March 22, 2020

Plastic-Free Meal Plan

I started this post two weeks ago and you might say a few things have changed since then. Understatement of the decade! (If you’re reading this years from now, I’m referring to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.) While things have gotten a little hectic and the grocery stores look like scenes from a post-apocalyptic movie, there are still a lot of plastic-free tips that you can follow while planning meals.

While the main focus now is the virus crisis, after this is all over, we will still have plastic pollution. Food and beverage packaging make up a lot of our waste stream. Just look at your trash bin each week and I’m sure the majority of it is food related. By choosing foods that aren’t packaged in plastic, you’ll make a big dent in your plastic footprint.

Previously, I talked about how to buy groceries without plastic in “Simple Guide to Plastic-Free Grocery Shopping“.

Olivia for the Ocean - Plastic-Free Living

Later, I talked about Plastic-Free Snacks for Kids. While the post was targeted for kids, you can apply the same concept for snacks for yourself. I eat the same snacks as my kids.

But what about full meals? What kind of meals can you make without plastic. Great question! Here’s a sample of what I cook on an average week.

Sunday: Pizza w/ Salad
Monday: Veggie Pot Pie
Tuesday: Quinoa Bowls
Wednesday: Spaghetti w/ Salad
Thursday: Lentil Tacos

I have two different week-long meal plans and I alternate the weeks by switching out the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday meals. I normally only cook meals for Sunday through Thursday. On Fridays, we generally eat leftovers for dinner and we usually go out to eat for dinner on Saturday. Dining out is clearly not happening any time soon due tactics put in place to slow the spread of the Coronavirus.

As I talk about in my Day in the Life posts, I do my grocery shopping at Whole Foods on Fridays and the rest of the shopping at the farmer’s market on Saturdays.

But alas, since my farmer’s market has closed until further notice, I’ve had to make some adjustments.

Sunday: Pizza w/ Salad

I typically make the meals that take the most time on the weekends. During the week, I usually have less than 30 minutes between the time I get home and when my kids start saying “Mommy, I’m hungry.” Some days it’s only 2 minutes. #momlife. So, I do a lot of prep work on the weekends.

I’ll list the ingredients and then next to it the type of packaging I buy it in.

Ingredients for Pizza:

flour (bulk or paper)
whole-wheat flour (bulk or paper)
yeast (glass jar)
mozzarella (package-free)
marinara (glass jar w/ metal lid)
pesto (glass jar w/ metal lid)
olive oil (glass bottle w/ metal lid)
garlic (package-free)
pineapple (package-free)
mushrooms (package-free)

Ingredients for Salad:

lettuce (package-free)
spinach (package-free)
carrots (package-free)
tomatoes (package-free)
dressing (glass bottle w/ plastic lid)

All the produce I get loose at Whole Foods or previously the farmer’s market. The mozzarella I get in the deli section at Sprouts. I bring beeswax wraps and ask them to put the block of cheese directly in it. This is a picture of a different kind of cheese, but you get the point.

The yeast I used to get in those plastic packets, but recently I found yeast in glass jars, thanks to one of my Instagram followers that pointed this out in my last trash audit! Thank you @honeyhomeface!

I usually make three kinds of pizza:

marinara with cheese, pineapple, and mushrooms
pesto with cheese and tomatoes or mushrooms
white pizza with garlic olive oil and cheese

You start by making the dough.

1 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees)
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour (extra for dusting)
2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoon olive oil

Heat the water up to 110 degrees. I use a meat thermometer to make sure it’s the right temperature. If you’re using instant yeast, you can combine all the ingredients together. If you’re using active dry yeast, you need to add the yeast to the water and let it sit for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, add the rest of the ingredients.

I like to mix in a little whole wheat flour but if you don’t like the taste you can use all regular flour.

Once the dough comes together, knead for a 5 minutes and form into a ball. Use extra flour if the dough sticks to your hands.

Place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a dish cloth and let it rise for 2 hours.

After two hours, pre-heat the oven and divide the dough into eight small balls. Roll out the dough until it’s 1/4 inch thick and start adding sauces and toppings.

Bake at 425F for 9 – 10 minutes on lower rack for a softer crust and 12 – 13 for crispier crust.

I serve the pizza with a simple salad that includes lettuce, spinach, shredded carrots, tomatoes, and dressing.

Monday: Veggie Pot Pie

I used to bake this in a casserole dish but the underside of the crust was always underdone. I like the buttery crispy edge of the crust so, now I bake the crust separately and cook the rest of the ingredients in my dutch oven on the stove.

Ingredients for Cream of Chicken/Veggie:

2 cups chicken or veggie broth (can or from scratch)
1/4 cup flour (bulk or paper)
1/4 cup unsalted butter (paper and wax paper)
1 teaspoon salt (paper)

(You can always buy cream of chicken or mushroom in a can as well, but I generally try to make as much as I can from scratch.)

