Happy Thanksgiving! Remember your reusable shopping bags and reusable containers!
Choose Scratch Over Store-Bought
Most store-bought dishes from supermarkets and restaurants will be packaged in plastic containers. To avoid the unnecessary plastic, focus on cooking from scratch. Ingredients like vegetables, flour, butter, and nuts can be commonly found in non-plastic packaging. For items like nuts and dried fruits, see if your local market, co-op or health food store has a bulk section and bring your own bags to fill up! When faced with a choice of packaging, choose glass or paper over plastic. If you’re looking for inspiration, see our recipe suggestions below.
Shop Local
Shopping locally not only reduces your meal’s carbon footprint, but you can bring your own bags and containers and you’re less likely to encounter plastic packaging than at your grocery store. Small businesses also need our support more than ever during the pandemic. Give your community your thanks by supporting each other!
If you don’t have the time or inclination to make pumpkin, pecan, or apple pie from scratch, check your local bakery. While you’re there, pick up the bread you’ll need to make your stuffing and bring it all home in your reusable bags. Visit your local farmers market to pick up potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, greens, and more. If your farmers market is closed for the season, many CSAs (community supported agriculture) also offer a special one-time Thanksgiving share of goodies to anyone, even if you’re not a subscriber.
Use Sustainable Decor
Forget the dollar store, make the perfect fall decor for your table setting with things from your backyard and local farm stand. Pressed leaves and pumpkins make for great wall and table adornments! Check out some DIY ideas here. And don’t forget to get the kids involved!
Serve on Reusable Dishes & Dinnerware
Plastic utensils and cups end up in landfills, incinerators, or waterways where they can pose a threat to wildlife. Set your table with reusable plates, cups, serving platters, utensils and napkins. This can also include glass pitchers or bottles for drinks. If your family enjoys seltzer, consider investing in a SodaStream or other carbonation machine (tip: choose the model that comes with glass bottles over plastic). If you have kids, assign them the task of polishing silver—they may find it deeply satisfying. Sticking to reusables only will not only reduce your waste but also save you money.
Provide or Bring Reusable Containers for Leftovers
Going to family or friend’s home for dinner? Bring your own glass or metal containers to cart home some delicious leftovers. There are also some great beeswax-coated fabric wraps out there these days that can take the place of plastic wrap or tinfoil. If you are hosting the dinner, remind guests to bring reusable containers with them. If you have extras to spare (say from all those take-out containers you’ve saved since the lockdown started), you can offer them to guests who’ve forgotten to bring their own. Please remember to take the necessary precautions when interacting with others to avoid the spread of COVID-19.
Compost!
Compost any scraps from cooking or leftovers that aren’t being saved, as well as any compostable decor you’ve put up (once you tire of it). Reminder, if your Thanksgiving dinner includes a turkey, make stock out of the carcass before you compost it—you can make a very flavorful turkey soup or freeze it for months. If you’re not sure what can and can’t be composted, check out this helpful list. If you don’t have a backyard compost, see if your city or town has a local composting system. If they don’t, look into how to start one!
In my meetings some are wondering what big thing they can do to stop climate change. I think many people doing lots of little things to help our planet amount to a lot! We can all make a difference by buying less and wasting less. Thank you!
From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, household waste increases by more than 25%. Added food waste, shopping bags, packaging, wrapping paper, bows and ribbons all adds up to an additional 1 million tons a week to our landfills. (Source: EPA)
Enjoy your leftovers!
Make a plan for your holiday left over food. What do you generally do with left over food? 40% of the food in the United States is not eaten, and ends up in our landfills causing an enormous waste of our precious resources. Wasting food is an enormous waste of water, money, time, labor, energy and transportation. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has an incredible education campaign to inform the public how much we are wasting. For example the production of one egg takes 55 gallons of water! Their website is savethefood.com
Not only does wasting food, waste valuable resources and lots of water, but also food in our landfills decomposes creating and giving off methane gas which is a harmful air pollutant contributing to global warming
So let’s get creative and “Save the Food.” One of my favorite cooking activities is to reinvent leftovers into a new lunch or dinner stir fry, soup, tacos, enchiladas, salads, fried rice, quinoa bowls and many other things lend themselves to create special meals of leftover food.
Have a fun holiday, and make a creative difference by reusing, planning, seriously cutting waste, and saving food from the garbage!
Thank you for those who work for healthy communities.
