Happy holiday season, dear friends and family! I hope that you are all enjoying the new change in weather; we have only 29 more days of 2009.
I went to the grocery store last week, and there were already big red and white signs up encouraging people to buy, buy, buy! There were "gift" ideas displayed almost aggressively, and wrapping paper and gift bags had their own display. As you know, we started sending out electronic Xmas greetings last year to decrease the amount of waste that we traditionally
accumulate at Christmas time.
Today someone asked me if I celebrated Christmas. My response was that we do celebrate but perhaps not in the traditional sense that we would have a big decorated tree and a turkey (or any meat, for that matter). The other person commented that she just wanted to spend time with people; she didn't want any gifts that were not needed. That's what I find most important too, is enjoying quality time with the people we love - and I hope to be able to pass this very important message on to my children.
Of course people want to give, and sometimes people really do need things so there's nothing wrong in giving gifts. I do have some gift-giving suggestions that aren't the traditionally advertised.
1. Give the gift of time or service
If you have time to spare, you could offer to babysit, dog walk, cook, do some housework for someone who has no time for herself. This really is invaluable! And this sweet gift has no wrapping paper to throw away ;) (more on wrapping later)
2. Give home-made food
I find it really special that someone would spend the time and care to prepare preserves, bread, soup, etc... then give some to me! This is really thoughtful, and it makes you feel special too.
3. Give home-made crafts
How long do you think it takes to knit a pair of mittens, or sew an apron? How much sweeter is it to receive a hand-made card than a commercial one? These are gifts from the heart made especially for the person.
4. Give something a new home
I know that many people have made it clear to me that giving a "used" gift is just not right, that it's not the tradition. Well, did you know that real candles used to be used on real pine trees? Most of them are artificial now (trees and lights) - still carrying on tradition, just altered a bit to make it a little safer. What's the advantage of giving something previously enjoyed: there's probably no packaging and you're making use of something that might just be someone else's clutter or landfill. Of course you should probably give something used to someone like me who really dislikes excess and irresponsible packaging - and not to someone who thinks you're being rude or cheap.
5. Plain money (not gift cards - do they recycle those?) is very liquid, very useful. I've also been told that this is not a good gift idea, that it shows no thought. Well, really, I think it's the most practical - or just ask the person what they want, and get that. But if people are far, you can send money, and your recipient can get what he wants with that money. I find that this creates less waste: no receipts, no time waiting in line to exchange/refund.
6. Donate to the food bank or other charity in the person's name.
7. Just a phone call would be nice - especially long distance. I get really excited to know about friends far away.
A few suggestions for gift wrapping:
1. reuse children's artwork (that you don't intend to keep or hang up), flyers, old big calendars, newspapers - and decorate a bit
2. reuse a gift bag, or even make a reusable gift bag (it's a gift in itself)
3. wrap the gift with a part of another gift (example: use kitchen towels to wrap up a toaster)
4. no gift wrap at all - hide the gift, and make the person find it ;) - I love games!
5. if you have collected too many gift bags, boxes, wrapping (I am notorious for unwrapping gifts neatly and slowly to reuse the paper), consider giving it away to someone else like Value Village
Happy Holidays!
Showing posts with label waste. Show all posts
Showing posts with label waste. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Buffet World
I've just come home from eating at Chinese buffet in town. As I was eating and looking around in the quiet restaurant, thoughts scurried in my head about the "buffet effect."
DH's father has been visiting us since last week. Since he was going to be returning to far away Quebec City (but such a beautiful place!) tomorrow, we wanted to do something that he enjoyed: eating all you can eat.
Since the implementation of our vegetarian diet and Little R's special gluten-free and casein-free diet, we've really kept our eating at home. Eating out is tricky, especially at a Chinese restaurant since they have soy sauce in most of their dishes if not all. Chinese restaurant food also contains too much salt and MSG (mono sodium glutamate); these are not good for one's health, so it's been better to avoid these places. But since we wanted to just enjoy time with the kids' grandfather, we thought that it would be all right to go and see what our experience would be.
The most convenient attribute of an all-you-can-eat buffet is that you don't have to wait for your food. As soon as we found our table, I went into the buffet area to get some food that Little R would be able to eat: plain steamed white rice, boiled eggs (thank goodness for the salad bar), watermelon, orange wedges, honeydew, canned peaches and mango salad. I asked the manager what things did not contain soy sauce, and the response was not very many. Little R did very well at eating all he could eat, though. I think he ended up eating 3 or 4 eggs (just the white part after two whole eggs), 3 helpings of rice and lots of fruit.
Little S stuffed herself as well as wore much of the food. DH and his dad had several platefuls without me even knowing what was on there. I definitely ate too much as well. During our feast of salty food (the taste was actually okay), the waitresses refilled our glasses, brought us more napkins (for Little S) and took away dirtied dishes. So thoughts entered my mind: buffets are very wasteful.
