Standing in my kitchen one day I had a moment, maybe a little breakdown. I realized that there was too much plastic in it!! I was using entirely too many plastic products to cook, handle and store my families food.
I had just switched my daughter's BPA free bowls to stainless steel ones and I use stainless steel salad forks and little coffee spoons for her but what about the rest?
I have come to realize that plastic, even BPA free isn't exactly safe, let alone to be around the food my family eats. Looking around my kitchen I see spatulas, mixing bowls, dish drainer, tupperware and so much more all PLASTIC. While they have taken the BPA out of children's items I don't recall seeing these items marked BPA free, they are just full blown plastic. Since I am now of the mindset of no plastic this was horrifying!
I am a foodie so my kitchen is gadget central! I am sure that the many gadgets I have as well as the "as seen on tv" items I also have aren't exactly made of the safest materials.
So started the purge. Out with the plastic, in with the glass and stainless steel.
My pretty mixing bowl sets of lightweight plastic, replaced by glass. The lovely Williams Sonoma spatulas, replaced by wooden ones like my Mom had. The strainers set that used to fix nice and neatly together, replaced by a stainless steel set. Etc. Etc. All replaced with either glass or stainless steel. I even realized that the holder for my kitchen sponge was plastic, replaced by stainless.
The funny part is that the stainless and glass items are actually less expensive than the plastic items I was replacing. Thankfully!!
Then there is the cookware. Not so inexpensive to replace, but something you really have to think about if you are using non-stick pans.
Non-stick cookware contains many chemicals, one of which is Perflurooctanoic Acid or PFOA. This is a chemical that when the pan is heated up can leach into the food you are cooking. Especially if the pan has scratches where the teflon coating is coming loose. The companies that make the chemicals and pans of course say they are safe and cannot enter the food, however a recent study showed that 95% of american men, women and children have the chemical in their bloodstreams.
Some of the listed effects from the chemical is cancer in the liver, pancreas, testicles and mammary glands. There is also increased miscarriage, thyroid problems and it is attributed to low birth weight in newborns. Yes, if you use it to cook while pregnant it can leach into your fetus. Nice huh?
Your best bet is to get a couple pots and pans, baking pans too, that are not non stick and use olive oil or butter.
Think about this. If you were to marinate something in tupperware, cook it in a non-stick pan using a plastic spatula, that's alot of chemicals going into to ONE meal. If you do that everyday, for all meals, what is going into you and your families bodies?
Do it yourself. Go into your kitchen, open the cabinets and drawers and take inventory of how many plastic and non-stick items you have.
Till next blog......
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