Less Rubbish :: Tip #4

Oh my gosh!

I thought I was doing my bit. 

And then I stumbled upon this blog...I was blown away! Imagine cutting plastic out of your life. That's seriously impressive.

SO now I'm inspired to do a bit more.  It's time I took our rubbish reduction to the next level.  Here's my latest idea, albeit it is a smallish one.  But we all have to start somewhere, right?

We don't have very much processed food in our pantry. One of my dearest cousins looked into our pantry a few years back with disbelief: "What do you actually eat"? she asked! It's funny how much people rely on pre-made food, we are all guilty to some degree. If I'm honest, it's not the packaging that deters me from buying processed food, but rather the idea that the tummy's of my loved ones deserve something better. After all, most processed food is so manufactured that in the end, its not really food at all. But for years now, I have thrown a few packets of bland plain rice crackers into the trolley every time we visit the supermarket. The packaging of these a fore mentioned processed tasteless fillers has always bothered me. I feel guilty every single time I empty a packet, placing not one, but two layers of plastic packaging in our bin. But I have continued to buy them anyway.  Harry and Till love eating them with hummus and cheese, and Ben particularly enjoys them dipped in salsa. Plus it's convenient to have at least one packaged snack in the cupboard for the days when I scratch my head, wondering what am I going to put in our lunch boxes today? I've briefly thought about making our own crackers but I don't like cooking at the best of times. It would be easier to go without (oh that's lazy isn't it). Oh I could handle that, but I'm having a hard time convincing the wonderful crew I live with.

But then I had a brainwave.  Why not make our own chips using our locally available chemical free sweet potatoes? This nutritious vegetable grows in abundance here. They are cheap and don't come wrapped in sea destroying plastic. Hooray. Chips instead of crackers....they'll serve the same purpose. Both go well with dips and cheese. Both go crunch in your mouth. Why hadn't I thought to do this earlier?

So maybe we can ditch the rice crackers after all (it's best to avoid extruded grains anyway). Here's what I had a go at making...

Yep, home-made sweet potato chips! And they were sooooooooo delicious.  Plus super easy to make. All I did was scrub the potatoes, slice them evenly, brush them on both sides with coconut oil and bake. Once they cooled I sprinkled them with sea salt. They were crunchy, just like from a packet (no nasty vegetable or canola oil here thank you very much).  I did experiment a little; some I brushed with coconut oil and others I brushed with olive oil.  We liked both flavours.  The trickiest part was slicing them evenly so I might invest in one of those slicing gadgets. I also think I might try drying them in our Vacola dehydrator because we'd be able to make a greater quantity in one go.  The only problem with using the dehydrator is the chips will not be crunchy. I'm hoping that once they've been in the dehydrator, a quick oil and bake in the oven will rectify this...I'll let you know. Oh and if you are worried about the impact of using coconut oil, don't! It's amazingly good for us. Read more about it here.

Here's a photo showing the end result.  I made heaps but the Gobbledok dived in pretty quickly! I'm hoping they'll store well in an airtight container so I can pop them in lunch boxes when needed.  The next batch will be huge so can test to see how well they keep.  I might have to lock the Gobbledok out of the house for a few hours!!

It feels good knowing I'm consciously trying to put less rubbish in the sea.  Sometimes I get so down in the dumps about it. The issue is massive, and it feels out of control. Reading about what others are doing to combat the problem really lifts my spirits. If you have a spare minute, check out this blog....what this lady does is fantastic.