At the co-op today, I found all the ingredients I needed! I also got to watch someone use the homemade peanut butter maker! Just pull down the lever, the machine grinds whole peanuts, and out comes creamy peanut butter in seconds! So, after this third trip to the store, my week’s grocery total comes out to be $54.29. One reason the bill was a bit higher than usual was because the only options at the co-op today were the more expensive organic broccoli and sweet potatoes.
For economical reasons, I typically do not buy organic produce (different thoughts about dairy and meat later). USDA certified organic foods are grown and processed following federal guidelines intended for sustainable farming practices, no synthetic additives, and proper animal raising practices. As this comprehensive study by Stanford points out, there are no significant differences in nutritional content between organic foods and their conventional counterparts. Reasons to buy organic include taste, concerns about sustainable farming practices and animal welfare, and reduced exposure to pesticides. The study also mentioned that organic does not guarantee 100% pesticide free but that pesticide levels of all food tested were below safety limits. In a different study, I found that washing produce can be just as effective as commercial practices in removing pesticides.
Regarding dairy and meat, although I am not buying those items during this challenge, I would like to point out that organic may be a safer option because of the potential risk for exposure to added hormones and antibiotics that cannot be washed away. For example, this recent study found significantly more antibiotics and pesticides in conventional milk compared to organic.
Anyways, after returning home, I started cooking the quinoa and lentil stuffed sweet potatoes. I don’t have the best sense of smell, but all my housemates said it smelled and looked great as they entered the kitchen! When everything was done, my meal even matched the picture from the original recipe! (I’ve had some true expectation vs. reality pictures from some cooking recipes I’ve tried.) The French lentils also turned out well. And almost zero waste! The waste I created today was just the stickers on all of the produce. I avoided using the foil that the recipe said to bake the potatoes on because I knew it was unnecessary and was only intended for easy cleanup.
While eating the sweet potato dinner, I was reflecting on the challenge when my friend texted me how everything was going.
“This challenge is making me almost vegan!”
It seems weird to think that I have gone over a week now without eating any meat and less dairy (my beloved yogurt), but I don’t mind it. I’m having a lot of fun trying these new recipes and am glad they are turning out well. I’ll probably make most of them again sometime in the future. I can also tell that I’ve started to consciously notice that some food items have so much packaging. It’s almost as if it hurts to buy a certain item knowing I’ll be throwing away the plastic bag or the net pouch when there are other options nearby. This also makes me wonder what it’s like at other grocery stores and even in other cities. Sometimes the zero waste option is just not feasible, convenient, or budget friendly. I think it really goes back to motivation and the reasoning for doing zero waste for someone to go out of their way to get the most environmentally friendly item. Plus, if you’re traveling to another grocery store by car, other precious resources are being used in the process. Realistically, for me, zero waste is about balance.
Earlier at lab today, I noticed that the break room has compostable cups next to the filtered water station but no compost bin nearby. Things like this, at least on campus, bother me a bit because there are usually compost bins elsewhere on campus.
I needed a cup today and found this one in the break room, but no compost bin. I decided to bring it to the cafe in the adjacent building to compost when I was done.Sometimes restaurants and other catered university events will use all compostable cutlery and plates but will not have a compost bin to put everything in. As a result, all of it will have to go into the trash, as it cannot be recycled either. I think this FAQ site by a common composting brand covers some important points. To start with, compost is the recycling of organic matter and produces soil. This is a very specific process that requires lots of oxygen and does not occur in landfills, which tend to be very compact, creating oxygen deprived conditions. In landfills, compostable products break down just like how any other biodegradable material would, like paper and food waste. Sounds fine, but biodegradable is just the natural process that any natural material would break down into and should not be confused with compostable, as it is just a marketing/greenwashing term. Furthermore, since landfills are typically extremely condensed and lacking oxygen, those biodegradable materials will degrade in a process releasing methane, a greenhouse gas more harmful than CO2, albeit some compostable products are now engineered not to release methane. The site also brings up a positive point I hadn’t thought of. Choosing these compostable items, even if it means it will go to the landfill, is still preferable to foam or plastic items because those contain no renewable or recycled content.
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