Day 2

Today’s challenge was to prepare a zero-waste meal for date night. Last night, I thought this would be a great idea, but when I woke up this morning, I found myself googling “recipes” and “easy recipes”. Seriously, Sharon? You can do better than that. I got out of bed, threw some clothes on, and ventured out into Kensington Market. Okay, so it wasn’t so much a venture, but more of a stroll across the street.

Ryan and I grabbed some sandwiches for lunch at San Cosmé. They came on plates, and as usual the sandwiches were HUGE but I brought my trusty tupperware so I got to take half of it home, guilt-free.

Oh, by the way, Ryan is my boyfriend whom I live with. He’s very loving and supportive of this decision I’ve made and is actually a huge help in giving me more suggestions and making me question the little things I don’t even think about, so give it up for Ryan! Wooh! Go Ryan!

After that, we continued on the quest for more food. I had done some shopping earlier in the week at bulk barn, so I already had just over a pound of chicken and herb flavoured rice at home in a mason jar. The rice cost $1.78.

I went into Kensington market and bought some fresh fruits and veggies from my favourite Portuguese guy on Kensington Ave. No waste to see here! I cheerfully packed up my canvas bag full with fruits and veggies, as the total came to $8.09.

Now the hard part; meats and cheeses. How does one buy these without making any waste? For that, I reached out to my wise network of Facebook friends and learned I could take my empty containers to be filled with no problems. Sanagan’s Meat Locker is by far one of my favourite places to get my meat and poultry, so I was thrilled when I went in and the butcher said he could fulfill my strange request. He suggested a marinated steak, covered in teriyaki sauce and spices, as if I needed any convincing. He filled my tupperware with two hearty slabs of meat, and rung my order through. $8.25.

I got home very excited and on my way up the stairs, I fall. Not just any fall, but an infomercial worthy fall. A very epic, slow motion, is-she-going-to-make-it fall. I scraped my knee and the minute I get home I immediately reach for the band-aids, rip one open and cover the wound. Then Ryan pipes up, “Isn’t that waste?” Oops. My almost waste-free day was now ruined by my over excitement and lack of grace.

The full meal is here if you’d like to check it out. Overall the dinner cost just under $20 but it was well worth it when I didn’t have to throw anything in the trash.

 

Today’s Trash List

One parchment paper, one rubber band, one apple sticker, and regretfully, one band-aid wrapper.

Day 2: 4 pieces of waste.