that
only exists because of a high tech laboratory somewhere.

Check back for part 2 of this series where we talk about EASY ways to eat greener (and save a little money)!

Top 5 Easiest Ways to "go green"

1. Use cloth/canvas shopping bags
2. Use your local curbside recycling
3. Turn off lights (when you aren't in the room/don't need the light....turn it off)
4. Use real plates/silverware instead of disposable
5. Buy in bulk (reduces costs and packaging)

These ideas are easy to implement and numbers 2-5 will save you money. Many places offer free curbside recycling and if you have to pay for trash disposal this can save you money by having less trash. Turning off lights saves on electricity (you can also use CFL bulbs) and using real plates obviously saves money over buying disposables. Buying in bulk can often reduce costs by 25-50% in addition to reducing packaging.

Stay tuned for Earth Friendly ideas for the kitchen!

What is Semi-green living

Semi-green living is about marrying the idea of being environmentally friendly with living and working in "the real world". It involves doing the best you can while still working, driving, and living your regular life. There are many small changes that can have a big impact on the earth, help your wallet, and not add stress to your already busy life!