![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Search for an actual bread box
Jul. 8th, 2018 04:46 pmSunday again and I'm working on my conservation measures: Containers. How to not use any more plastic bags?
I've taken my own bags to the supermarket since long before it was fashionable and remember having to explain several times that they really could put the stuff right into my bike panniers I'd put on the counter. The checkout people were so brainwashed that they couldn't conceive of someone not wanting a bag. I'm now having much amusement in the first days of one use plastic bag-free Coles as the brains of most customers undergo rewiring. Not that I think the heavy plastic bags they're selling for 15 cents each are much of an improvement, as I'm sure most of these will also be dumped after one use.
Last week I asked the local butchers, who are used to me refusing the polystyrene containers and plastic carry bags that you put the smaller bag with the meat in, whether there was some way I could avoid taking any plastic bag and they said I could bring own containers. They did try using just paper but they said that doesn't work too well, with the meat sticking to it. My containers are all plastic too, of course, but at least they are reusable. If you've had uncooked meat in a plastic bag, it's a bit gross to consider reusing it for something else, even if you wash it. And yeah, I actually tried that a few times.
So this Saturday I passed over one container which had previously had honey and another one that had takeaway pasta of some kind, to carry the meat home in and then store it. I think that's still a win. I'm now the official eccentric.
Today I hiked to Guildford to go through the antique shops to see whether I could find any old glass or metal containers but the only ones I did see were hugely expensive, i.e. $30 for an old glass coffee tin with a metal lid. I also had in mind buying an actual bread box or at least a box of the right size to be one, but again, though there were old bread bins available, they're huge; you could store several loaves at once. They also cost in the range of $300 to $500. So still looking. A wooden one would be a go too.
If anyone happens to know where I, a non-sewer, could find reusable bags, as in light ones to use for buying such things as nuts or small tomatoes and so on, I'd appreciate the info. Or anyone who makes them and might want to sell a few. I've got several of the heavy bags Coles sells, but am after some small ones.
Also in the interest of eventual savings and more control over what goes in my food, I decided to try making own bread and see how that goes. I had to get the flour this week so actually spent more than I would have buying a loaf, but the flour will go for several loaves, I tell myself. Also there are no witnesses to what happens. Right after I told myself that, there was a knock on the door and there was someone with Greens leaflets for our coming by-election, sniffing and asking what was I baking. So never be too sure.
I was so happy she wasn't a Jehovah's Witness I agreed to them putting up a sign for the candidate, Caroline Perks, out front. No, seriously, I'm glad to let them do that. She asked after I made approving noises over the leaflet. They had looked up the local residents on the electoral roll and then came to speak to us personally, which I thought was good. Ms Perks' leaflet says she's a "climate change policy expert" which at least indicates she's given it some thought. As I write, it's time to hike the "quick bread" out of the oven and see what's happened....hey, that actually looks like real bread :-)
I've taken my own bags to the supermarket since long before it was fashionable and remember having to explain several times that they really could put the stuff right into my bike panniers I'd put on the counter. The checkout people were so brainwashed that they couldn't conceive of someone not wanting a bag. I'm now having much amusement in the first days of one use plastic bag-free Coles as the brains of most customers undergo rewiring. Not that I think the heavy plastic bags they're selling for 15 cents each are much of an improvement, as I'm sure most of these will also be dumped after one use.
Last week I asked the local butchers, who are used to me refusing the polystyrene containers and plastic carry bags that you put the smaller bag with the meat in, whether there was some way I could avoid taking any plastic bag and they said I could bring own containers. They did try using just paper but they said that doesn't work too well, with the meat sticking to it. My containers are all plastic too, of course, but at least they are reusable. If you've had uncooked meat in a plastic bag, it's a bit gross to consider reusing it for something else, even if you wash it. And yeah, I actually tried that a few times.
So this Saturday I passed over one container which had previously had honey and another one that had takeaway pasta of some kind, to carry the meat home in and then store it. I think that's still a win. I'm now the official eccentric.
Today I hiked to Guildford to go through the antique shops to see whether I could find any old glass or metal containers but the only ones I did see were hugely expensive, i.e. $30 for an old glass coffee tin with a metal lid. I also had in mind buying an actual bread box or at least a box of the right size to be one, but again, though there were old bread bins available, they're huge; you could store several loaves at once. They also cost in the range of $300 to $500. So still looking. A wooden one would be a go too.
If anyone happens to know where I, a non-sewer, could find reusable bags, as in light ones to use for buying such things as nuts or small tomatoes and so on, I'd appreciate the info. Or anyone who makes them and might want to sell a few. I've got several of the heavy bags Coles sells, but am after some small ones.
Also in the interest of eventual savings and more control over what goes in my food, I decided to try making own bread and see how that goes. I had to get the flour this week so actually spent more than I would have buying a loaf, but the flour will go for several loaves, I tell myself. Also there are no witnesses to what happens. Right after I told myself that, there was a knock on the door and there was someone with Greens leaflets for our coming by-election, sniffing and asking what was I baking. So never be too sure.
I was so happy she wasn't a Jehovah's Witness I agreed to them putting up a sign for the candidate, Caroline Perks, out front. No, seriously, I'm glad to let them do that. She asked after I made approving noises over the leaflet. They had looked up the local residents on the electoral roll and then came to speak to us personally, which I thought was good. Ms Perks' leaflet says she's a "climate change policy expert" which at least indicates she's given it some thought. As I write, it's time to hike the "quick bread" out of the oven and see what's happened....hey, that actually looks like real bread :-)
