I made my dough around 1pm and baked the pizza for dinner, so I didn't photograph the process.
Pizza Dough
3 cups all purpose flour (organic)
1 packet yeast or 2.25 teaspoons (tried a special pizza one but will use regular from now on)
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (I used safflower oil)
1 teaspoon salt (bough in bulk)
1 tablespoon sugar (bought in bulk)
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
Sift the dry ingredients together into a large bowl.
Mix in oil and water, mix with your hands to create a nice sticky dough.
Cover the bowl and place into your refrigerator until you're ready to use.
Heat oven to 375 degrees
Begin by rolling the dough into a ball. Begin to pull the dough into a large flat circle. Flatten to about 1/8" inch in thickness. The circle doesn't have to be perfect. Place either on a pizza stone or stainless steel pizza pan.
Once you have spread your pie to the desired size, spread a thin layer of olive oil all over the dough. Then spread your sauce. I used organic pasta sauce because I don't make pizza often and it would be wasteful buying a separate sauce.
Then spread on your cheeses. I grated my own mozzarella and parmesan. This saved money and also prevented unwanted or needed plastic waste.
After you're done with the cheese, slice and add your choice toppings. I chose mushrooms and onions.
Bake for 25-35 minutes or until finished. Enjoy!
The entire process takes just as long as it does to order and wait for a pizza. By making your own, you know exactly what you are eating and can substitute to your needs. You can also make it a family activity and have fun with it.
Have fun!!
There are many ways to cook and make homemade items waste free. I love to make my own yogurt (recipe in previous post). Unfortunately in Illinois, I can't keep the milk and culture at the proper temperature over night.
I also usually cook my food in one pan. I use homemade vegetable stock. (
wonderful recipe here). By making my own stocks, yogurts, condiments, etc, I prevent bringing waste into the home. The most recent time I made my vegetable stock (seen below), it came out purple because I added red cabbage and kale to the mix.
Here is how I cook a lot of my meals. I only purchase wrapping free vegetables and try to stick to seasonal vegetables to cut costs. I also only purchase whole mushrooms because they last longer. Place your sliced vegetables, garlic and herbs in the skillet with about 1/2 cup of homemade stock.
Once the stock is boiling and your vegetable have been cooking for about 5-10 minutes, add your tilapia fillet. Place some of the vegetables over the tilapia, add some salt, pepper and some more stock.
Continue to allow the stock to boil. Once the fish is fully cooked, allow more of the stock to boil away. Then place your food in your chosen dish and enjoy!
I love making these recipes. The stock I use when cooking fish, chicken and sauces. The yogurt I put in my oatmeal or cereal. =) I was amazed how tasty the yogurt is in old fashion oatmeal.
Homemade Yogurt
4 cups of milk (I use fat free)
2 tablespoons of vanilla yogurt
cooking pot (stainless steel is best)
Glass jar for yogurt
cooking thermometer
Place the 4 cups of milk in the pot and turn on high heat. Place the thermometer in the milk.
Bring the milk up to 185 degrees and then turn off the heat. Pour the hot milk into your glass jar and place the thermometer in the milk. Allow the milk to cool down to 110 degrees. Add the yogurt to the milk. Place the jar into your oven with the pilot light on. Make sure the milk stays at 110 degrees. Allow the milk to sit for 4-12 hours. When the yogurt has cultured, place in refrigerator. This yogurt should last for about a week.
You can add homemade vanilla extract and stevia for vanilla yogurt.
Homemade Vegetable Stock
pinch of salt
cabbage scraps
kale scraps
leek scraps
onion peelings
carrot peelings and scraps
any vegetable scraps available
Glass bottle for storage
Place the vegetable scraps (washed please) into a large stock pot. Add water to the pot until the vegetable are barely covered. Add the salt. Bring the water to a boil. Allow the vegetables to soak for 30-45 minutes. Take out the scraps with tongs. Pour the stock into a glass bottle. Use within a week.
Over the next few months, I will be packing up my Iowa condo and moving most of it into storage. I am working on finding a job in Chicago, so I am able to move into my parents condo in Lincoln Park. I have been working on a list of things I am going to rid of, store, etc.