2020 has been a challenging year for everyone, and more challenges lie ahead as we confront more sickness and deaths from Covid-19. As a community we need to work everyday to take care of those around us. We are all in this together, and as individuals, families and communities it is necessary and important to follow the rules so everyone is safe. Our freedoms are not being infringed upon as we work together as a community for one big effort. Cooperation make us one. I am surprised on my walks to see groups or children wearing masks as they run around and play outdoor games together. Do they want to wear masks as they play outside? I am sure they are thankful to have each other, and be outside with their friends.
Live each day with gratitude and look for the good.
I wake up each day with gratitude for a new day, my family, friends, the sunshine, and the beauty of the Earth. I am thankful for the healthcare workers, mail carriers, and people who work with positive energy for peace and justice. Look for the good, it is there! I know I am lucky, and I hope you are lucky too!
I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness–It’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.” Brene Brown
Yes, we are tired of stay safe rules , but I thought this was a very comprehensive list, and I hope you might get some new ideas. I copied it from an article in Ecowatch.com Please be safe and look for the good.
Always mask up when indoors and around people who don’t live in your household.
Always mask up when outdoors and unable to maintain physical distancing.
Use either disposable masks or a multi-layer tightly woven cotton mask. Single-layer kerchiefs are insufficient.
When you mask up, make sure it fits your face and covers both nose and mouth. Wash or sanitize your hands after touching or removing the mask.
Remember that masks are not a substitute for physical distancing.
Maintain at least six feet of distance between you and others outside of your household.
Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for 20 seconds, or use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
Avoid motions that transfer organisms from your hands to your face. Your mouth, nose and eyes have mucous membranes that are potentially receptive to these organisms.
Clean frequently touched surfaces. Wipe-ups are wasteful, use bleach, water with rags instead.
Do as much as possible outside and keep interactions with others short.
Fortify ventilation systems for more frequent air exchanges. Air should be coming from the outside!
Curtail in-person holiday celebrations with those not in your household
“A climatarian is somebody who chooses their food with the climate in mind and, in particular, replaces beef and lamb with pork or poultry to cut their carbon footprint by a ton a year.” http://climatesnetwork.com/index.php
Reducing your beef consumption is huge, but to me being a climatarian is much more. A climatarian thinks of the climate every step of the day! A climatarian also buys local, reduces their food waste, and reduces energy used in cooking. All this is easy to make part of a terrific Thanksgiving meal!
To me being a climatarian also means reducing energy for shopping trips. It is more difficult to walk or take public transportation to shop, but everyone can combine their car errands and leave out an ingredient instead of driving to get that one item!
From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, household waste increases by more than 25%. Added food waste, shopping bags, packaging, wrapping paper, bows and ribbons all adds up to an additional 1 million tons a week to our landfills. (Source: EPA)
We can all do something about this tremendous influx of trash and I will be posting ideas for 31 days on how to reduce trash and waste:
I have a refrigerator full of leftovers, and I am determined to creatively use everything in the next few days. I have made enchiladas, burritos, and soup today. Luckily, I have drop off compost available near my house where I can bring bones and food that can’t be back yard composted. Below is from the Minnesota Pollution Control:
Wasted food represents wasted demand for water, land, and fuel. A more concrete way of thinking about this, however, is money: A family of four can save more than $30 a week by making changes in how they shop, prepare, and store food.
What would you do with $30 a week?
Whatever your answer, here is the how-to, with extra tips for holiday parties and meal planning. Most importantly, make a commitment–right now–to try one of these techniques in the kitchen this year. Which one will it be?
2. Get help with portion planning. The fear of not providing enough to eat often causes hosts to cook too much. A handy tool for party planning is the “Perfect portions” planner from Love Food Hate Waste, a U.K. nonprofit that focuses on sharing convenient food reduction and reuse tips.
3. Keep fruits and vegetables fresh by prepping ingredients for the week as soon as you get back from the store. Use both this fridge-friendly smart storage guide and A-Z storage guide from Eureka Recycling to extend the life of produce.
During the meal
4.Use small plates and utensils. Simple tricks of using smaller serving utensils or plates can encourage smaller portions, reducing the amount left on plates. It is much easier and more hygienic to use leftovers from serving platters than from individuals’ plates.
5. Allow guests to serve themselves, choosing what and how much they would like to eat. This also reduces the amount of unwanted food left on plates.
After the meal
6. Refrigerate leftovers promptly. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends that hot foods be refrigerated within two hours after cooking. Store leftovers in smaller, individually sized containers, making them more convenient to grab for a quick meal.
