Apartment Living : a series three

I'm back! Sorry to any regular readers, I fell off the face of the earth for a couple of weeks. I have been a busy bee and I am finally sitting down to relax after a long camping trip and work week that isn't even over yet. I've got a nice (Cocokind) face mask on, the new Olivia Rodrigo album playing and I am ready to get the sustainability train rolling again. Since the last time I wrote, I have thrifted a few more items for my space, perfected the art of dish washing with a soap bar, and worked on my vegetarian cooking skills. I decided that in an effort to keep my home as low waste as possible, I wanted to keep my diet as minimally harmful to the environment as well, thus becoming a vegetarian household. That is what this post will be about, my cooking habits as well as grocery shopping to keep the plastic mostly out of this little apartment.

Let's start with grocery shopping. I usually love grocery shopping, but the closest grocery store to my apartment is always busy and it stresses me out to the max, but I'm getting the layout down and I'll be a pro in no time. I am a big fan of shopping in bulk, unfortunately the store I have close by does not have a huge bulk section, so I plan to shop elsewhere when I am in the need for dry goods refills like flour, sugar, etc. Bulk shopping feels easier to me because there are fewer brands to choose from, you can get however much you want, it seems cheaper, and you can keep it practically zero waste. Just over a year ago I purchased my cloth bulk bags and they have been a life changer. I got mine from.. guess where! I'll wait.. Marley's Monsters of course. These bags are perfect for filling up with dry goods or produce. I have one set of three, and I have also turned various other small cloth bags into bulk bags. I use these to stock up on rice, nuts, cereal, snacks, flour, pasta, and so much more. Just like with a classic plastic bag used for bulk, you just pop a labeled twist tie on the bag go!

Another great bag to keep handy is a mesh produce bag or two.. or three.. or ten. These are great for fruits and veggies and they are see through so you can clearly see what is in there. If I am buying one individual piece of fruit or one vegetable I will usually just toss it in my cart with no bag, but if I am getting a handful of carrots or a few oranges, I reach for a mesh produce bag. I think I got my set on Amazon, but there are so many great small businesses that sell them as well (Marley's Monsters for one (honestly how do I get them to sponsor me?)). I have even seen sets of these sold at Target or Fred Meyer! In the event that I run out of produce bags on a shopping trip, I won't hesitate to reach for a plastic bag, but I keep them and reuse for the same purpose, or use them to hold my food scraps until I can give them to someone who has a compost bin (aka my parents).

Let's talk food scraps real quick!! Then back to groceries. I keep all of my non-animal product food scraps in the freezer in a plastic bag so they won't smell and then take them out to my parents house every week or two to compost. I wanted to set up my own worm bin, but it is a little tough with not too much space so I settled for this method! This also helps keep my normal trash from getting smelly so I don't have to take it out as often. Cooking only vegetarian meals also helps keep the odor down, no bones or chicken skin to stink up the kitchen.

Okay, back to the regularly scheduled content! The other main goal I try to stick to when shopping is to buy as much in glass or cardboard as possible. I avoid plastic like I avoid going around people that aren't wearing a mask. This goal however, has caused some very tired arms. I am one of those people that likes to get all of the groceries inside in one trip and this does not go well when the majority of the products are packaged in glass. I think now that I have gotten most of the basic sauces and what not, not all of my grocery trips will include so much glass. Here are some examples of products that are so easy to swap out plastic for glass:

Ketchup (try the Portland Ketchup Company.. incredible)

Mayonnaise (I go for an avocado oil mayonnaise)

Coconut oil

Olive oil

Ranch

Maple syrup

Basically all the sauces who am I kidding, I don't need to keep going. Oh, and San Pellegrino if you're weird like me and enjoy plain sparkling water.

I think we can wrap up grocery shopping for now, but don't forget your reusable bags when you walk out the door! A quick detour to food storage before going on to diet. I have picked up so much tupperware in my time here on earth and I fill it up so quick with all of my bulk goods. I have a ton of tall glass and plastic containers that I fill with my pasta, rice, tea, flour etc. I also thrifted a few cute sugar jars that I use to house my sugars (duh). For my produce I will usually toss anything that needs to be refrigerated into a glass container or a silicone ziplock bag to control the moisture. With items such as carrots and celery I cut them up immediately and store them in a container with water to keep them fresh and crispy for days to weeks and greens I will usually pop into a bowl and cover with a towel to draw out any excess moisture that would lead to wilting. If I cut an orange, onion, tomato or other produce item and save a portion for later I use a silicone food saver to cover up the cut side and keep it fresh. I got mine at a store in Ashland, but I have seen these in other kitchen gadget stores and sections as well as various online sources. Beeswax wrap is another great option for keeping produce fresh or covering a bowl of leftovers. I have so many pieces of beeswax wrap that I use if I ever take lunch on the go or if I am too lazy to put my leftovers in a proper tupperware. This method is super quick and easy, all it takes is a little body heat to get the wrap to stick to whatever you are covering.

I try not to let anything go to waste so I end up freezing a lot of things like bread, tortillas, veggie sausage, etc. If I know I won't be able to eat it within its timeframe of freshness I will toss it in the freezer. This keeps things from getting moldy or spoiling and then I avoid overflowing my compost bag with food waste. I am trying to get better at making my own bread, tortillas, english muffins, and other basic baked goods and then I just throw them in one of my gallon silicone bags in the freezer and they'll stay fresh forever. This is also great because I am almost always only cooking for 1 so I do not go through anything very quickly.

Okay let's be real, at this rate I don't think we're getting to the part where I talk about going vegetarian, this is getting long and I hate to take up too much of your time. I think I've covered some good ground with this post so I will save my minimal impact cooking habits for another day.

As always, thanks for tuning in and feel free to send me any suggestions or questions you have! Bye :)