- get rid of unneeded furniture
- rid of all unneeded office supplies
- pack up and store needed bedding and towels
- rid of all food products left
- go through basement
- sell unwanted yarn
- create list of needed/wanted items
- donate books in garage
- rid of unwanted toiletries
- rid of unwanted extra cleaning supplies
This is a very small list, but it will be growing. My mom and I have already moved my aquariums to Illinois and my cockatiel and dog are also here. My animals will never return to the condo. This will make moving much easier and faster. I would really like to downsize the amount of small items I have, such as toiletries, paper items, etc. I don't want to have to deal with owning so much anymore. I have noticed that I am happier with less. Throughout this moving ordeal, I want to be able to control what I actually own. It is hard when I have a mom who loves to shop and give her children things. I appreciate it, but it is difficult, very difficult. I know that when I move into my own place in Chicago, it is going to be a lot smaller than the place in Iowa, that is one of the main reasons I need to rid of a lot of belongings. I just need to figure out how to get rid of things that my mom wants me to keep. She is offended by my desire not to have tchotchkes, which she has a fondness for. If you have any ideas on how to reason with her, please let me know.
My mom also wants me to buy more clothes, I just donated 4 massive bags of clothes. I don't want to buy anything more. My mom has a closet literally the size of my bedroom growing up.
While I was petsitting my parents' two dogs and african grey parrot, I made more changes to my lifestyle. I have purchased more bins and tools to help me de-clutter and organize my life and home. I purchased two of the Umbra "crunchable hampers" to use at the grocery store and maybe the farmer's market. I bought both in the green colour. I have already used one and I really like it. It fits perfectly in a cart and holds everything I purchase.
I also purchased two of these bins to help organize my large amount of printer paper.
I also splurged on a Diva Cup. I will try it and give you guys a review later on.
My mom gave me a strange look, as usual since I started making these eco-friendly changes to my life. You should have seen her reaction to my use of the jars. Of course where my parents live, the idea of taking your own containers is awesome, but still very strange. I have definitely already seen benefits from using jars. I buy less and waste less food. I have also been using up foods in my cabinets that had been "lost" in the chaos of how the cabinets used to be. My life feels less stressful since I actually know where everything is now.
I did have a breakthrough with my mom though. I made her some homemade all purpose cleaner. The other day she tried it on their parrot's cage and loved it! She claims the vinegar based cleaner dissolves the feces and foods scraps very well. At least I convinced her to change one thing.
Do: Purchase bulk, unpackaged un processed items like grains, sugar, etc
Don't: Use plastic containers. These containers may leak harmful chemicals and fumes
Do: Use glass or ceramic storage containers. These containers are non toxic.
Don't: Purchase processed foods. These foods are made with harmful chemicals and are very bad for you.
Do: Take your own bags and containers to the grocery store and farmers market. This saves you time (you won't be fiddling with opening the plastic bags) and it will lower your trash amount while preventing more bags being put in the landfill. (I sew my own produce bags and use
Bormioli Jars for Meats and Cheeses)
Do: Use your own glass or metal water bottle (I use a
Modern Water Bottle by Takeya)
Don't: Overstock on canned foods. Canned foods are now known to leak BPA and are also very high in sodium and other hormones and chemicals.
Do: Make your own nontoxic house hold cleaners. This is good for the environment and your wallet.
Do: Stock reusable items. Reusing items is very good for the environment because they don't end up in a landfill and are also great for your wallet.
Do: Wash your laundry in cold water. This prevents colors from bleeding and saves energy.
Do: Eat seasonal vegetables and fruits. This is healthier for you and prevents the use of unneeded energy.
Here is how I make my homemade all-purpose household cleaner. This is a common recipe and my measurements may be different from other versions. This cleaner is extremely effective.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups White Vinegar (either buy in bulk or in a glass bottle)
2 tablespoons Castile Soap (use Lavender scented)
3 cups Water
34 oz glass/spray bottle (bottle shown purchased at Ikea)
Take your bottle and place a funnel in the opening.
Pour in your vinegar
Add your castile soap
Slowly add your water. The mixture will begin to create suds, so add water very slowly.
When all of the ingredients are in, close the bottle and shake lightly.
Add to spray bottle when needed. The castile soap and vinegar may separate, just shake the solution again.
Use this cleaner with microfiber cloths for best results.
Tip: To clean windows, just use water with your microfiber cloths.
Here are my new stainless steel utensils:
To give you an idea of how much tupperware my mom has, here is a photo of her cabinet:
I feel so free since I donated all of mine except my Preserve ones.
This week I am pet sitting my parents two dogs and parrot while they treat my grandparents to a cruise to Belize. Their house is very different than mine now. They rely more than anything on processed and packaged foods/items. My mom gave me strange looks when I took my jars and bags to the store. She understands, but thinks it's too different to do.
I will be buying my coffee in bulk and grinding it at home from now on. It is cheaper and you know the coffee is fresh. You can then store the coffee in an airtight container like a larger fido hermetic jar.
I will say one thing, they are lucky when it comes to their milk. Their grocery stores carry Oberweis Dairy Products. It's a dairy company in Northern Illinois. Oberweis sells their milk in returnable and reusable glass bottles. I am jealous. My co op used to sell milk in glass bottles, but I don't know what happened. I am going to keep two of the bottles for myself. They are very useful for storing things.
