Fresh veggie storage ideas!

This is a topic that has been hot on my internet feed this morning, so I thought it would nice to share the links that I have been receiving with all of you. I am not quite sure why, maybe because Labor Day means that summer days are starting to wane, your garden is in top form with harvests getting out of control, and you have to start thinking about how to preserve your harvest before it goes bad. Now, if you want to truly enjoy your healthy harvest while continuing to be friendly towards the environment.

Once you get your organic local veggies with in your house, the first thing you might do is put them into plastic. Plastic continues to drain valuable oil sources from the planet, and all though plastic has been a semi-success in recycling programs, it is still one of those items that if you don't need to use you shouldn't. One of the biggest problems we have environmentally right now is over-packaging, and that goes for our home life as well. Reducing plastic and packaging from your house is just one more way to reduce your overall energy and carbon footprint. Also, in the past decade there has been a growing concern with Bisphenol-A, aka BPA, leeching into their food through plastic containers. Removing plastic storage containers would be the most logical and easiest step to this problem.

Here are the two articles that list everything from Eggplant to Corn to Berries, to Zucchini and how to store them safely. Both articles talk about close to the same techniques but cover things that the other doesn't. One comes from Whole Living and one from Nature's Path Organic.

And here are the links:

How to Store Summer Produce

How to: Store Fruit & Vegetables without plastic

---Justin

In.gredients a new way to shop, and new way to think

There is a new grocery store that is opening up soon in Austin, Texas, it is called in.gredients. It has already started getting plenty of buzz in the mainstream media so I thought it would state a few words about it. In.gredients is offering all local, all organic food to the customers. That is nothing new at all, right? Not really, but it is what else they aren't offering that is new. In.gredients is striving to be the first non-waste food store in America right now. Non-waste? What do you mean? Well, there will be no packaging for their food. You will have to bring in your own containers, weigh your food, and then pay for your food. Only buying what you really need, with no packaging to deal with. According to their video:

Americans throw away 1.4 billion pounds of waste every day, and 40% of it comes from one-time packaging. But it's hard trying to be a conscious recycler after a while because of the double or triple wrappings for every product.

Wow! That's a lot of waste! One of the biggest challenges we have in America right now is over-packaging. Unfortunately, where we get our supplies to live on (i.e. food), is one of the worst culprits in this problem (in my mind shipping, especially for big business seems to be the worse, but I have no states, just personal observations). In.gredients is slated to open this year, and is already getting a lot of attention. I am hoping other companies start paying attention to this new delivery method, which almost ensures that we have to start thinking about slow food (something I will talk about soon in a later article).

Let's see what they have to say for themselves:

Wow, I will have to check this out when it opens!

---Justin J. Stewart