It’s the epitome of comfort food on a grey, windy autumn day with the first chilly wisps of winter in the air. And when fall comes around, I get the urge to make lots of it.
I’m talking about DAL.
What’s dal? And what does it have to do with living without plastic?
Read on to find out…
19 July 2010 — The long-awaited Sanctus Mundo ice cube tray is finally here! We know it’s well-made and it has been tested to ensure it is safe and toxin-free. It’s modelled after those aluminum beauties from the fifties, but has been made to exacting modern standards out of the highest quality 304, 18-8 stainless steel – no aluminum here! It also works beautifully for freezing baby food, pesto, juice – lots of room for creativity. And the pull lever folds snugly down into the mechanism so you can stack the tray and save valuable space in the freezer.
21 November 2012 — Foster a new symbiotic relationship with the bees using this plastic-free re-usable food wrap made of a blend of cotton and hemp canvas impregnated with beeswax, jojoba oil and tree resin. You can use it to cover your left over food in glass, ceramic or stainless steel containers. Or to package a sandwich or a light dry snack.
Simply use the warmth of your hands and some gentle pressure to shape the wrap around your food or dishes to protect. The flat will stiffen as it cools.
We are introducing 4 different food wrapping products
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!
21 August 2013 — To keep a lunch you prepared for your child – or for yourself – cool until it is time to eat it, many people use an ice pack made of plastic with a gel-like substance inside that contains additives (hopefully non-toxic ones, but you never know – that blue gel stuff doesn’t exactly look healthy and natural). An ice pack can add a lot of weight to a lunch bag and uses space that could otherwise be occupied by an extra lunch item. The best way to avoid adding unnecessary plastic and weight to your lunch bag is to freeze a lunch item that is intended to be eaten.
2 November 2012 — We think water is as alive as us. We all need water to stay alive and thrive. So when the water we put into our bodies is unhealthy because it is polluted with toxins like chlorine and lead, it defeats the purpose of hydration: to promote life.
We often get asked about simple plastic-free water filtration systems. As far as we can tell, there are not a lot out there. Most water filtration systems use plastic casing for the filters and/or the storage vessel, or are large and expensive. So we’ve always been on the lookout for something small, simple and inexpensive to rival the Britas®‘ of the world. We think we may have found a wonderful option.