While shopping at one of their local grocery stores, I saw roma tomatoes on sale for $0.38 a lb. I bought about 5 lbs and made it into tomato paste/unseasoned sauce. I made exactly 2.5 liters of canned tomatoes.
I will say one thing, the hermetic jars do take longer to properly seal than the mason jars. I used my hermetic jars because the entire thing is reusable. Unfortunately, the lid of the mason jars aren't reusable.
I have also noticed that it is soo easy to marinate meat in the jars. I have been adding cut garlic cloves, pepper, salt and lemon juice to the meat over night. Definitely saves time. To also prevent creating waste, cook your meal in one dish. I cook a lot of my food in one skillet at the same time. I first place my vegetables in the skillet with 1/2 cup of water. Put the heat on high, add your meat, oil and spices. Cook until finished, you may want to flip your protein over to fully cook it.
What zero waste ideas have you come up with?
I have finally received the two components to set up my indoor compost bin. I purchased a "worm friendly habitat" and 1000 red worms. I set up the compost bin on Thursday, when these pictures were taken. The worms have begun to settle in. They definitely have enough food for quite a while.
This picture was taken Thursday and there is definitely more food and some more bedding in the bin now.
I'm hoping that having the compost bin will lower the amount of garbage I have going out.
I have also been making progress on my de-cluttering. I took a large bin and three grocery paper bags full of items to Goodwill today. I now need to work on de-cluttering the upstairs, go through all of my books and take the unused food to the food bank. Here are some photos of my progress so far.
cabinet number 1:
cabinet number 2:
One of the best things about a zero waste lifestyle is that almost every meal uses fresh ingredients. I am obviously working to rid of all of my packaged food. I think I'm doing an okay job so far. I am taking everything in my cabinets that I won't eat to the food pantry. I would rather it be used than thrown away.
Just as an update, my cockatiel Rosie is doing better. We are past the halfway point with the antibiotic. It has been difficult giving it to her, but it's working. I'm glad she's feeling better and eating more.
I have an iPhone 4s. As many of you know, it has a great camera on the phone. Since beginning this lifestyle, I have been using my iPhone to prevent the use of paper or stickers. I take photos of the item number and nutritional information on the bulk bin. This also allows me (who is a Weight Watcher) to know exactly what I'm eating and how much is in a serving.
This photo was taken from the bulk bin at my local co-op.
This photo was taken at the Iowa City Hyvee bulk section. I didn't realize that you actually have to weigh your selection at this store and get a sticker. I refuse to get the sticker, so I will just continue photographing the info and then deal with it at the checkout.
Taking photos instead of writing down all of the info has made my life much easier.
I have also been sewing more produce bags for at the market. I realized that while I like the coolhats.biz bags, I prefer my homemade ones more. They are sturdier, it's easy to put things in them and tie the string around the top of the bag to keep them shut. I have had issues with the other ones, where they will burst open randomly. This can be quite annoying. I will continue to use them though. Tonight I sewed 7 more bags. Four of the bags are for my mom, pictured below. I basically just go to a fabric store like Joann's and purchased several fat quarters in fabrics I like and sew them up. I will need to post how I sew them, they're really easy. I am a horrible sewer, but I can still make them.
I really do wish more grocery stores would have a bulk section. Where my parents live, there are no bulk sections, so they must buy things in packaging. I am hoping that they will start using the bags for produce at least. That should cut down on the number of plastic bags brought home. I need to look further into other solutions for them also. My mom has type 2 diabetes and I really believe that she could benefit from only bulk shopping. It does tend to limit your selections to healthier choices.
What would you guys do? The closest Whole Foods is an hour away and not worth it for weekly shopping.
This day didn't start out so well, I had to take my cockatiel to the vet because she has a sinus infection. Birds don't show illness unless it's serious. Luckily, I noticed small changes in her and found it early enough. She's going to be fine. =) The only problem now is I have a small plastic bottle of antibiotic for her, yep, plastic ugh. But she's worth it. I have the horrible task of giving her .10 ml in her mouth twice daily. It's hard with a bird, they squirm a lot and bite.
I have decided to talk about zero waste and having pets. Dealing with pets has been the biggest challenge for me so far. I have been trying to figure out how to cut down the trash that is created. If anyone has any suggestions, please leave them in the comment section.
I have a bird and once I set up my indoor compost bin, I can compost the newspaper I use on the bottom of her cage. Her organic diet (Harrison's Bird Food) does come in plastic lined paper bags, this is a little frustrating, but she only goes through a 1lb bag every 2 months. It is the best food on the market and I'm not willing to change. .
