Once you get to know Beth Terry of My Plastic-Free Life, your plastics standards increase by exponential degrees as a result of positive peer pressure. I’ve often thought of Beth’s commitment to using no plastic in the past week, and I feel like a plastic failure! Here’s my full confession: During Get Out the Plastic week last week, I used plasticware twice at restaurants, Styrofoam plates once, and this Monday at the grocery store I realized I didn’t even have any of the plastic produce bags that I dry out and reuse (I’m such a baby stepper, eh?) with me, and of course I was buying a supremely huge amount of fresh veggies. Oh, the guilt!
I also realized after someone asked how I store my flour, that my flour and sugar and brown sugar is stored in number 7 plastic!!! Gaaaaaahhhhhhh! How could I have missed that for so long! I moved “stainless steel airtight canisters” up to high priority on my wish list (Mother’s Day is coming, hint, hint, family) and will live in fear until then. Actually, I need to switch over to reusing glass containers, I guess. I have some big nut jars that will suffice.
That’s just another reason it will be good to be grinding my own grain. Another confession: I haven’t even opened the grain mil box yet. It won’t be long now, though, because this is how much whole wheat I have left, plus 3/4 bag of white whole wheat:
I’ve got the wheat berries ready for when I run out, but I’m petrified! Is it crazy that I’m scared to open my new kitchen gadget? I’ve always hated learning new appliances, reading directions, such and such like that. When I was a senior in high school, I refused to learn how to use a graphing calculator. I went all the way through Calc II in college without using one, just because I’m stubborn and was sick of technology. (It’s a miracle I ever got going with this blog thing, eh?) Tell me I’m not alone, please! Anyone else have an appliance-phobia?
Plastic Reduction FAQs
As part of the Life Without Plastic giveaway, commenters could ask a question about plastic use. Of course, I wanted to answer them all, but I can’t really do that on a giveaway post! 
Here are some of the most commonly asked questions:
- How do you (politely) stop others from giving you plastic? For a few years now, I’ve prefaced our kids’ birthday wish lists with “less plastic, more wood; fewer batteries and buttons, more imagination and child-driven toys.” I wish I could say it works!One Christmas, we complained so much about all the battery-powered toys we had around the house that instead of getting our kids toys without batteries, my in-laws got us a bunch of batteries! They misunderstood our grief and thought we were frustrated with the monetary cost of batteries.
You just have to keep trying, keep relationships very respectful, and throw out little teachable moments when you can fit them in without hurting anyone’s feelings.
And if the plastic-giving relatives are far away? You return the gifts for wooden toys and fingerpaints. That was my M.O. two years ago!
- How do you freeze things without plastic? Beth Terry would use stainless steel and glass storage, including I’m sure the “free” glass jars you get from reclaiming store spaghetti sauce jars and the like. Personally, I have plenty of plastic in my freezers. My space is so limited that I couldn’t survive without plastic bags.I store almost all of my broth in glass jars and never put hot foods into plastic. All my frozen fruit, bread dough, cookies and meat are in plastic, though (the meat comes that way from the farm). When I bought store meat, I tried hard to get it from the counter in freezer paper instead of on a styrofoam tray, though.I also wrote a letter to my grocery store’s product department asking them to use bags instead of styrofoam trays for their reduced produce section. I don’t know if it was me, but they just switched! At least I can reuse the plastic bags for other produce purchases. You can find a copy of that letter, which also requests a reduce produce section if you don’t have one, at the Reduced Produce Primer.
- Does the plastic still leach if the food is cold when put into the plastic? Heat accelerates leaching, according to current research. Although we’re always learning more about the ways things we created work, cold storage in plastic should not be as much of a concern as hot applications.
- Has anyone found a way to avoid the plastic bottle nipples and sippy cup spouts? Watch for silicone, at least for bottle nipples. The glass bottle from LWP and the stainless steel that Beth gave away last week both fit the bill.
- Since plastic apparently lines disposable coffee cups, does that mean it lines milk cartons too? If so, how do I reduce my plastic consumption while still purchasing milk, which comes in either plastic jugs or plastic-lined cartons? Beth gave up milk and puts water on her cereal. I won’t advocate that you join her, but you could join me: we get raw milk from a farm and reuse the gallon glass jars every week.
- I need to find a 100% stainless – no plastic – to go coffee mug. If you have suggestions, let me know!
