Big Brown Horse to the plastic phone plee-azz............

[valmom]

Teflon and those non-stick coatings are just evil! I stopped using them about 20 years ago when I noticed my egg pan was shedding little plastic bits into the food that I was serving my kids! Not a good idea. So, from then on I had my (old) stainless cookware and my cast iron. My mom THREW OUT! her cast iron egg pan that we had the whole time I was growing up when they moved to a smaller house. I can't believe she did that! But, now I have my own nicely seasoned cast iron pan that is great as long as I am the only one to clean it

I think also that the harder plastics leach fewer chemicals than softer ones (except for bisphenol A). It is the plasticizers that make the plastic more malleable that are most questionable (I think). So, given a choice, I buy harder plastic things if I have to. I have a hard plastic sandwich carrier for work.

 

[TanksHill]

Ok so lets review.

I have gotten rid of all non stick pans. I use stainless and cast iron. Just bought the best 8" pan last week from a lady on craigslist. Nothing sticks to it.

Wood and Stainless utensils???

I mostly used those Weber sandwich boxes for the kids. Are those ok since bread is dry?

No foil in contact with food? No biggy there I don't use it much.

What about all my Tupperware storage containers in the pantry. At one point I bought 3 retro gold, green, orange sets for pantry storage. Do those leech into the food? Should I be using gallon glass jars?

What about freezing in zip locks I assume this is a no no as well? If so I am screwed. I will need to get butcher paper and double wrap right?

There is a thread around here somewhere with a couple of links. One is for all stainless lunch boxes and such. Very expensive. The other was for reusable sandwich bags. The hard part there is being Green and using reusable is not the same as being Healthy-Free(yes pun intended Free). So what can we do????


gina

 

[freemotion]

The best thing to do is...don't panic! Breathe! Reduce your plastic use gradually, and forgive yourself for compromise. Most butcher paper is plastic coated now!!! It is very hard to find anything that is completely healthy.

I would consider using the Tupperware containers for dry goods in the pantry....I still have a very few plastic containers, but as I collect glass, I move those plastic ones out. Either to Good Will or to the basement or garage for storage of small parts and such.

Ziplocs in the freezer? Still the easiest.....I still use them. But I am freezing more and more in canning jars. The lids are still plastic coated, but you can keep the food from hitting the lids by freezing them upright, and you need headspace anyways. Then there are the old-fashioned canning jars with glass lids....I am building up a collection of these, with rubber rings. I will probably start freezing in them this summer. I put them in boxes in the freezer. I get the dividers for wine and liquor boxes to keep them safe, and I have some plastic crates for soda cans that I can fit a bunch of jars in.

I still haven't done it, but somewhere is a link for directions to make your own sandwich wrap with cotton fabric, beeswax, and an iron....sandwich the cloth in these layers in this order: brown paper from a bag, foil, cloth with shaved beeswax sprinkled on it, more foil, and a top layer of brown paper. Iron it to melt the wax into the cloth. Check for unwaxed spots and repeat. Turn the cloth over and repeat wear necessary. Clean by wiping. For this reason, I'd be more inclined to make a flat piece of cloth rather than a bag, it would be much easier to clean. I'd secure it with a rubber band.

 

[valmom]

I was thinking about that way of wrapping with wax paper that stayed wrapped, and I think this is it?

Put the sandwich in the middle of the wrap like usual. Take both sides up and hold them together above the sandwich. Fold over in about 1/2 inch folds, essentially rolling the ends down to the sandwich. Does that make sense? then just fold the ends under the sandwich and keep that side down.

 

[Beekissed]

Granny's looked like it started out like that but those ends were folded and tucked in in such a way that you could hardly even shake that sandwich loose....it was a tight thing. Some kind of granny origami......

 

[TanksHill]

Granny Origami sandwich bags.... Sorry I can just picture some fancy store somewhere making a fortune selling them.