Challenge of the Month : Going Waste Free
Good news: Going waste free in your life is possible!
Bad news: it is hard - at least to some extent. I already tried to go waste-free in December but because of an injury, I couldn’t afford walking too much to go to specialized stores! But now I am okay!
So, I attempted to go waste free once again. A small change in diet helps a lot: when it comes to vegetables and fruits, most things can be bought in bulk. Bread can also be bought without any wrapping as long as you don’t ask the baker to cut it (which I accidentally did in this new country #Deutschisteinfach). So instead of buying canned carrots and peas, buy them in bulk. You are especially lucky if you live in Germany because you can buy beer in glass bottles and those are re-usable thanks to a good pledge system.
Butter, pasta, rice, meat, cheese, spices, milk, soap… most of these are very hard to find without any packaging. It takes some preparation to find the right shop, the right market in order to eliminate waste from your daily life. So if you want to go waste free, do it progressively. Otherwise, like me, you will fail this challenge. (And there’s still no waste free condom available)
Recipe of the month : Banana Bread
Current situation : you want to prepare a good cake but you only have one egg in stock.
This banana bread is for you !
Did you know this ? In most recipes, eggs have two main purposes: they are a binder that consolidates the ingredients together and they bring softness to the final texture. Other ingredients can fulfill these roles, including banana and coconut milk, that work very well together.
♡ Ingredients
1 egg *
1 large banana * (the riper, the better)
160g canned coconut milk *
100g of oil * (coconut oil is optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g of flour
120g of sugar
1 sachet of baking powder
1 pinch of salt flower
If you're vegan, you can replace the egg with another banana !
♡ Preparation
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (C)
Mix the moist ingredients (*) together, then add the sugar, salt, flour and baking powder gradually. Beat the mixture well to obtain a homogeneous result.
Pour into an oiled mold and bake for about 40 min, or until the tip of a knife stitched in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Remove the pan from the oven, and leave to cool before eating.
A gesture a day keeps the doctor away
Over the past ten years, 170 billons of plastic bags have been used in the world : that is far too much ! Indeed, plastic bags are very harmful for our planet : their production contributes to carbon emissions since it represents 4% of the oil annual consumption. Furthermore, as one of the main marine waste, plastic bags poses a real threat for the flora and fauna of the oceans for they contain toxic products.
So let’s reduce our consumption of plastic bags !It is now time to be smarter and to do something good for the environment ! The contribution of each can lead to global progress…
Sustainable Development In The Future
Uber plans to take over the sky with electric flying cars. It has recently hired a former Nasa engineer to develop the project, named Elevate. It plans to launch its first flying cars as soon as it 5 years.
Somewhere In The Internet
Have you already heard of To Good To Go ? Actually you should, its concept is just awesome. It can be summed up in a few sentences : eat well, save money, save the planet.
To Good To Go is an app that aims to reduce food waste by giving people the opportunity to order online unsold food of partner restaurants and to collect their order before the restaurant closes its breakfast, lunch or dinner service for half its original price.
As a regular user of To Good to Go, I can definitely contend that it is a very practical and easy-to-use app. When you don’t have the time to cook, you can order a generous dish in the restaurant of your choice, depending on its closing time and on its location. It is much less expensive than common delivery services and it contributes at the same time to protect the planet… What else would you like ?
TGTG also wants to have a positive social impact : that’s why its team regularly hands unsold food out to homeless people ; the idea is that reducing food waste has to benefit to everyone, especially to those who are most in need. Since being set up a few years ago, TGTG has already delivered more than 2000 dishes to homeless people and has saved nearly 900 tonnes of CO2 !
