One of our friends from Montreal came to visit us from Wednesday through Sunday. Therefore, J.P ate out more often and consumed more alcoholic beverages in the name of football and hanging with his buddy.

Every week we say the same thing- we need to stop eating out. It just seems that something comes up every week We have decided to make it a weekly challenge to limit our restaurant eating. J.P will go to Chipotle once a week for lunch and we will go to one restaurant for dinner only.

We are really going to put our best foot forward and limit ourselves. We figure there is lots of waste associated with eating out and this goes against what we are trying to accomplish even when we bring our own containers! I honestly want to reduce the amount of money we spend on eating at restaurants and put that money into savings!

I sometimes feel we are slipping and forgetting what we are trying to accomplish. This week we bought milk and orange juice in cartons. This to me is waste even those they can be recycled. We bought coffee filters, which came in a plastic bag. A number of times over the last few weeks, we have bought a raw organic treats, and they come in a plastic container. They can be recycled, but we need to kick that habit. And I had a pretty big slip up- chips. Yes, you read that right. I was craving chips in a bad way and caved and bought a bag of organic ones. The bag can’t be recycled, so it was waste!

Our friend is an avid coffee drinker. He could either go out every morning for coffee (with non-organic milk/sugar) that would most definitely not be organic or fair trade in a disposable cup or we could buy the coffee (organic and fair trade) along with the filters to avoid the waste. I think the impact of buying the milk, coffee filters and coffee all organic is better for the environment. Thoughts?

1-PURCHASES

Food

Central Market

• 1 carton of organic milk
• 1 package of cheese
• 1 dozen organic eggs
• 1/2 lbs of organic fair trade coffee in bulk
• 3 bunches of bananas
• 1 carton of organic juice
• 1 package of unbleached coffee filters
• 1 loaf of millet bread
• 3 lemons in bulk
• carrots in bulk

Sub-Total: 48.o5

Whole Foods (everything in bulk-no packaging)

• 5.99 lbs of brazil nuts
• 2.98 lbs of cashews
• 3.51 vegan chcolate chips
• 0.65 lbs of pink Himalayan  salt
• 0.35 lbs cinnamon
• 0.45 lbs mustard seeds
• 3 organic local cucumbers
• 1 glass bottle of kombucha

Sub-Total: 149.78

Restaurants

• Thursday: J.P went to the Dallas Cowboys game. He had some food and beer 35.00
• Friday: J.P went out for steak with his buddy at Cattleman’s 50..00
• Saturday: We went to Chipotle in Dallas for lunch 23.00 (we payed for our friends meal as well); J.P went out for dinner and beer 40.00; I ordered a vegan pizza from a local restaurant 15.00
• Sunday: J.P went out for breakfast with his buddy 10.00

Sub-Total: 173.00

Total: 370.83

2-COMPOSTING

This week’s weigh in for composting was 12 lbs. I juiced lots this week. Therefore, our compost bin was full. I will be bringing it with me on Tuesday to pick up our CSA basket. The chickens at the farm are going to be happy with this nice snack they will be munching on.

3-RECYCLING

We had some extra recycling because of all that stupid junk mail we have been receiving. I wish there was a way to stop it. I hate all the flyers we receive every week. When it comes to the egg cartons we give them to our farmer for him to reuse them for his local eggs he sells at his store.

4-TRASH

The trash this week comprised of: veggie/fruit stickers, plastic banana wrap, receipts, random tape, plastic from Kombucha and a small chip bag.

5-TRAVEL

We travelled more than usual this week. J.P went to the Dallas Cowboys game and we visited Dallas. It adds up fast!

The total distance traveled was 559.9 km ( mi). We did not need to fill our gas tank this week.

No matter which way you look at it, our progression over the last 12 weeks has been pretty good.  We might have a slip up here or there, but we are learning. We are learning how to reduce our waste and make it a life long change. In the years to come, I want to continue to live as waste-free as possible; I want it to be the norm to refuse items because of their excessive packaging; I want to always have my peopletowels, Strawesome straws, metal forks and knives, cups, and glassware with us incase of an impromptu stop; I want to teach my daughter you can still live and be happy without hurting the environment in the process. And I think it is totally doable!