Personally, I would eat everything (that's why I take small portions at a time) that I take onto my plate or bowl including sauce. However, my observation of bussed buffet plates tell me that much food is wasted. Some people just take more than they can eat, so the excess is toss into a garbage bag. Paper napkins are mindless "used" and tossed. I bet if we had to pay for our paper napkins that we would be more conscientious about how much and how we used them. Personally, I prefer a reusable and washable wet cloth or napkin. Aside from material waste, there is also the unnecessary washing of used dirtied plates. I don't understand why everyone doesn't just use the same plate (I've always done this, and people keep telling me to take a clean plate) for their subsequent helpings. This would greatly reduce the amount of bussing, water, detergent and electricity for washing the dishes before the sitting is complete.
So what is this "buffet effect" that I'm talking about? Just from today's experience and previous buffet experiences, the effect is wasted food, water, paper napkins, overly full bellies, tummy aches and a general bloated feeling afterward. I think that if done responsibly, an all-you-can-eat buffet is a good idea. If people can learn to responsibly decide how much they should eat, eat slowly and sip water (guzzling water or any liquid while eating actually hinders digestion), reuse their plates, use reusable clothes instead of paper napkins, a buffet can be a very pleasant outing; you can choose what you want to try by looking at the prepared food, take more of it later, and you don't have to wait to order.
We did have a pretty good time out despite the overflowing bellies. Little S was in cookie heaven! Unfortunately for Little R, he couldn't have any because they all contained gluten. The manager felt bad that Little R couldn't eat the fortune cookie after it was presented to him. DH and I should be more on top of that. Then again, we really don't go out much so we didn't expect that someone would hand our child a cookie... poor guy, he really wanted it watching Little S eat hers and his.
DH's father has been visiting us since last week. Since he was going to be returning to far away Quebec City (but such a beautiful place!) tomorrow, we wanted to do something that he enjoyed: eating all you can eat.
Since the implementation of our vegetarian diet and Little R's special gluten-free and casein-free diet, we've really kept our eating at home. Eating out is tricky, especially at a Chinese restaurant since they have soy sauce in most of their dishes if not all. Chinese restaurant food also contains too much salt and MSG (mono sodium glutamate); these are not good for one's health, so it's been better to avoid these places. But since we wanted to just enjoy time with the kids' grandfather, we thought that it would be all right to go and see what our experience would be.
The most convenient attribute of an all-you-can-eat buffet is that you don't have to wait for your food. As soon as we found our table, I went into the buffet area to get some food that Little R would be able to eat: plain steamed white rice, boiled eggs (thank goodness for the salad bar), watermelon, orange wedges, honeydew, canned peaches and mango salad. I asked the manager what things did not contain soy sauce, and the response was not very many. Little R did very well at eating all he could eat, though. I think he ended up eating 3 or 4 eggs (just the white part after two whole eggs), 3 helpings of rice and lots of fruit.
Little S stuffed herself as well as wore much of the food. DH and his dad had several platefuls without me even knowing what was on there. I definitely ate too much as well. During our feast of salty food (the taste was actually okay), the waitresses refilled our glasses, brought us more napkins (for Little S) and took away dirtied dishes. So thoughts entered my mind: buffets are very wasteful.
Personally, I would eat everything (that's why I take small portions at a time) that I take onto my plate or bowl including sauce. However, my observation of bussed buffet plates tell me that much food is wasted. Some people just take more than they can eat, so the excess is toss into a garbage bag. Paper napkins are mindless "used" and tossed. I bet if we had to pay for our paper napkins that we would be more conscientious about how much and how we used them. Personally, I prefer a reusable and washable wet cloth or napkin. Aside from material waste, there is also the unnecessary washing of used dirtied plates. I don't understand why everyone doesn't just use the same plate (I've always done this, and people keep telling me to take a clean plate) for their subsequent helpings. This would greatly reduce the amount of bussing, water, detergent and electricity for washing the dishes before the sitting is complete.
So what is this "buffet effect" that I'm talking about? Just from today's experience and previous buffet experiences, the effect is wasted food, water, paper napkins, overly full bellies, tummy aches and a general bloated feeling afterward. I think that if done responsibly, an all-you-can-eat buffet is a good idea. If people can learn to responsibly decide how much they should eat, eat slowly and sip water (guzzling water or any liquid while eating actually hinders digestion), reuse their plates, use reusable clothes instead of paper napkins, a buffet can be a very pleasant outing; you can choose what you want to try by looking at the prepared food, take more of it later, and you don't have to wait to order.