Stainless Steel Container FAQs
- Isn’t stainless steel toxic to cook in? The article cited at that link does speak of some leaching from stainless steel, notably nickel. But honestly, I have to cook in SOMEthing! Sometimes I just have to turn a blind eye and/or choose the lesser evil. Stainless is generally deemed safe except by the very conservative. My pots and pans are either non-stick or stainless, with a few cast iron pans. But for big pots, seriously – I have to use something. I’m open to hearing more on this, though.
- Do they stack okay? It sure seems so, but I only got one, so whoever wins the giveaway for two will have to answer this one!
- I’d love to try stainless steel containers. Do they leak? Absolutely not. They have super tight seals, locked right down on three sides with latches.
Resources for Replacing Plastics
Although glass and stainless steel are great replacements for plastic containers, many people were concerned about how to avoid plastic zippered bags and plastic wrap. Here are few small, eco-conscious companies selling viable alternatives:
Sandwich bags
- Reusies
- Eco Lunch Gear (local Michigan company!)
- Lunch Skins
- Snack Taxi
- Graze Organics (many Etsy sellers make cloth sandwich bags as well)
Produce Bags
Lunch Packing
- Planetbox
- Lunchbots
- There are lots of other stainless steel lunch kits, too
- Kid-friendly tempered glass
If you visit any of these companies, tell them I sent you. I’d love to have any of them at KS as advertisers/sponsors!
BPA Updates
Sarah at Tales of a Hummingbird emailed the Ziploc company with some surprising results. I was under the impression that all plastic storage bags were no. 4 plastic, generally deemed safe(er) without BPA. Here’s the scoop:
The following bags are recyclable under the plastic recycling number four:
- Ziploc® Brand Freezer and Storage Bags
- Ziploc® Brand Snack and Sandwich Bags
- Ziploc® Brand evolve™ Bags
- Ziploc® Brand Fresh Produce Bags
The following bags are recyclable under the plastic recycling number seven:
- Ziploc® Brand Easy Zipper Bags
- Ziploc® Brand Zip ‘n Steam™ Bags
- Ziploc® Brand Vacuum Freezer Bags
Number seven often included BPA. What???
And here is the latest FDA update on BPA, from January 2010.
And the Winner Is…
The lucky winner of the two stainless steel food storage containers is Christy J (christy377), who commented at Kitchen Stewardship. Please contact me with your contact info! Congrats!
Be sure to hop in this week’s giveaway, for the first look at my Healthy Snacks to Go eBook and some huge cans of freeze-dried fruit.
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I’d love to see more of you! Sign up for a free email subscription or grab my reader feed. You can also follow me on Twitter or get KS for Kindle.
If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.
Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money. If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.
Image from number657 and Eco Lunch Gear.
I’m entered in Tammy’s Recipes Kitchen Tip Tuesday.
Hi Kaite,
So many things to say today…
YES! I totally sympathize with the love/hate of technology. It is so overwhelming and, for me, it just takes so much to time to learn it well that I have to be sure I have that time to invest before I start.
Also, I am doing my Monday Mission today – cleaning out the plastics. I just invested in some glass storage containers (Costco has some in right now) and so I’m pumped. I’m also excited because now they will be easy to see what we have in them AND we don’t have as many glass storage containers so we will have to do better about eating up leftovers sooner. I think it will be a great change for many reasons.
Also, I have been meaning to let you know how much I appreciate you! Yours is the only real-food blog I read because it’s the only one I really want to. I love your humble approach and how it feels like we’re all learning this together. It really makes it a joy to read and I am blessed to have this resource. SO, thanks for blogging!
.-= Sara-Beth´s last blog ..Gloria =-.
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Katie Reply:
April 15th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Ah, my dear Sara-Beth, you just made my week. *grin* You’ve been around a good long time, too – don’t think I don’t know my readers!
Thank you very much for the super comment and compliment. 
Katie
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Great post, thanks for the recap. Congratulations Christy J!
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Hmm…I wonder how she feels about the GLASSLOCK glass/silicone storage containers. Is silicone okay? Forgive my ignorance – I’m new to this replacing plastics thing!
.-= stephanie´s last blog ..Better late than never… =-.
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Beth Terry @ Fake Plastic Fish Reply:
April 15th, 2010 at 11:19 pm
As far as I know, silicone is okay. But always remember that new information is coming out everyday.
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My brain is on overload here. I can see I’ll be reading this post many times to absorb all the useful information here.
I love your idea about going to the meat counter and having them wrap your meat in freezer paper. I’m going to start buying my meat where I pick-up my CSA and see if they do this option.
