{"id":19411,"date":"2017-03-20T13:12:29","date_gmt":"2017-03-20T17:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=19411"},"modified":"2017-03-20T13:23:18","modified_gmt":"2017-03-20T17:23:18","slug":"zero-waste-home-cooking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/zero-waste-home-cooking\/","title":{"rendered":"Zero Waste Home: The Freedom and Burden of Cooking"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n Pita bread on its way to the stove top (Photo: Robyn Purchia)<\/em><\/p>\n Attempting to create a zero waste home is certainly met with challenges. Every time I give something away or clear out an area, more things my family doesn’t need or regularly use show up in the house. Every day I become more and more aware of how ubiquitous plastics, non-recyclable goods, and single-use items are, even in my progressive, environmental-home of San Francisco. Freedom from this throw-away, wasteful culture doesn’t come easy.<\/p>\n But with a little hard work and a lot of dedication, it’s possible to start breaking away. Last month, I talked about reducing waste while grocery shopping<\/a>. This month,\u00a0we can turn those groceries into waste-free meals.<\/p>\n Our food comes\u00a0covered in\u00a0stickers and wrapped in petroleum-based plastic. It’s served on Styrofoam and aluminum trays, preserved in cans and held together with rubber bands. Some of this can be recycled, but a lot of it can’t.<\/p>\n Breaking free from this waste isn’t only good for the environment; it’s also good for health. Last year, a study published in the journal\u00a0Environmental Research<\/em><\/a> revealed that consuming canned foods can expose our bodies to Bisphenol A or BPA. This harmful industrial chemical has been linked to premature puberty in females; decreased sperm quality; and increases in breast and prostate cancers, infertility, miscarriages, obesity, type 2 diabetes, allergies and neurological problems like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.<\/p>\n BPA isn’t only found in cans. It’s added to plastic to make it durable, and could be in the packaging “protecting” our food.<\/p>\n To free myself of\u00a0packaging, I’ve started making food myself, adding to my stockpile over time. I decided to start with tortillas, pita bread, hummus, yogurt, stocks, broths and beans because they all come wrapped in plastic or sealed in cans,\u00a0and they’re relatively easy. (I am not culinary genius, trust me.)<\/p>\n My grocery store sells hummus powder in bulk, so I only need to add water, oil and lemon juice. I found a yogurt maker on Craigslist. I can get days worth of chicken for salads and tacos, as well as broth\/stock, simply by boiling a whole chicken for a couple hours. Breads are a bit more complicated, but not much and totally worth the yummy result.<\/p>\n I find I only need to make bread once a week, yogurt twice a week and one meal completely from scratch that I can freeze and eat over time. Thankfully, these meals accumulate, so I don’t have to spend too much time every week cooking.<\/p>\nThe Reason for Cooking<\/h3>\n
A Little Bit at a Time<\/h3>\n