When it comes to meal group, we have found that we have all struggled at one point or another with thelogistics of transporting the actual food. Since the three of us feel very strongly about reducing our
food/footprint, we tend to stay away from disposable plastic bags such as Ziploc. We generally don't use plastic baggies but we do re-use plastic bags from the store. In my house, we also have
waxed paper baggies that I occasionally stuff things like cookies into.
We've listed some thoughts about meal group transport:
1.
Re-used take out containers and containers from the store - fairly self-explanatory. We save these and stick food items in them that are not warm or hot since they are almost always plastic, and we have some concerns about
leaching.
2.
Serving dishes - There are times when we've baked something (a casserole, a pan of cornbread, a mini-loaf of chocolate chip cookie bars) and we just deliver that portion of the meal in whatever we baked it in...this works well for us because we know each other and trust each other to care for and return our dishware. In my case, I also don't have much attachment to most of my bakeware.
3.
Tiffins and stainless steel containers - These are really fabulous! The
two-tiered tiffin from To-Go Ware and the smaller
sidekick containers are
great food transport devices. The tiffins are quick to fill and hold a respectable amount of food. The sidekicks are great for smaller amounts of sauces, chutneys or sides.
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A tiffin with broccoli on the top and pasta on the bottom level; pumpkin pasta sauce is in the jar.
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4.
Jars - My favorite choice! Simply save the glass jars in which your pickles, pasta sauce and condiments are packaged. Run them through the dishwasher or, if you don't have one, soak w/ a little vinegar. They are sturdy, readily available, low cost, non-leaching and easy to both fill with and remove food!
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The whole meal: pasta, sauce, broccoli and chocolate chip cookies in a reused plastic bag.
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5.
Tote bags - We bag everything up in tote bags. My family has a lot of tote bags and so we chuck the shares into whatever small/medium reusable tote comes to hand. Although it might make sense for others, we don't have dedicated tote bags.
As noted previously, we are all very flexible and so although our agreement is that we will deliver our meals, there are many times that some or all of us might pick up if we are in the area or if we know that it might make life easier for the other(s).
If you are looking for inspiration to reduce the amount of plastic in your own life, I really recommend
Fake Plastic Fish. Beth nails it with her amazing site. (Full disclosure: A major pet peeve of mine is when vegans will go to the mat defending animals but fail to make the connection that their consumer choices and habits have major impacts on, well, animals.)
I hope that this info on some of our nitty-gritty details is helpful!
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Ready for delivery!
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