Basilbias-Week Number Seven

Udon Noodle Tape and Top of Bag I now buy all my pasta in bulk except for Udon and Soba noodles, which I haven’t been able to find unencumbered by plastic yet.

Produce Tape

Kale, Spinach and Cilantro Tags I sure ate my leafy greens this week.

Windowed Baguette Bag The last one!

Two Tempeh Bags Lunch was vegan tempeh Ruebens on pumpernickel bagels for four days straight. They were just that good (See Vegan with A Vengeance for the kick-ass recipe…)

Pickle Jar Seal

Bamboo Oil Seal I’m following the directions on my new, eco-friendly bamboo cutting boards, to be dedicated to fruit-slicing only. While I’m at it, I decided to oil up my long-abused wooden utensils as well.

Plastic Bag from To-Go Boxes From a supposedly-green vegan Asian restaurant we went to before seeing Spinnerette. I didn’t plan ahead and I couldn’t finish my food…I learned from their informative table signage, however, that the plastic bag… Read the rest

Basilbias- Week Number Six

Windowed Baguette Bag

From the farmer’s market. Why it needed a window, I don’t know, since it was displayed sans bag. If I ever remember, I’m bringing this back to put my next loaf in. And when I’m feeling really ambitious, I’m going to make reusable bread storage bags. I have them all planned out in my head. One will be baguette-shaped and one loaf-shaped.

Ginger Thin Cookie Bag

The least packaging-intensive vegan cookie available at the market near my work. Bought by my super-thoughtful friend on a day we were in desperate need of cookies and tea.

Tea Box Wrapper

See above.

Test Scrap from Messenger Bag

From the bag I’m attempting to make out of an old vinyl sign.

Two Windowed Envelopes

Peach Sticker

Lemon Sticker

Garden Burger Bag

Not GardenBurger brand. Although their name would suggest otherwise, those aren’t vegan. Bought for a last minute 4th of July barbeque. Normally, I would have made them from… Read the rest

Basilbias- Week Number Five

Soy Milk Container It turns out that vegan mayonnaise is a cinch to make from scratch!

Windowed Envelope

DVD Wrapper From Juno, which my friend bought me for my birthday. I own about eight DVDs total; all of them were gifts.

Produce Tape

Lemon Sticker

Clothing Tag Tie Thing From Crossroads. I believe that Goodwill is the only clothing store that doesn’t use these plastic ties.

Broken Tupperware Or more precisely, Gladware. The semi-disposable kind, designed to be cheap enough that if you leave it at a potluck by accident, you won’t miss it. Whoever gave me food in this obviously didn’t miss it, since I certainly wasn’t the one to buy it. It finally cracked, so I had to recycle it. Its lid is still in use as a food dish for the stray cat we’re feeding in our back yard.

Tortilla Bag Rip-Off Strip Out of laziness, I broke down and bought tortillas in plastic. I’m re-using the bag, though. There has got to be somewhere to buy… Read the rest

Basilbias-Week Number Four

Produce Tape

Netting Scraps From some produce bags I made for my friend.

Seal & Pull Tab Thing from Tamari Lid

Tamari Lid

Fruit Sticker

Toothpaste Cap

Two Jar Seals I’ve forgotten what these are from now.

Laundry Detergent Bottle I buy detergent in powder form, but my roommate bought the liquid stuff this time because she read on the machine that that’s what you’re supposed to use. I gave her some flak about the bottle it came in, but not before she’d already bought another one (she’s much more on top of things than I could ever hope to be…)

Rice Milk Container

Items: 11 Total Weight: 6.5 oz

During week number four, I planned a little better and avoiding most plastic wasn’t too bad. I made seitan and vegan mayonnaise from scratch. The mayo was really easy, the seitan was a lot of work (usually I only make it for special occasions) but they were both delicious in my seitan salad. I also graduated from reusing … Read the rest

Basilbias-Week Number Three

Plastic Sticker Discovered when I went to use my new cast-iron pot to make vegetable stock.

Three Produce Stickers One from a lemon, two from nectarines.

Plastic-Windowed Box I ordered lasagna noodles from Planet Organics because I needed another item to complete my order. They were very good, but I will try to find them in bulk next time.

Plastic-lined Jar Lid From Muir Glen organic tomato sauce, which I bought rather than a plastic-lined can of tomatoes. The sauce was so innocent-looking in its glass jar and metal lid, who knew there was plastic lurking just inside? In the summer, I usually make tomato sauce from scratch, but tomatoes aren’t quite in season yet and a lasagna was in order, due to the tofu ricotta I made way too much of last week.

Cap From a tamari bottle that ran out.

Seal From the new tamari bottle I subsequently opened.

Piece of Tape I forget what this came off of.

Expired Credit Card Shown cut-up in the photo for obvious reasons.

Stencil… Read the rest

Basilbias- Week Number Two

Recyclable

Silken Tofu Container

Rice Milk Container

Carrot Juice Bottle

I went for a long time without buying carrot juice because of its packaging.*  It goes bad within a day or two after you open it, so unless you’re feeding a family of four horses, you pretty much have to get it in single serving containers. But somehow, when I went vegan I was reminded of its existence (and that it tastes like amazing,)** and the proximity of the Odwalla cooler to the pasta section made carrot juice my only (albeit reoccurring) impulse purchase. But no longer. Maybe I’ll get a juicer.

2 Windowed Envelopes

That’s what you get for donating to a good cause, apparently.

Non-Recyclable

2 Nectarine Stickers

Plastic Bag

I used it over and over, but at last it got a hole in it.

Produce Tape

Newspaper Bag

Corn Chip Bag

I bought these weeks ago. Out of desperation one night, I finally finished the by-then stale chips sans salsa.

Tempeh Bag

2 Tofu Bags

Vegan … Read the rest

Basilbias- Week Number One

Recyclable Items

To Go Cup and Top (#1)

My bestest friend surprised me with this (or rather, with the iced tea it contained) at work one morning. I normally fend off disposable cups with my thermos, but I drank from this one because it was given to me out of love.

Soy Yogurt Container (#5)

There is a long story about these on my blog, but suffice it to say I think I can cut them out.

Two Windowed Envelopes

The worst part is, one was from my “green” mutual fund.

Rice Milk Container

I’m not giving these up. I use rice milk for way too many things, and besides, TetraPaks, for all that they’re not truly recyclable, have a very minimal amount of plastic and use way less energy in shipping and storage.

Smoothie Cup and Top (#1)

See salad container below.

Non-recyclable Items

Salad Container (#6)

From Smart Alec’s, one of the only places near my work that has more than a single vegan option on the menu. I will not be getting their salads… Read the rest