We did have a pretty good time out despite the overflowing bellies. Little S was in cookie heaven! Unfortunately for Little R, he couldn't have any because they all contained gluten. The manager felt bad that Little R couldn't eat the fortune cookie after it was presented to him. DH and I should be more on top of that. Then again, we really don't go out much so we didn't expect that someone would hand our child a cookie... poor guy, he really wanted it watching Little S eat hers and his.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Take out the take-out!
What does our garbage chez-nous consist of these days? The bathroom's garbage is mostly from disposable diapers (boo on us for this one :<). Our kitchen's is mostly of pieces of packaging that can't be recycled or composted. I think that since doing take-out (DH decided that we had to do this in order for me to have a break from cooking with a crying crawler attached to my leg and a noisy preschooler howling and running around, slamming the fridge and freezer doors and drinking from mylk and juice cartons). Unfortunately, there really aren't any good places to take out from!
If I'm thinking coherently while ordering some Chinese food on the phone, I would ask them to leave out celery and any extra packaged sauces (do people actually add extra soy sauce and chili sauce to whatever is already too salty???) as well as not give us a menu. Our take out experience hasn't improved since beginning this weekly routine. The pros of taking in: no stress in preparing dinner so that I can play with the children and wait for dinner to arrive home with DH; not too many dishes to wash afterward. Cons: poor quality food, cost, waste and guilt of putting unhealthful food into our bodies. We usually order from an Asian place (Chinese or Thai). It's hit and miss whether they will put your food in a styrofoam container or an aluminum one with a cardboard lid line with foil. The Thai place in Oshawa (yes, there's also the mileage that you have to pay for picking it up and bringing it home) uses plastic reusable containers. I used to love them because I could pack food in them without having to buy proper Tupperware. Well, we're trying to reduce pastic containers for liquidy or hot foods, so I tried recycling the containers. The recycling guys didn't take them. The only things I reuse are the brown paper bags. I'm able to recycle the aluminum containers but not the lids, styrofoam and the plastic. That's a lot of waste for one week. It's annoying bulky waste!
There must be a way to by pass this unhealthy take-out routine. If I had a dream restaurant to order from, it'd be like this:
This restaurant would be accessible to walking as well as driving customers. It's a place that welcomes their customers to bring their own containers for the food that they will bring home. For customers who do not have their own containers, the restaurant provides reusable containers that can be returned later. For customers who are from out of town, they can either choose to purchase reusable containers (mostly stainless or glass) or a compostable ones. Customers can bring their own bag or choose from compostable/reusable paper bag or a reusable cloth bag from the restaurant.
The food is made fresh daily. Choices range from organic salads, soups, noodles, stews and casseroles consisting of seasonal local ingredients. This food is so delicious that there is no need to add extra sauces.
Maybe I should open this restaurant... for now I'll just keep dreaming. But I am going to figure out how to prepare meals without stress so that we can drop the garbage that take out brings in. We'll be healthier, and we won't spend so much money.
If I'm thinking coherently while ordering some Chinese food on the phone, I would ask them to leave out celery and any extra packaged sauces (do people actually add extra soy sauce and chili sauce to whatever is already too salty???) as well as not give us a menu. Our take out experience hasn't improved since beginning this weekly routine. The pros of taking in: no stress in preparing dinner so that I can play with the children and wait for dinner to arrive home with DH; not too many dishes to wash afterward. Cons: poor quality food, cost, waste and guilt of putting unhealthful food into our bodies. We usually order from an Asian place (Chinese or Thai). It's hit and miss whether they will put your food in a styrofoam container or an aluminum one with a cardboard lid line with foil. The Thai place in Oshawa (yes, there's also the mileage that you have to pay for picking it up and bringing it home) uses plastic reusable containers. I used to love them because I could pack food in them without having to buy proper Tupperware. Well, we're trying to reduce pastic containers for liquidy or hot foods, so I tried recycling the containers. The recycling guys didn't take them. The only things I reuse are the brown paper bags. I'm able to recycle the aluminum containers but not the lids, styrofoam and the plastic. That's a lot of waste for one week. It's annoying bulky waste!
There must be a way to by pass this unhealthy take-out routine. If I had a dream restaurant to order from, it'd be like this:
This restaurant would be accessible to walking as well as driving customers. It's a place that welcomes their customers to bring their own containers for the food that they will bring home. For customers who do not have their own containers, the restaurant provides reusable containers that can be returned later. For customers who are from out of town, they can either choose to purchase reusable containers (mostly stainless or glass) or a compostable ones. Customers can bring their own bag or choose from compostable/reusable paper bag or a reusable cloth bag from the restaurant.
The food is made fresh daily. Choices range from organic salads, soups, noodles, stews and casseroles consisting of seasonal local ingredients. This food is so delicious that there is no need to add extra sauces.
Maybe I should open this restaurant... for now I'll just keep dreaming. But I am going to figure out how to prepare meals without stress so that we can drop the garbage that take out brings in. We'll be healthier, and we won't spend so much money.
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