The Plan:
Day 1: Egg salad sandwiches
Day 2: Butternut squash pancakes with whipped maple butter, Frozen fruit smoothie
Day 3: Homemade pizza
Day 4: Baked ham, Cheesy scalloped potatoes
Day 5: Tuna salad, Kohlrabi and carrot sticks, Orange slices
Day 6: Penne pasta with homemade spaghetti sauce, Spinach salad
Day 7: Savory corn pudding, Coleslaw
This meal plan was curated using local foods that are in season now or preserved during the peak growing season in the U.S. Midwest. The plan is an exact replica of what our family is eating this week unless we are out of town. Meal plans are developed using whole foods and my meal planning system (click here!) and are meant to be healthy and easy to prepare. Most recipes will take no more than 30 minutes of active cooking time. Occasionally meals may require all day slow cooking, advanced prep, or some oven time. Recipes are provided when available. I sincerely hope this will help with your own meal planning!
Pantry Shuffle:
Out of Storage: (preserved when in season and coming out of my root cellar, freezer, canned, or dehydrated stash)
- Daikon radish (from refrigerator root cellar)
- Butternut squash (cubed and frozen)
- Blueberries (picked and frozen)
- Strawberries (picked and frozen)
- Kohlrabi (from refrigerator root cellar)
- Homemade pasta sauce (freezer)
- Corn (cut from cob and frozen)
- Jalapeno peppers (diced and frozen)
Into Storage:
- None this week
Notes: Microplastics in your lungs?
It’s time for another installation of plastic free living for Earth Month! Last week we explored the new discovery of microplastic in human blood and what we can do to prevent this finding in ourselves. Sadly, right after I wrote about this, there was an media blitz about another discovery of microplastics accumulating in human lungs.
As a reminder, microplastics = plastic particles less than 5mm in size
In this latest study, researchers found plastic particles down to 3 micrometers in size in all parts of the lung, including the deepest parts. Twelve types of plastic were found; the 4 most common being polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and resin. This plastic may cause lung inflammation and the full implications of this are not yet known. We do know that many plastic particles carry pesticides, heavy metals, and other chemicals that you absolutely do NOT want in your body.
This article from Scientific America a few years ago does a good job of explaining how these microplastics get in the air and travel.
Earth Month Challenge #3: Let’s look at where plastic air pollution is coming from and pick one to eliminate or reduce in your life.
- Clothing: This is the number one source of microplastics in the air. Polyester, nylon, spandex, lycra, and other materials are derived from plastic. The microfibers shed from your clothes during manufacture, regular wear, and washing/drying. Most of the plastic dust ends up circulating in the air in your own house. Switch to clothes made from natural materials, such as cotton, bamboo, and silk.
- Tires: The number two source is microplastic spewed from tires and wear on the asphalt as you drive. Cutting back on driving can have a large impact.
- Cosmetics: aerosols like hairspray and other cosmetics are full of these plastic ingredients. Definitely avoid anything that has exfoliating beads. Also, look for polypropylene or polyethylene on the label and avoid those products.
- Paint: not something you typically think of as plastic, but yes indeed it is, including fingernail polish. Paints and varnish wear down over time and fleck off products, nails, and walls into the air. Try going nude! Skip the nail polish and just buff your nails for a nice shine.
- Atmospheric cycling: unfortunately a lot of the plastic that is in the ocean or on land ends up in the air due to weather. Plastics in the ocean are broken down by wave action into microplastics that sit on the water surface and then get tossed into the air or emitted with evaporation only to cycle in again through precipitation. Microplastic in landfills or in the soil are carried into the air by the wind. Really, you can help a lot by preventing plastic from ending up in our waterways and the landfill in the first place. Another way to help is to join a beach cleanup or roadside trash pickup. Avoid sending plastic to the landfill by recycling what you can (usually #1 and #2 plastics).