7. Designate foods to eat first. Download and print this Eat First sign so that everyone knows and remembers.
8.Create new meals. Check out Love Food Hate Waste’s creative recipes for using your food scraps to create new meals. Boil vegetable scraps and turkey carcasses for stock and soups, and use bread crusts and ends to make tasty homemade croutons.
9.Compost food scraps. If you have access to a yard, you can start composting in your backyard (even in the winter!). Apartment and condo residents can consider composting indoors using red worms. Better yet, some Minnesota communities offer curbside pick up or drop sites for food waste–see the list of communities here. If you see your area listed, contact your city, county or garbage hauler to see what’s available.
10. Donate extras. Food banks and shelters welcome donations of canned and dried foods, especially during the holiday season and colder months.
From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, household waste increases by more than 25%. Added food waste, shopping bags, packaging, wrapping paper, bows and ribbons all adds up to an additional 1 million tons a week to our landfills. (Source: EPA)
We can all do something about this tremendous influx of trash and I will be posting ideas for 31 days on how to reduce trash and waste:
Day 31, Set new goals to help the environment for the new year. Suggestions: Be more vigilant about recycling, start a compost bin, recycle all shampoo and cosmetic plastic, use less chemicals, and make a commitment to get outside and appreciate our beautiful earth.
Day 30, Recycle, recycle, recycle Instead of throwing everything in the landfill trash recycle all plastic including plastic wrap and bags. Many communities recycle wrapping paper without glitter. Compost your food waste, and re-gift(give to someone who would enjoy) any gift you will not use. Take your electronics to Best Buy for recycling.
Day 29, Never purchase or use Styrofoam. Styrofoam breaks down in tiny pieces and much of it ends up in our waterways lasting for hundreds of years. Complain to businesses that still use Styrofoam food take-out container or cups, and bring your own container.
Never use Styrofoam
Day 28, More on reusable wrappings. This is a great list from earth911.com http://www.earth911.com/living-well-being/reusable-gift-wrap-ideas/?mc_cid=41d9271137&mc_eid=9f2a2b2b71
Gifts in reusable shopping bags
Day 27,Use gift wrapping that can be reused or recycled.
My husband’s gift wrapping
Day 26, Reduce the amount of paper towels you use. Use real towels and always
Made from recycled materials
purchase paper towels from recycled materials.
Day 25, last minute, easy gift ideas from the Minnesota Pollution Control:
Lessons. A lot of people would like to try new things, but won’t spend the money on themselves. A gift certificate might be just the item for someone who would like to begin a new hobby or polish the skills they have already learned. Perhaps you have can even teach them one of your special talents, like how to cook a family recipe.
Time and energy. Friends or relatives may value help with snow shoveling, vacuuming, or organizing as a gift. Try our downloadable gift certificates as a way to present your gift.
Reused items. Many gifts can be purchased second-hand. Look at Hennepin County’s Choose to Reuse directory and ReUse Minnesota for a list of shops. To help you find the perfect present, choose a shop that specializes in one type of reuse, like kids stuff or sports gear.
Hand made or up-cycled items. This is a spin on the reused idea, but includes artsy, unique and personal touches. You can tackle your own projects or look to local shops.
Find shops that sell collectibles, vintage wear, or antiques
Gift hand-knit or home-sewn items
Create a book of family recipes
Day 24, More on bulk shopping and no plastic bags. Purchasing exactly the
Bulk purchasing exactly the amount needed for zerowaste
amount of the ingredients for a holiday dish. These paper sacks can be recycled or composted! #zerowaste shopping
Day 23, Creative and clever ways to wrap yourgifts: http://www.treehugger.com/slideshows/green-home/10-stylish-sustainable-ways-wrap-gifts/#slide-top
Day 22, How can you reduce plastic produce bags? Plastic produce bags are just as polluting as plastic shopping bags. To keep your produce fresh store it in a crisper in your refrigerator.
Day 20, How can you reduce the amount of plastic bags you use? Instead of using baggies, why don’t you try to use waxed paper bags? These can be composted.
Day 18, Reduce stress by not using your car one or more days this week. Choose to walk, car pool or use public transport to get to work, school or meetings.
Day 17, Strive for quality. Purchase items you know will last and you will reuse, reuse and reuse. Don’t purchase cheap items that will soon end up in the landfill. Sorry, NO to #uglysweaters
Day 16, Get in the habit of using reusable table napkins. Make your own from remnant pieces if cloth, or purchase some from reuse stores. Use your imagination, wash cloths or bandanas also make good napkins. They don’t need to match.
Day 15, Commit to a no waste holiday season. Join one million women
Some co-ops have fabulous selections of soaps and lotions for bottle refills.
