Comments on: Plastic Challenge: Becca Ryals and Gordon Bennett, Week 1

By: Becca Ryals

Becca Ryals — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:02:52 +0000

Yes, vital wheat gluten is available in bulk from Berkeley Bowl, and its pretty cheap.

By: Becca Ryals

Becca Ryals — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:01:03 +0000

EcoCatLady – thanks for sharing your experience on composting cat litter.

By: Becca Ryals

Becca Ryals — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 15:58:26 +0000

Thanks for the thorough and thoughtful comments!
The lab-related post is interesting, but frustrating. I suppose those are the realities of doing scientific research.
Swheatscoop works well! We haven’t started to compost our cat litter yet. We still have a bunch of old plastic shopping bags that we’re using up for now. I read several posts on Grist.org about composting cat litter: http://www.grist.org/article/2010-07-26-ask-umbra-on-sustainable-choices-for-cat-litter. They say that if you wait one year before applying the compost, that is enough time to deem the toxin not viable. I don’t know if that’s true or assumed. Unfortunately, I don’t have any space to dig a deep hole. Our garden is built on an old concrete patio, so the soil is very shallow.
On a good note, we found a glass jar of yeast with a metal lid. I guess I just never thought to look for it before. The jar is equivalent to 16 packets of individually wrapped yeast, and I think its readily available at most grocery stores. The yeast in bulk at Berkeley Bowl is nutritional yeast (which we also use a lot).
I’m still debating the soy milk maker. I probably go through 50 cartons of soymilk a year – mostly for baking. I still have an old carton in my freezer, so I’ll weigh out the options while that one runs out.
The seitan recipe comes from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. Here it is:
Ingredients (seitan):
1 cup vital wheat gluten
3 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 cup cold vegetable broth (you can get dehydrated veggie broth in bulk at Berkeley Bowl or make your own)
1/4 cup soy sauce (my bottle has a plastic top!)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, pressed
Ingredients (broth):
8 cups cold water + 3 veg bouillon cubes, or 4 cups water + 4 cups veg broth
1/4 cup soy sauce

Direction:
1. mix together gluten flour and nutritional yeast in large bowl.
2. mix veg broth, soy sauce, olive oil and garlic in separate smaller bowl
3. pour wet into dry, stir with wooden spoon until moist.
4. Knead the mixture with your hands for 3 minutes, until dough is elastic.
5. divide into three pieces and knead a little.
6. Fill stockpot with broth ingredients. Add gluten pieces.
7. cover & bring to boil.
8. as soon as it boils, turn heat to low to simmer for an hour.
9. turn off heat, remove lid, and let sit for 15 minutes.
10. sietan is ready to use once cooled, or store it in the fridge in the broth.

By: Beth Terry

Beth Terry — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 15:22:31 +0000

Fantastic recipe! Berkeley Bowl has wheat gluten in bulk, right?

By: EcoCatLady (AKA Rebecca)

EcoCatLady (AKA Rebecca) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:51:48 +0000

I too would LOVE The seitan recipe!

I’ve been composting kitty litter for over a year now… we use it on ornamental plants in our yard, but if you don’t have a yard… hmmm…. Anyhow, the biggest challenge we’ve had is mice, they LOVE the wheat! I thought they were crazy at first… I mean mice surrounding themselves with the most intense cat smell around, but they’re multiplying like crazy back there!

By: Beth Terry

Beth Terry — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 07:59:37 +0000

Hi Becca and Gordon!

I actually published a guest post from a reader about lab-related plastic. You might find it interesting, even if it has few answers:

http://myplasticfreelife.com/2009/07/no-technology-is-truly-green-guest-post/

I’m glad you found Swheatscoop. Composting the waste separately sounds interesting, but what would you do with it once it’s composted? I guess burying it deeply would be okay. The concern is not letting it get out to the ocean, right?

We make our own cat food. There is some plastic involved from the supplement powder we use, but it’s a lot less packaging waste than if we were buying cans or bags. Here’s the recipe:

http://myplasticfreelife.com/2008/10/less-impact-cats-eat-homemade-food/

I’ve got those same Frontline flea treatments in my plastic tally. Sadly, the Frontline really doesn’t seem to be working. I think the fleas are resistant to it. So our vet gave us a different med: Vectra. And getting it home, I discovered it comes w/ way more plastic than the Frontline!

I think you can get yeast from a bulk bin at Berkeley Bowl. But I could be wrong. It might just be nutritional yeast. Nevertheless, there is yeast in a glass jar, which might have a plastic seal around the lid, but it’s a lot less waste than individual packets.

http://www.redstaryeast.com/products/product.php?cid=1&pid=1

I’ve seen it at Safeway.

I have to admit I don’t use the soy milk maker as much as I thought I would. But your mileage may vary. The worst thing about it is the cleanup afterwards. Thinking of cleaning it makes me just say, forget soy milk. I don’t need it anyway.

Will you post the seitan recipe? I’m very interested!