I have been throwing some kitchen stuff away lately, trying to clean and reorganize, and realized a few months ago we have too much plastic in the house. Creepy, old, weird plastic cups, sippys. . . ick. We are pretty green around here, but I didn't really think about the plastic/food thing until reading yet another article about plastics/toxins and the effect on children and adults and the environment, (This most recent one in the newest Vogue of all places!) I am glad I took some action, and now feel so much better. Less stuff, easier to clean, and non-creepy.
We got these stainless steel sippys by Klean Kanteen and I love them. They have them in Portland at New Seasons. We got two, never lose them, and they are great. I got a mama sized one for the car. At home we just use small juice glasses. With me working at home, we have never used bottles for our girls (this might say quite a bit about my social life as well) but if I were to, I think I'd use these glass baby bottles here.
No more paper or or plastic bags. I'm going for "never-ever" using bags from stores anymore, and these are making it easy. They fold up so tiny, I can keep 3 in my bag, so I have them all the time. Pete justs stuffs them in his pocket. I got some for my mom too, and she is addicted now. They are by envirosaxs, and they have hemp organic ones too. These are nylon, so not 100% green, but dang-it, they are so portable, which is key for me, so I went for the nylon. (You can do a search for sewing your own too, there are tons of tutorials out there.)
On the go snack containers. This was so hard. There's so much cool designer kids melamine cuteness and rad kids bento boxes out there!. But, again, I just need an alternative. These stainless steel snack containers for the girls are awesome and they love them.They come in different sizes and single ones, too. Of course, home-sewn cloth bags are a great alternative, and easy to wash, but I need something for crushables, and these are perfect.
And I love these glass food storage bowls I switched to. They have plastic lids, yes, but the all glass ones are too small. . I need to find bigger ones that are all glass.
Okay, I did get a bit freaky about tall this stuff when I was pregnant and so have been making changes for the last few months, slowly. Just washing and touching these things makes me happy, and it feels a lot less like an out-of-control-brightly-colored-toxic-plastic-spiral in this house. Not that it was some insane circus here, but it was bugging me. Plus, now there is never a "I need the blue sippy" fight They both have the same ones, end of story. And when someone is sick, I know cleaning all this stuff really works, and it won't stay germy. For eating at home, real small bowls and glasses and cups were already in place here, so that was easy. I got them all at Cost Plus, or they are vintage.
Here's a great PDF to print out with the risks of using everyday plastics (which are freaky!) but also with helpful tips and hints to reduce the plastics in your home. I really appreciate the alternatives, not just the warnings. I personally need to be very careful reading this stuff-I can get all OCD-sh and crazy about it. For me it's all about small changes, slowly, and then letting it go and having fun with the girls. (Not researching all day and night on the computer.)
And can I say say how much I love Sew Green? They are they best at providing info in a writing style that makes me NOT freak-out, just informed. Thank you!
