Food wrap: Abeego

31st Dec., 2015

I haven’t used polyethylene food wrap since I left my parents’ home and
started to live alone because I haven’t been able to afford it. I prefer to
spend my money on fancy clothes, concert tickets, and eating out with
friends!

So I would put leftovers in old-Pyrex glass containers, which I had
collected.

Now I live with my partner, Tom (short for Tomoyuki), and he tends to use
conventional wrap for putting leftovers into a cereal bowl or something.
And, unfortunately, he is the chef in our household.

Even though I’ve asked him thousands of times not to use poly wrap and
advised him to cover the food with another plate or something instead, the
situation has remained the same. I admit, covering a bowl with a dish is
unstable, and takes up more room in the fridge. However, to avoid  the
feeling of guilt at throwing away the used wrap, I decided to try the flat
sheets from Abeego  🙂

These are cloths coated with beeswax, which are used for food preservation.
This time I bought a variety set of 3 sheets of different sizes. I like
them very much, and (it seems) Tom has accepted them because he uses them
willingly, so it may be a success. As is the nature of beeswax, they are a
bit sticky, but not enough to bother me.

The great thing is that, with proper care, they will last for over a year.

As far as I can see on the internet, there aren’t any stockists in Japan at
the moment so I bought them while buying other things at Life Without
Plastic, but if I buy them from the Abeego site directly, the international
shipping fee is 15 USD.

They look far better than disposable poly wrap. I love them!

It is impossible to use them in a microwave oven, of course. But I make it
a rule never to use a microwave, so I am so satisfied with this purchase.

Shift to Zero Waste & My first shopping at a bulk shop

Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying Your Life

• 作者: Bea Johnson
• 出版社/メーカー: Penguin
• 発売日: 2016/01/07
• メディア: ペーパーバック
• この商品を含むブログを見る

5^th December, 2015

This summer, I started to have my teeth straightened, so to cover the great
cost of the orthodontic treatment, I have to cut down my living expenses
until the treatment is over. For this purpose, I was looking for saving
tips on the Internet, when I encountered “Trash is for Tossers” by Lauren
Singer.

Her zero waste lifestyle fascinated me. And now I’m reading Bea Johnson‘s
“Zero Waste Home”.

I learned through Lauren’s site and Bea’s book about the 5Rs (Refuse,
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot). The idea of Refuse impressed me very much.

Of course I’ve known about the 3Rs. And I had thought that my lifestyle is
eco-friendly enough– shopping with my own bags is usual for me–but I’ve
never thought that I have a choice not to buy an item with unnecessary
packaging that would become trash after I bring it home, even though the
item itself is necessary for me.

So, the basic idea is that, for items that ordinary can’t be sold without
packages, like liquid or flour, you have to take your own container in
which to bring them home. You can purchase goods this way in bulk shops,
but are there any bulk shops in my area, or even in Japan?

I searched the Internet and found one in Kanagawa prefecture (next to Tokyo
prefecture). It takes about an hour and half to get there, but I thought it
was worth going. So today I visited there and here are what I bought!

The shop, “Bulk Foods“, is located off the shopping street of
Motosumiyoshi. Although the exterior is small, the variety of foods they
handle is quite large, and all the foods such as the beans, nuts, grains,
spices, dried fruits, dried vegetables, cereals, oils are organic.

Since “the shopping method” shown in the store began from the phrase “take
disposable bags and containers in the shop,” I was anxious for a
moment, but I asked a shop staff whether it was okay to shop with
containers I had brought in, he answered “No problem, let me weigh your
containers.”
However, weighing each container looked to be quite troublesome for the
shop staffs when they were busy. I will try to avoid the busy time when I
next visit the shop.

Since I was thinking of buying something that would be good for snacks at
work this time (because almost all snacks are usually packaged individually
and I create trash every tea time), today I bought things like espresso
chocolate, dry bananas, and nuts.

I also wanted to buy dried vegetables but I ran out of containers. I’ll get
those next time.

I expected that this shopping would be expensive because the foods are all
organic, but to my surprise, the cost was within a reasonable range. I
think it was because I could buy only the quantity I needed because it is
sold by weight. Well, the transportation costs are quite expensive, so I
can go there only about once a month.

Anyway, it was really a fun. I love buying from a bulk shop.