Day 14, Refill your glass bottles. My local grocery store has an option to refill bottles
Refilling a bottle of olive oil.
Day 13, Precycle, precycle precycle. Many of my ideas to reduce waste are about precycling. Today’s “less waste” idea is to avoid packaged items that will generate lots of landfill waste. Before you purchase items become aware of the amount of waste it will generate. Purchase items that have the smallest amount of packaging, and packaging that can be recycled.
Day 12, Give your things new life.Donate clothing, coats or housewares you haven’t used in the last few years to a local non-profit that is capable of getting it to people in need such as a local crisis center, to Goodwill or another reuse store. http://www.volunteerguide.org/minutes/service-projects/clothesshoes
Day 11, Say “NO” to straws. Billions of plastic straws are in landfills and will never decompose.
How can we stop getting straws? Simply inform your waiter or waitress that you don’t need one, and make sure to specify this when ordering at a drive-thru. Can’t fathom giving up the convenience of straws? Purchase a reusable stainless steel or glass drinking straw. Restaurants are less likely to bring you a plastic one if they see that you’ve brought your own straw. From: http://www.mnn.com
Avoid plastic, fill your glass or metal bottles with liquid
Day 10, Bring a reusable water bottle to work, school, and for all your adventures.
Day 9, Always bring your reusable shopping bags, and avoid plastic bags. Choose
Shop with your reusable bags
paper if you forget your own bags.
Day 8, Cyber Monday. Purchase green products and items made in the U.S.A. Also, support businesses that provide healthy working conditions and pay a living-wage.
Day 7, Use your leftovers. Make your turkey leftovers into wraps enchiladas or make turkey soup: Brown an onion, add chopped carrots, celery or whatever vegetables you have fresh, frozen or canned. Add salt and lots of chopped turkey. Cook in vegetable broth, season with rosemary, add some rice or noodles and enjoy… Better than a Thanksgiving dinner! Freeze any remaining left overs to pull out on a busy night you need a quick dinner!
Day 6, Keep your community vibrant and walkable. Support your local businesses and walk to them. #smallbusinesssaturday
Day 5, Count your blessings, and avoid retailers.
If you’re looking to avoid impulse buying this year, take time not only to celebrate with your friends and family, but also to count your blessings. You may find that the easiest way to thwart retailers’ enticements as you peruse the shopping aisle isn’t to try to resist what you want; it’s to be thankful for what you have.
Day 4, Be thankful, freeze leftovers and disperse food to your guests.
“The amount of turkey wasted over Thanksgiving—about 204 million pounds—is enough to provide 46 four-ounce servings of turkey for every American household that is food insecure. Forty-six per household! Instead, it lands in our garbage can, as do all the resources it took to grow and nurture those birds: enough water to supply New York City for 100 days and the greenhouse gasequivalent to 800,000 car trips from San Francisco to New York.
This Thanksgiving, I invite you to truly be thankful for the feast before you and to take control of your plate and portions. Stop for a moment and reflect on everything it takes to bring that brilliant feast to your table—the grains that were grown to feed your turkey,the bog that nurtured your cranberries, the land that allowed your pumpkin to spread its big leaves all over, and the hands that worked tirelessly to grow our food. Then fill your plate with just what you can actually eat, and dig in! Dana Gunder, Natural Resources Defense Council
Pecan loaf, vegetarian alternative to turkey. #noGMOs, #glutenfree
Day 3, Purchase food items in the bulk aisle. Buying bulk can save on packaging, and eliminates food waste because you can get only the amount you need. Co-ops will let you bring your own containers to refill, and bulk buying saves you money. Purchasing bulk items is my favorite way to shop!
Day 2, Serve municipal water in real glasses. A new wasteful trend has developed. Often the only water served at parties is water in small plastic bottles. A great way to cut waste and save money is to drink water from public water systems. Run it through a Brita or other water filter and you have water as good or better than bottled water. Water filters can be recycled at Terracycle.com
Day 1, Always use real plates, cups, glasses and silverware. If you lack enough
Use real dishes
for your party or dinner, borrow from a friend or relative. The quality of your party improves 100% even if everything doesn’t match. It will still make your event special.
Big cooking and baking weeks are ahead of us, and I loved this post about GMOs. When I shop for groceries, I see more and more things labeled non-GMO, and we need to keep up the public education on GMOs. Hope this below list will give you some good ideas!
Thanksgiving is a time for celebrating around the dinner table with family and friends. This time of year it is easy to continue on with the same old holiday routines. It is time to make a change. You may not realize the most common Thanksgiving foods contain genetically engineered ingredients!