.-= Sarah @ Mum In Bloom´s last blog ..Recipe: Warm Sweet Potatoe Salad =-.
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Beth Terry @ Fake Plastic Fish Reply:
April 15th, 2010 at 11:20 pm
And if they don’t have that option, you could always bring your own paper or container. We actually bring a big stainless steel pot to the butcher counter for the ground turkey that we feed our cats. They are used to us now at Whole Foods, and they know how to deduct the weight of the container. It’s also a great conversation starter with other customers who are intrigued.
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Plastics is one of those things that gives me fits. I try to cut down, but I have a TON of Ziploc and Glad containers. A lot of them are currently in the freezer, and I can perhaps cut back as I use that food.
I take them to work with lunch. I just looked in my bag and I used FIVE today. Little ones – I like lots of variety.
But I’m thinking that I could probably use waxed paper sandwich bags for some of it, and glass for others. I just don’t want to carry 5 glass containers – too heavy. I need some of that stainless, I guess. Time to start the Christmas list. I just put the waxed paper bags on my shopping list.
Thanks for reminding us over and over. I for one need that!
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We have glass canisters for the flour, sugar, etc that I found at IKEA. They’re pretty cool, seal really tightly, and were infinitely cheap in comparison to other alternatives. Plus, I can still see through them.
We also use stainless measuring cups/spoons. We used to have that same set of plastic shovel measurers that I see in your picture, except I kind of hated trying to use them. I think it was my ineptitude, but there was always flour everywhere when they were around.
Now, to tackle this plastic storage cupboard of mine …
.-= Em.´s last blog ..Dear Graduate School Admissions Committee, =-.
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Thanks for this. I have a hard time giving up plastic completely as my freezer and produce bins just aren’t large enough to store things in glass or metal containers. I did buy some produce bags last year from 3bbags and while they are great for shopping, produce gets too wilt-y in them and they actually do say not for storage on them for that reason. I did make my own snack/sandwich bags though with a kit from the Great American Quilt Company. Super easy and fast for any sewing people out there.
.-= marcella´s last blog ..Yes, I do quilt =-.
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Beth Terry @ Fake Plastic Fish Reply:
April 15th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
The Berkeley Ecology Center has a huge list of ways to store all kinds of fruits and vegetables without plastic.
http://www.fakeplasticfish.com/images/Berkeley%20Farmers%20Market%20Tips%20for%20Storing%20Produce.pdf
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I, too, was really convicted by the get out the plastic stuff! I have done a lot this week…but still have far to go! Bought some glass containers on sale and ordered stainless steel water bottles for the family. I also found some great free tutorials online for homemade sandwich wraps and snack bags…they are on my summer project list!
Now I have a question…I also store my dried goods (flour, turbinado, corn meal) in plastic, but I thought I was okay! These are never heated and in the rare event I wash them, it is by hand. Am I wrong???
.-= Paula@Motherhood Outloud´s last blog ..Eating at Home Without Going Insane! Part 2 =-.
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Beth Terry @ Fake Plastic Fish Reply:
April 15th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
It’s probably okay to use the containers you already have for that kind of stuff. Check out my post last week about things to watch out for.
http://fakeplasticfish.com/2010/04/no-more-plastic-food-containers-please/
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I use and LOVE this mug. It’s not completely plastic free, but the plastic it has is the good kind.
http://www.reusablebags.com/store/stainless-steel-vacuum-tumbler-16oz-p-373.html
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johanna Reply:
April 15th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
I use this handled mug, it’s just like the tumbler! Practically drip-proof!
http://www.reusablebags.com/store/stainless-steel-vacuum-traveler-p-375.html
Expensive, but will last forever. Lid is #5 plastic and spout cover pops out so you can clean it well.
There’s the cool looking Eco-Cup but it’s too risky for me with a 2 yearold!
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hi, I’ve been enjoying your plastic challenge.
I’d love to know how to store our fresh produce and cheeses. I tend to use plastic bags but would love to find an alternative. I just fear stuff won’t last as long unless it’s all sealed-up, especially the cheeses.
and for the plastic containers we do use – is it okay to put them in the dishwasher or is that a no-n0?
thanks!
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Katie Reply:
April 15th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
Katie,
Katie
Certainly glass would work, and many attest to the fact that glass will make your produce last longer. Me? I’m still in plastic bags, mostly, and a plastic cheese box for sliced cheese. I don’t really know if the DW will make chemicals leach out of plastic containers more quickly or not. I tend to handwash them because they never get dry in the DW anyway!