Ingredients for crust:

1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder (cardboard container w/ plastic lid)
3 Tablespoons grated cold unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 buttermilk or 1/2 cup milk w/ 1 teaspoon vinegar (glass)

Remaining Ingredients:

chicken or mushrooms
onions
carrots
green beans

The broth you can get in a can or make from chicken bones or vegetable scraps. Flour can be bought in bulk or in paper packages. The liquids come in glass and the baking powder and salt can be found in bulk or paper boxes. Here’s a quick reminder of how to shop in the bulk section:

Preheat the oven at 350F.

Mix the dry ingredients for the crust. Add the grated butter and then the liquids. Stir gently to mix but do not overmix. Line a 9 inch square pyrex dish with parchment paper and pour batter. Bake for 25 – 27 minutes on the lowest rack.

In the mean time, sauté onions and carrots with a half teaspoon of salt until tender. You can add the mushrooms in or if adding chicken, cook the chicken separately. I usually steam the green beans separately but you can sauté those as well.

For the cream of chicken/vegetable, heat the butter until it starts bubbling. Add the flour and stir for two minutes. Slowly add broth about a quarter of a cup at a time and continually stir. If you add the broth too fast it will thin. Continue slowly adding broth and stirring until you’ve added all the broth and the consistency is a smooth cream.

Once the cream of chicken/veggie is finished, add it to the vegetable mix. Salt and pepper as needed. Scoop the mix into a bowl and top with a piece of the crust.

Tuesday: Fajitas Quinoa Bowls

I love quinoa bowls because they are easy. You get some protein, lots of veggies and you can always change the flavors with a different sauce. This one has a Mexican flavor but you can add a Thai peanut sauce or a yogurt sauce to it to change it up.

Ingredients:

3/4 cups dried quinoa (bulk)
1/2 cup dried black beans (bulk)
1 medium onions, diced
1 medium bell pepper, sliced
2 – 3 medium sweet potatoes
other seasonal vegetables
lettuce
cilantro
salsa (glass)
shredded cheese (package-free)

I get the quinoa and dried black beans in the bulk section. The produce is loose, the salsa comes in a jar, and the cheese I get in the deli.

I always cook the black beans the day before since they take a little time.

Soak the black beans overnight. The next day drain, cover with 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Then turn down to medium heat and let it cook for an hour to an hour and a half. Stir occasionally and check the tenderness. Add water if it gets low.

For the quinoa, wash it and drain. Add 1 1/2 cups water to the quinoa and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cover. Stir occasionally and remove from heat when the water is almost gone.

Sauté the onions and bell peppers with salt. You can roast the sweet potatoes or steam them.

After all the ingredients are cooked, throw them in a bowl and top with lettuce, cilantro, salsa, and shredded cheese.

Wednesday: Spaghetti w/ Salad

I love pasta. So, of course we’re going to have pasta night once a week. Normally, it’s a simple tomato-based sauce with a salad and some French bread from Panera. While I love creamy sauces like Alfredo, they do not love me back, so I only make those once in a while.

Ingredients for pasta:

4 servings pasta (from scratch or paper box)
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 – 4 large tomatoes, chopped
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
parmesan cheese (plastic wrap)

Ingredients for salad:

spinach
lettuce
carrots
dressing

The pasta I either get in a paper box or make from scratch. My recipe is in the Plastic-Free Pasta post.

The produce I get loose, the dressing in a glass jar and parmesan cheese is the only item I can’t find not wrapped in plastic. I buy the biggest chunk I can find, which is generally at Costco, and this last me probably 4 – 6 months.

Cook the pasta. In a separate pan, sauté the garlic in olive oil. After a few minutes, add the tomatoes and mushrooms.

After the mushrooms have cooked and the tomatoes reduced, if it is still too watery, add 1 teaspoon of corn starch into a bowl with 2 tablespoons of water. Stir the cornstarch to ensure it is dissolved. Pour the liquid into the sauce and let it simmer to thicken up. Salt and pepper to taste.

Stir in the cooked pasta and top with parmesan cheese.

Thursday: Lentil Tacos

This is one of the first vegetarian meals I made for my husband and it’s stay with us ever since because he’s a big fan. Yes, my tacos look like a big salad cradled in a tortilla but that’s the way I like them. Like the quinoa bowls, these are so easy to make and customize.

Ingredients:

tortillas (package-free or from scratch)
1/2 cup lentils (bulk)
1 pound mushrooms
1 avocado
shredded cheese
1 red onions
lettuce
cilantro

For the tortillas, I either bring my container to a local Mexican restaurant to pick up tortillas, or I make my own. See the recipe in Plastic-Free Tortillas.

Bring 1/2 cup dried lentils and 1 cup water to a boil. Once boiling lower to a simmer on low. Stir occasionally until the lentils are cooked.

Sauté mushrooms. For pickled red onions, heat up 3/4 cups apple cider vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar until it starts to simmer. Pour mixture over thinly sliced red onions and let it cool over night in fridge.

Assemble tacos accordingly.

So that’s it! That’s five meals and the only plastic was the lid from the salad dressing bottle, the lid from the baking powder and the wrap from the Parmesan! We probably go through a bottle of salad dressing a month, one container of baking powder every five years, and maybe two Costco-sized wedges of Parmesan a year!