The good news is that it is easy to get the GMOs out of Thanksgiving by purchasing foods that are certified non-GMO or organic. You can find many non-GMO and organic options at your local co-op or farmers market, at Whole Foods, and increasingly, at mainstream grocery stores. Using ingredients that are organic and non-GMO will also create tastier foods to share with your loved ones. So, whether you are hosting a Thanksgiving meal, or bringing a dish to share, make sure to leave the GMOs out!
The following chart will help you identify the GMOs in popular holiday foods, and non-GMO alternatives. This is only a partial list. Remember, if you buy foods that have corn, soy, or sugar in the ingredient list, and they are not certified non-GMO or organic, then you could be eating genetically engineered ingredients. In particular, keep a look out for foods from companies that oppose Oregon Ballet Measure 95 and Colorado Ballet Initiative 105, such as Coca Cola, General Mills, Kraft, Nestle, Pepsi, Bumble Bee, and Land O’ Lakes.
To celebrate the upcoming holiday and provide some meal inspiration with a few ways to mix up some favorite dishes check back each week for a new GMO-free recipe.
Here are some common Thanksgiving foods that may contain GMOs, and non-GMO and Organic alternatives.
Caution: Likely contains GMOs! Unless it is certified non-GMO or Organic, products often contain GMOs
Look for non-GMO and organic certified products.
Soups (e.g., Campbell’s Tomato Soup)
Organic soups (Amy’s, Pacific, and many other brands available)
Cooking Oils –including corn and canola in particular (e.g., Wesson Canola Oil)
Organic Cooking Oil (Nutiva, Dr. Bronner, Whole Foods Organic, and many other brands available)
Canned Yams (e.g., Bruce’s Yams)
Use fresh organic yams
Chocolate (e.g., Hershey Milk Chocolate)
Organic chocolate (Equal Exchange, Theo, and many other brands available, many are Fair Trade as well)
Crackers (e.g., Pepperidge Farm Crackers)
Organic crackers (Crunchmaster, Nature’s Path, and many other brands available), or toast organic bread and cut into squares.
Dressing (e.g., Kraft Classic Ranch Dressing)
Organic dressings, or make your own dressing using organic oils, vinegar, mustard, mayonnaise, etc.
Rice mixes (e.g., Rice a Roni chicken flavored rice)
Organic rice (Lundberg, and many other brands available). If you are in a rush, use organic couscous.
Buy organic cranberries and use organic and fair trade sugar (e.g., Wholesome Sweeteners) to sweeten. Or purchase organic jellied cranberry (Tree of Life, Grown Right and several other brands available) if you are in a hurry.
Stuffing (e.g., Kraft’s Stove Top Stuffing , Cornbread)
Make your own stuffing with organic bread. Or purchase organic stuffing mix (Pamela’s Bread and several other brands available)
Once you are getting the GMOs out of Thanksgiving, you can spread the word:
If you are hosting a Thanksgiving meal, print out a menu of the foods you are serving and make sure to note that they are non-GMO and organic. Share the recipes with friends and family as well.
Post a picture of your non-GMO feast on your Pinterest and Facebook pages. You can also share your feast on the Facebook.com/gmoinside page.
If you donate foods to a shelter this holiday (which is a great thing to do), donate organic and non-GMO foods.
If you already purchased holiday foods with GMOs inside, you can print out our handy labels, put them on the foods, and take a picture to post to social media, so you can warn family and friends. Share with the GMOinside community on our Facebook page as well.
You can also check to see if foods with GMOs inside have a money back guarantee. If they do, go ahead and send them back to the manufacturer, and ask for your money back.
Adapted from “32 vegan recipes perfect for Thanksgiving” Use organic ingredients for this healthy pie.
Walnut/Date Crust: Process in a food processor: 9 coarsely cut seeded dates (add a few dates at a time) with 2 cups walnuts. Press mixture into a glass pie plate. Freeze until ready to add filling.
Pumpkin Filling:
2 cups cashews soaked over night and then drained
1 can pumpkin
½ cup coconut oil
¼ to ½ cup agave or maple syrup (to taste)
juice of ½ lemon
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp salt
1 heaping tsp cinnamon
½ tsp allspice
Process all together in a food processor and place on walnut/date crust. Refrigerate several hours before serving. Make a day ahead for the best flavor. Garnish with your favorite fruit. Keep refrigerated.
Of all the stuff we throw away in Minnesota almost 
Health4earth 