Tricky subjects, to be sure.
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Beth Terry @ Fake Plastic Fish Reply:
April 15th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
Here is another idea for storing cheese:
http://fakeplasticfish.com/2009/09/cheese-crazy-plastic-free/
And as I mentioned above, here are ways to store produce:
http://www.fakeplasticfish.com/images/Berkeley%20Farmers%20Market%20Tips%20for%20Storing%20Produce.pdf
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I just got my nutrimill too, and have no fear! It’s super easy to use. Plug in. Add wheat berries, turn the knob. Good luck!
.-= chanelle´s last blog ..Any questions?? =-.
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Katie, thank you so much for all the research and informative articles! I just love reading through the KS emails.
I was wondering about using glass jars in the freezer…wouldn’t they bust in the freezer? Are there specific precautions to avoid this? I would love to know, because this would be a very affordable alternative to plastic freezer containers.
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Katie Reply:
April 15th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Stephanie,
Katie
Every so often I have a broken jar, but if you’re careful about leaving at least an inch (2 cm) headroom for liquids and not having huge temperature shifts, you should be okay most of the time!
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i totally just bought some bags from eco lunch gear – they are adorable and i have been looking for a great quality product to replace the ziplocs! also – if you look at their website, they are very eco conscious in ALL of their business endeavors….love it!
.-= talesofahummingbird´s last blog ..free recycling for your empty cosmetic cases/tubes =-.
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I don’t know what the brand name is, but I recently saw some Klean Kanteen wannabies at my local grocery store, and they had ones for hot beverages as well. I did a google search, and I found the real Klean Kanteen thermoses: http://www.kleankanteen.com/products/insulated/klean-kanteen-insulated.html.
They’re pretty cheap, too.
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Katie’s answers to most of these questions are spot on. Cold temps are not as bad on plastic as hot. Glass jars are fine in the freezer if you leave enough room and don’t make rapid shifts in temp.
Regarding stainless steel — Jennifer Taggart, who wrote the Smart Mama’s Green Guide, which everyone should have because she really is smart — recommends stainless steel or cast iron.
I would never ever use non-stick cookware. It’s basically lined with plastic and gives off PFOA’s when heated. In fact, we donated all of ours and don’t have anymore in the house. Read more about it here:
http://www.ewg.org/reports/pfcworld
Yes, milk cartons are lined inside and out with plastic. And yeah, I put water on my cereal once in a pinch and it was fine. But honestly, when I have the time, I make a delicious almond/oat “milk” in my soy milk maker. It’s great. And I get both the almonds and the oats from the bulk bin. Or sometimes I get the almonds from the farmers market in my own bags.
Pretty much any cardboard that is leak-proof is lined with plastic. All frozen food containers are as well.
Another lunch packing/leftovers option is To-Go Ware.
#7 plastic may or may not contain BPA. #7 actually just means “other” so it can include anything that is not #1 – #6. Even compostable plastic is labelled #7.
Oh, and about that plastic-free stainless steel travel mug — I’m still looking for that myself! My mug has a PP top. When I’m not walking around, I take it off and drink directly from the stainless steel.
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Even though I have just about all the glass storage that will fit in my kitchen (still have some plastic too, but don’t use it much) I just bought a 10-pc glass snap-on lid set at BBB (used my 20% coupon) and I plan to keep a couple in my car for restaurant left overs! Now the trick will be remembering to bring them inside!
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Thanks for the info. I’ve gradually been replacing my plastic containers with glass, for storage of grains and whole spices. I am guilty of having a freezer full of ziplocs though… glass jars would make a nice replacement, but I would probably have to buy some. I don’t buy enough products that are sold in them.
As for the travel mug, this is what I use:
http://www.dcigift.com/product.cfm?productID=763&catID=14
It’s porcelain with a silicone lid. It holds a medium coffee and is double walled, keeping your coffee/tea hot.
.-= Zibi´s last blog ..Spicy Cinnamon Pork =-.
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Katie Reply:
April 24th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Zibi,
Katie
Thanks for the link! I wonder if Beth Terry has finally found her no-plastic replacement now?
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Beth Terry @ Fake Plastic Fish Reply:
April 25th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
I have seen those mugs! But check out the packaging.
It’s not worth it to me when it comes with so much disposable plastic packaging. Also, as clumsy as I am, I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to be toting around porcelain. But thanks!
.-= Beth Terry @ Fake Plastic Fish´s last blog ..Fake Plastic Fish on the Radio =-.
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