Month: January 2014

22 July 2013 — Some who say we can’t live a modern life without plastic will cite plastic’s water-resistance properties as their main argument. It’s true that is is hard to find floating devices without plastic. So we were surprised and pleased to discover a swimming aid device made in Germany that is not only made entirely of cotton (except for one buckle) but is also better at helping kids and adults to learn to swim than its plastic counterparts. What is ingenious about these cotton swim floats is that they hold a child’s body in a natural swimming position in the water. Floating aids that wrap around the arms don’t help a child learn to swim. On the contrary, they prevent the natural arm movement needed to swim properly.

14 October 2013 — Now that Klean Kanteen has released two fantastic insulated stainless steelcanisters (8 oz and 16 oz) with stainless steel lids, you can bring ice cream to work, guilt-free!… well almost… The insulated canisters will keep your food warm for about 4 hours and cold for up to 12 hours… that’s long enough for your favourite frozen desert to stay cool until snack time! Our guilty pleasure is the Vanilla Island Coconut Bliss, but of course, homemade is the best! Indulge!

We recently discovered a scrumptious oatmeal cookie recipe that requires only 2 ingredients:  ripe bananas and oatmeal. No need for sugar, nor flour, just these 2 nutritious ingredients. We love it so much that we intend to make a huge batch of these cookies for close friends and family over the upcoming holidays, conveniently “wrapped” in one of our awesome stainless steel airtight containers. The container is part of the gift.

We have a number of new products in our line-up just in time for the holiday season, and this is one of our favorites:  the sleek and elegant “On A Roll” Tape Dispenser created by London-based design duo black+blum. These cutting edge design gurus describe their product development ethic as “ruthless practicality with a mischievous and intellectually satisfying design aesthetic.”

We’ve not yet come across the right non-plastic salad spinner for our product line. There are sneaky ones out there touted as “stainless steel,” but that’s just on the exterior. The interior coming into contact with the greens is still plastic.

Our intrepid blogger friend, Beth Terry of My Plastic-Free Life, recently wrote a lovely blog about just this issue. She considers the traditional plastic ones we’ve likely all seen, and perhaps grown up with – but which are, yes, plastic. With some help from the indomitable Julia Child she discovers the traditional French and Swiss ones – some great options there!