My first positive post!!! I lost 3lbs this week. The eating or the exercising or both? I am having a few issues with missing chocolate and candies! Lets call it withdrawal and leave it at that.

Week of June 27th to July 3rd
Items: 15
Weight: 8oz – Once again going on up!

Recyclable: #5 ketchup cup can go to PreServe
Reusable: Plastic fork – my husband uses them until they break for his lunches

Five Guys – styrofoam cup from fries and plastic cup from holding ketchup
Lid from Shortening
Plate and fork for community BBQ
Kraft Mayonnaise container
Thai Kitchen instant soup
plastic ring from glass jar of minced garlic
Window from pasta box
Plastic bag from grapes
styrofoam container from a lb of hamburger – this sucker was 2 oz all by itself
Italian sausage plastic wrapping
milk lid + zipper
piece of plastic wrap – I have NO idea where this was from.

What could I replace easily?

Mayonnaise container is already replaced with a glass jar. Boy… just about every kind of mayonnaise is in a plastic container. What happened? You could really only find very small jars of mayonnaise. I ended up buying mayonnaise made from safflower oil because that is all that came in a decent sized jar.

I can source shell pasta(but not spagetti which this was) from our Health Food store. The real issue is the location of the store which I don’t want to go to regularly (it is a little far away) and the price. I have bought some tri-coloured pasta from there (because that comes in plastic bags) and let’s just say that it is EXPENSIVE. I will likely only replace pasta that comes in plastic bags from this source.

How many items are convenience food?

Let see – Five Guys? I admit that I wanted to spend some time with my husband and this is where he wanted to eat. For a whole host of reasons that I won’t get into, I went along with it without a complaint although I would have preferred to eat elsewhere.

Thai Kitchen instant soup – I actually really like this soup and for a quick, light lunch nothing beats it.

Community BBQ – I wish I had of been more organized. I really blew this one.

What items would I be willing to give up if there was no plastic free alternative?

None. Once again, I feel selfish for not wanting to give up more than I already have. I would willingly cut down on the Thai Kitchen instant soup and the grapes (which I have!) but I don’t know that I would go so far as to say, “No more grapes will pass these lips”

Conclusions

Going out is once again my downfall. Combine this with a husband that thinks I am nuts and I end up going to places like Five Guys. I did manage to use the BBQ as a conversation point. We had a friend go with us to the BBQ and I had to explain why I was taking my plastic home. I suppose I could have made the same point if I had of brought my own plate and utensils but I am not sure. Bringing home the plastic really made the issue obvious. I need to be way more organized about what I might encounter in the outside world as you will also see with next weeks plastic. I think next week’s plastic is ALL ABOUT THE GOING OUT! *sigh*

My other source of plastic is meat. I can certainly cook up meals that don’t have meat in them and do – plenty of times. But the sad truth of it is that I don’t want to embrace the vegan lifestyle. I like to eat meat. I think I can head to Whole Foods and get meat in my own containers. But Whole Foods and meat is a budget buster. Heck… I am already struggling to keep the food under budget without jacking up the price of protein. I am really not sure what to do about this because unlike getting caught when I go out, this is within my control.