Our Environment

Hi Guys - this post is a little out of the ordinary for me but lately I’ve noticed a lot of waste around me in general. I’ve been feeling very strongly about doing my part to try to save our planet and wanted to share a few ways we’ve been making small adjustments to our daily habits.

1.       Grocery Shopping

Moving to the US last year, I was so shocked to find that grocery stores double bagged everything in plastic bags unless you specifically asked them not to. Some stores don’t even give you the option to buy any reusable bags! We try our best to remember to bring our large grocery bags every time we go shopping.

This past weekend I bought some cotton mesh bags for produce this past weekend. They’re machine washable, durable and all the reviews say they’ll keep produce fresh for longer in the fridge. I can’t wait to test them out!

2.       Coffee

My office uses a Keurig machine. Some of my colleagues and I struggled with that since the single pods are not recyclable and end up in a landfill somewhere. I received a universal reusable K-Cup for Christmas and now I get to refill it with my choice of coffee every day!  

At home we have a standard coffee percolator. I ordered this reusable coffee filter for our grinds from Amazon and so far so good. We also have a Nespresso and we collect all of our empty pods in a designated bag (which you can find at any Nespresso store) and will return them once the bag is full!

3.       House Cleaning

I noticed we were running through a lot of paper towels very quickly at our house. I ordered this pack of microfiber towels and love them! We use them to wipe down counters, dust, clean mirrors and even dry some of our hand wash only dishes. They’re machine washable and we even toss them in the dryer. Easy breezy! We also ordered this pack of silicone sponges for our puppy's dishes, cleaning the bathroom etc. Every once in a while I just toss them in boiling water for a few minutes and they’re all clean! The best part is that they don’t smell at all like traditional sponges!

4.       Packing Lunch

I noticed I was using a lot of plastic baggies for snacks, fruit etc. and just ordered my first Stasher during the Amazon Prime days. It’s on the pricy side, but if I find this one useful, I’ll add a few more on my Christmas wish list this year. We freeze a lot of stuff now and it’s just great to be able to reuse these baggies for lunches, marinating food, freezing food, and even trying out the sous-vide method! It's super easy to wash on the top rack of the dishwasher too!

 

I hope this has helped inspire you a bit to take a small step closer to a zero waste lifestyle and help save our planet!