Eating From a Feed Bucket? / Dishwashing Environmentalism?

Tuesday morning was here, and my husband had the day off!  Who was awake two hours before the rest of her family?  Me!  It’s how my day usually starts, I wake up two hours “early” and get the house going.  The pets benefit from getting up and moving.  I get some time to myself.  But most importantly, I start prepping breakfast liquids and food for the day!

Because I knew what dinner was going to be (Taco Tuesday!) I could start prepping the vegetables that I needed for dinner.  I washed, cut, and weighed the vegetables and put them in containers in the fridge.  That way, when I got home from our day out as a family, the vegetables were ready to go – making dinner happen quicker.  This also helped keep us from stopping at random places for snacks or meals that we really shouldn’t have been eating, because I already had part of dinner started.  It would have been be a waste to not use it!

My kitchen was a little busy on Tuesday – breakfast liquids poured, breakfast ingredients set out, waiting to be cooked, dinner vegetables being cut, and lunch being prepped and weighed.  The family was heading out, about a two hours drive, to the Lancaster Science Factory, and I knew we were going to be hungry while we were there.  Lucas and I are back to monitoring our calories on a much more strict basis and stopping for lunch or dinner would have derailed our health goals.

So as my family snoozed, I cut up a head of lettuce and a handful of other vegetables (onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, carrots, radishes) and weighed out some cheese and sunflower seeds.  Along with the salads, I weighed out fresh blueberries as our fruit and made a peanut butter (with powder) and honey (we are out of jelly) sandwich for each person.  I threw flax seed on mine as well – for a little extra protein.

And sure enough, as soon as we got to the Science Factory, we were hungry.  After doing a loop in the building, we went out to the car to have lunch.  Everyone loved their salads.  They were filling enough to be able to save the sandwiches as a snack for later on.

I brought two empty ice cream buckets along with us– one for me and one for my husband.  This allowed me to pack a dense amount of vegetables into containers without the worry of how we were going to mix the vegetable and toppings (think dressing) and still pack them into our cooler.  All we had to do was dump the ingredients in the buckets and stir.  And I brought the tops of the buckets with, so the mess would be contained when we were finished.  (Again, thing dressing).

My daughter’s salad was not as large as my husband’s and mine, so she didn’t need a bucket, but she loved her meal just as much as we did!

No shame!  We were visible in our tiny little Scion IQ – people stare at the car on a normal basis, but now the driver is just eating out of a family size ice cream pail with a single serve utensil?  Yep!  I knew I looked ridiculous, but I didn’t care!  My salad was only 350 calories!  Guaranteed!  I weighed it!  And it came at a cheap price – since I put in the work prepping it.  We were sticking to our goals!

I really wanted to stop and have a drink at one of the bars in Lancaster, but we knew it would be a caloric mess, so we decided to just head home when we were finished at the Science Factory.  I went home and made a relatively easy Taco Tuesday, (since I prepped some of the vegetables ahead of time) which everyone enjoyed.  I sat back for a moment and appreciated the taco salad I made for myself.  Then stood up to take care of the kitchen.  And it was a mess.

Mess mess mess.  My kitchen requires my attention every night.  I always have dishes – they are unavoidable – especially when we pack a lunch to go!  So many more containers.

For environmental reasons, I attempt to use minimal sandwich bags / plastic disposable bags.  I try to put our food in containers that I save from random things and wash them after they are used.

And we don’t have a dishwasher – I do the dishes by hand.  Every night.  Sure, convenience food may be easier in the short run, but most likely not in the long run.  It would be easier to just pick up something to eat, but how healthy is that?  Why do I wake up early every morning and clean up every night?  I don’t particularly enjoy cooking every meal every day, sometimes it is a necessary evil, and I honestly don’t like dishes.  But I dread my alternative – which is an unhealthy lifestyle and what comes of that in the future. 

I want my health for another 30 to 40 years.  I want to hike, go to state and national parks, I want to travel Route 66 – I want to experience things – and I want to have good health doing it!  I want to walk and hike and see and experience nature and the outdoors.  I don’t want that to be a “younger me” thing – I want that to last forever! 