My dog on the other hand creates more garbage than my bird. I have a 43lb australian shepherd who eats a dry grain free diet (Wellness Core Reduced Fat). Granted the food has lessened his feces amount, but he still poops at least twice daily. I've decided that I am going to use the empty 26lb bags as garbage bags. It takes Mac 2.5 - 3 months to finish a bag, so I don't have them as trash very often. I am also planning on making homemade liver treats with chicken livers from the store.
On walks I use biodegradable bags (poopbags.com), which I buy in bulk. For picking up his feces in his potty area, it's too expensive to use the poop bags. I scoop it up and place it into a garbage bag. Soon I will change to a biodegradable garbage bag once I find them in bulk at a reasonable price.
When I arrived home from Cedar Rapids, a large box was waiting on my front porch. My jars finally arrived! They had been delayed over the weekend because of a train derailment in Montana. There aren't any places close to me that sell hermetic jars and the price was right.
They did arrive in styrofoam peanuts, but I will take them to a UPS shop to be reused.
Here they are after I took out the paper and put on their rubber gasket.
Here is my newly organized shopping items:
My bags (I sewed some more last night and the mesh ones are from coolhats.biz)
Here is a photo of my shopping supplies. I usually take 6-8 cloth bags, 3 jars,
one glass swing-top bottle and two reusable shopping totes. I use the smaller shopping totes because they are easier to carry. The current jars I am using for meat and cheese are shatterproof
acrylic jars. I also sometimes take my smaller glass Anchor Jars.
The colourful bags are ones I sewed using "fat quarters" I had in storage. I was going to send them to my quilting sister, but she didn't want them. I also used a
flour sack towel for my bread bag. I sewed two of them and use the other three for cleaning. The mesh bags were purchased from my local co-op and are from
www.coolhats.biz. You buy a set of three, each bag a different size for only $9.00. They work well for most produce. I bought a couple of sets for my parents and they love them. My dad claims the broccoli stay good longer.
I have 15 (5 of each size) Bormioli Jars being delivered Monday from
Specialty Bottle. I can't wait until they arrive!
I am quite surprised how the people who work at Hyvee and New Pioneer Co-op respect my wishes for my meat and cheese to be placed in jars. I have yet to have someone ask why or say no. I don't get strange looks either. You can take your own containers easily, they don't have to be glass jars, they can be plastic containers. The goal is to lessen the amount of garbage you bring home.
After beginning these steps, my garbage is already down! I have only filled one bag this week, this bag also includes items I am getting rid of for good. I will also be going through Mac's toys and my towels this week. They will be donated to my local Humane Society. They are more than willing to take older toys, even if they're slightly ripped.
Good luck to everyone attempting this lifestyle change like me@
Who am I?
Saturday, January 21, 2012
| Author:
Unknown
Hi! I'm Liz and I have started this blog mainly for myself. I want to archive what I am doing to help make my world a better place to live. Here are a few facts about myself:
- I live in Iowa (very cold!)
- I am an avid knitter (most gifts I give are wool hand knits such as socks or hats)
- I live with my 5.5 year old Australian Shepherd and 8 year old adopted Cockatiel
- I have a bachelors from the University of Iowa
- I am willing and wanting to give as close to a zero lifestyle I can a chance
- I am newly engaged to the love of my life
So, let's talk about zero waste. I have been following
Bea's zero waste lifestyle for quite a while. I was most recently inspired because I will be moving soon and need to cut down on the amount of "stuff" I have. I believe by going zero waste and cutting out unnecessary things, it will be easier to move me into a smaller place. I also am on a weight loss journey and eating fresher and healthier food also helps.
Here are some tips to start living a zero waste lifestyle (remember you don't have to do these things):
- go through EVERYTHING and donate unnecessary things
- clean out your pantries and refrigerator of all expired items
- begin to use up all foods in plastic or paper containers or bags
- try to recycle everything possible
- lower the amount of processed food you purchased
- begin to make house hold items and favourite foods at home
- learn to love your vegetables
- purchased either glass or plastic holding containers for foods
- make or purchase produce bags
- begin to purchase foods in bulk and/or free standing foods
- ignore and walk past prepackaged foods (they tend to be bad for your wallet as well as your body)
- purchase a reusable coffee mug and water bottle
- stop buying magazines! (ok this was a little hard for me since I like to rip recipes, etc out of magazines)
- wear your jeans for a week (seriously)
- use rags or microfiber towels instead of paper towels (this was the easiest thing to do!)
- use up all of your toxic cleaners or take them to a place where they can rid of them properly
Okay! Well, it's time for bed. I hope everyone has enjoyed this post. Tomorrow I will post about the changes I have made in my bathroom and show you my shopping kit!
