Grew up Green

Monday, March 1, 2010 |

I'm not sure how or when this realization popped into my head but, I've come to learn that my parents were GREEN long before it was the in thing to do!



I'm becoming more and more concerned about my family using plastic for food storage. Even more alarming is heating any type of food in this form of container.

Due to my form of lunch hour {Ha, I don't get an hour. More often than not, I'm eating with a student or inhaling my lunch so I can attend a meeting.} I always bring my lunch with me from home. It is often leftovers from the night before, soup or, a salad.



Last weekend I bought several of these pieces from Crate and Barrel. I love them! The seal is fabulous  and have been personally tested as they have traveled to and from my classroom.



I'll be adding more to our home now that I know they travel and work so well.
My mother always went to the Farmers Market with her own bags. They were loosely knitted  that expanded as the items multiplied.
When at the grocery market she would recycle by bringing back the paper bags from the previous week.
I my Whole Foods and Trader Joe's bags that can be purchased in their stores. Some of the markets in my area are giving back .5-.10 per bag when you bring your own.

Not to sound snobby but please understand these acts weren't based on my parents income, rather their upbringing. My grandmother was from the depression era so there was no wasting allowed. Yes, she was the one who washed out bread bags to be reused, washed aluminum foil to be reused, darned nylons ... you get the picture.

Growing up, my brother and I always brought our drinks to school in a thermos. At home,
 we had our own glasses that weren't allowed to leave the kitchen ~ no drinks allowed in the formal living areas.
Today I bring my water to school in my Klean Kanteen{of course it's pink!} and if I bring coffee, it's made at home and travels with me in my pink Starbucks travel mug. Except for Wednesday when I meet the ladies for coffee at 7am. Whole Foods has a wonderful selection of Klean Kanteens to choose from. I just read about another bottle in this month's issue of Clean Eating.
Both of my parents enjoyed gardening. We had a vegetable garden, flower garden and herb beds. It was a nightly chore to carry the vegetable and fruit peels from our meal out to the compost pile. All the yard matter went into this pile as well which was then turned into rich wonderful dirt for our yard.
I've been composting for many years now and love what it does for our plants.While I was there, I picked up this great compost pail at Crate and Barrel. I bought the larger one for our home.

Childhood memories, ahhh ;)


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13 comments:

Suburban Princess said...

I would use glass containers but my husband is very clumsy - they wouldnt last long being carted back and forth to his work :O(

We compost everything we can - in our town we have to pay for garbage tags or we cant put it out on the curb - recycling is free so everything that isnt garbage or blue box goes in the composter! Almost everyone in town has one to keep the garbage costs down!

A New England Girl said...

Bravo to you and your parents! We try to use as many green tactics in our household as possible. I do love the idea of glass containers and I am certainly going to look into those more... We often reuse plastic containers from store-bought foods to keep foods in, but I too worry about the consequences of reheating foods in these.

Draffin Bears said...

Hi Jo,

Your parents sounded very much like mine. My Mother would always reuse the bread bags and things like that too and darn Dads socks etc.

I love glass for storing food in too and enjoy taking my own carry bags to the supermarket ~ I do think we have to be sensible and look ahead for the future.

Have a happy week
Hugs
Carolyn

KK said...

I so need to go to Crate and Barrel. I think it is so cool that your parents were green before their time. I agree that frugality (for lack of a better word) produces some of the best green behavior!

Wanda said...

Wow....good for you. All this teips are so valuable and helpful. Thank you.

(Psst....just wanted to give you a heads-up to pop by my blog. I'm having a give-away you might like!)

Have a great day!

annechovie said...

Very cool! You had great training early on. Hope you're having a good week, Jo. xo

FEDERICA said...

Just a quick note to wish you a great day!
Federica
xoxo

René said...

I couldn't agree more with your approach to living a healthy life. My mother has always composted and it does make the best soil.

Simple Mom has a good way to make a compost bin (we need a dog proof one, ha ha).

Come to my blog to see what I have for you.

Holly Lefevre said...

I am trying to get rid of our plastic first of all. I also am trying to do away with the sandwich bags. I always bring my own bags to shop with and I do wash out the Ziplocs depending on what was in them. Green wasn't big at my parents house (just lack of knowledge) but it is big here.

LuLu said...

I use sandwich containers for my kids lunches at school... and the kanteen bottles ... so much better I now always have water for them and they don't leak. :)
I'm fading out all the plastic storage containers for left overs and whiching back to glass. Love the ones you bought at Crate and Barrell.
Happy being green,
xo,
LuLu

Sally said...

Love this post. I have that same pink water bottle!

bevy said...

Yea Cute Green Girls!!!

We actually have two recycling bins and they are always overflowing. Our large garbage can usually is a third full.

My grandmother was also a depression era "recycler when recycling wasn't cool". It used to drive me crazy, but now I appreciate what she instilled (not easily, mind you) in my sister and me.

S and J can take no drinks out of the kitchen as well! Mean parents... LOL

Belle (from Life of a...) said...

I've spent the last year ridding my kitchen of plastic too. Have been wanting to compost for the longest and just can't seem to get started. I think a composter like that from Crate and Barrel might just be the thing. I'm going to have to pick one up.

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