I gain weight easily.  I always will.  So I must always be willing to put in the work for a healthy diet so I do not gain weight.  If I gain weight, it will make hiking that much more difficult.  It will negatively affect my health in the future – and I just don’t want that.  Would I like to snooze my alarm and get another hour of sleep?  Sure – but the thought doesn’t even cross my mind anymore, as I wake up, sometimes at 04:30, because what I want more is my health.

And the dishes?  We will probably get a dishwasher someday.  I’m not worried about it right now.  I do my dishes by hand for the environment.  Yes, you read this right.  For the environment.  I am well aware there is a huge push to say “dishwashers use less water than doing dishes by hand.”  That one, tiny statement may be true.  A load of dishes may use less water than doing them by hand (but I doubt it).  However, water usage should not be calculated by just the load and that’s it.  Water is used throughout many stages of the life of the dishwasher – not just during the wash cycle.  By saying “dishwashers use less water than doing dishes by hand”, the environmental strain that a machine puts on the environment is forgotten in favor of one tiny, misused, but essentially true, statement.  (Which weighs more?  Cotton candy or an apple?  Which is lighter for you to eat?  Do you see what I am saying?)  One needs to consider the life of the machine – what it takes to create, ship, run, and dispose of the machine – all of the water that it took to mine and create the materials that make up the dish washer and the machines that make them, the water used to create the energy needed to ship the dishwasher to the store and then to your home – the water used to create the packaging surrounding the dish washer – the water used to create the energy that the dishwasher runs on, and finally, what it will take for the dishwasher to “break down” into a useable product within our environment again.  What is the expected life span of this machine?  Take all that water that the machine has used in some way, and divide it by its longevity – projected years, or loads of dishes – and THAT is the amount of water the dishwasher uses per load of dishes, not simply what it uses in a cycle.  “This machine uses less water than doing it by hand” is supposed to mean “environmentally friendly” without actually coming out and saying it – because it is not environmentally friendly.  Machines are not environmentally friendly.  And the worst thing that can happen from these reoccurring statements – what I believe the true driving motive for “dishwashers are better for the environment mentality” is – this removes environmental blame from people who own dishwashers – from people who own machines – from countries that utilize dishwashers.  This will create a mindset that “developed” countries are not to blame for environmental problems – it’s those “poor” countries to blame when we globally suffer from negative environmental effects.  Dishwasher marketing has nothing to do with environmentalism – just to do with profits.  If you own a dish washer and use it – I get it – I do.  Not faulting you.  Just do not believe this environmental hype surrounding it.

This is the amount of water I used (plus a pitcher of water to dump down the other side of the sink) to do all of these dishes.

I know I got off topic.  This is a health blog!  I know I know – but I have an environmental education and it drives me mad when I hear “less water” regarding dishwashers.

I cook/prep and do dishes every day for my health and more importantly, my family’s health.  I want the best for my daughter, and I am supportive of my husband’s health as well.  I look forward to the time that I have with my family (pets included) – going on adventures, exploring new parks and trails, campgrounds even, and the lifestyle that good health brings.  A healthy diet is not the only “piece” of a healthy life “puzzle” – I would know – I was involved in a car accident, which destroyed my back and health for several years.  The car accident was no fault of mine, and my health suffered for it.  Some people’s genetic make up is different.  Some people have different cultures, tastes, interests, needs, were dealt a different hand than I – and yet a healthy diet will not negatively impact any of those variables.  A healthy diet can only help.  At the worst – it changes nothing – but it still won’t set you back.

Where do I find the time?  I am very open about being a stay-at-home mother that home schools.  My schedule is different than most.  Monday night, I was sitting out in the living room with my husband and daughter.  We were trying to watch a YouTube video together – trying to.  But I kept nodding off because I was so exhausted.  Is this ideal?  No!  But I feel my time is best spent waking up early and caring for the health of my family over watching TV.  Even though it may be disappointing at times for my family, my husband understands that how I spend my time benefits the family.  I carve out the time where I need to.

So, if you feel weird doing something socially different but it is for your health – don’t worry about it!  You will benefit more from a healthier lifestyle than what a passerby thinks of you.  Until next time, everyone, have a great one!!