6/26/08|FIJI Green Gal stops eating dinner and loses carbon weight
Hi everyone! I know I haven’t posted in ages…my apologies! I’ve been unusually busy and short on time the past few weeks.
It all started when my microwave stopped working three weeks ago. I suppose it was due…it was quite old. However, it was part of a microwave-oven combined unit, and the oven still works great. So I didn’t want to replace the microwave, because that would also mean replacing a perfectly good oven. And the prospect of sending a good oven to landfill - or even recycling - was just too much for my devoted green heart to bear.
Because I’m usually busy, I try to save time on cooking dinner during the week by making a big meal one night and then microwaving leftovers for another night or two. I like to dress up the leftovers with freshly sauteed vegetables, grated cheese, or something else quick and easy. Without a microwave, I figured I should cook smaller meals each night, just enough to eat for that night, then start from scratch the next day. (I’ve tried reheating leftovers on the stove before, but the food kept getting overcooked.)
It was certainly nice to eat a freshly prepared dinner every night…but after a week I just couldn’t handle the time sink any more. So I decided to just eat a good breakfast and lunch each day, and not eat dinner any more unless I was out with family and friends. Hey, that could help me lose weight too, and who doesn’t want to lose a few pounds? And I could use the extra time to catch up on everything I’d fallen behind on (like this blog!) during the Week of Freshly Prepared Dinners.
Filled with hope and good intentions, I launched my new dinner-less resolution. But I don’t like the feeling of overeating at any meal, so I’d eat a normal, moderate breakfast and lunch, and then when “dinnertime” rolled around, I’d be pretty hungry. As it got later in the evening, I’d be sooooo hungry. Oh, it was painful. You know you’ve hit rock bottom when even a piece of chocolate isn’t satisfying.
So I started going to bed earlier and earlier to avoid feeling hungry…in bed by 8:30 pm or 9 pm, and up by 5 am. You’d think I’d at least be able to catch up on my life in those spare morning hours, right? Nope. Whether it’s running errands, or working, or whatever, most businesses and services aren’t open that early. So I’d spend a lovely few hours working in my garden…and falling further behind on everything I needed to get done. Or - like last night - I’d hang out late with friends, then forget to reset my alarm and still wake up at 5 am, and stumble sleepily through the rest of the day. (And the blog continued to languish.)
I was explaining this to a co-worker (who noted my sleepy expression), and he pointed out that I’d reduced my carbon footprint over the past couple of weeks by not cooking, eating, or getting a new microwave. I’d saved energy by not cooking, avoided emissions from food production by not eating, and saved money and energy by not buying a microwave. That put a smile on my sleepy face.
To make a rough estimate of the emissions I’ve avoided: A week’s worth of dinner for me - back when I had a microwave - might have looked like this with a glass of wine every night:
- Monday: Grill 8 oz organic steak, eat half of it with a baked potato and steamed broccoli. (I usually offset the healthiness of the broccoli by putting generous amounts of sour cream or butter on the potato.)
- Tuesday: Go vegetarian and make daal, a curried lentil soup. (Takes me back to Fiji where this is a staple dish.)
- Wednesday: Slice leftover steak thinly, pile onto toasted ciabatta bread, add grated Havarti cheese, and reheat, then top with freshly sauteed button mushrooms and Vidalia onions. (Heaven. You gotta try this.)
- Thursday: Microwave leftover daal. (It’s almost the end of the week, I’m keeping it simple.)
- Friday: Eat a serving of sushi. (Happiness.)
Okay, I had too much fun writing that menu. I love to eat. But I’m sleepy so I’m going to keep the calculations simple. Let’s say I eat the steak and fish and drink the wine, but pretend the non-meat stuff has no carbon footprint. (Vegetarian options often do have a lower carbon footprint.)
An 8 oz conventional steak results in about 8,300 g CO2eq across its lifecycle, and an 8 oz organic steak causes about 4,980 g CO2eq. Sushi-grade tuna, during the summer months, results in about 1,120 g CO2eq per 3 oz serving. And a bottle of wine causes about 2,650 g CO2eq and holds about 5 glasses.
So 4,980 (steak) + 1,120 (tuna) + 2,650 (wine) = 8,750 g CO2eq per week from the food and wine’s footprints alone. And 3 minutes in the microwave means about 30 g CO2eq, so if I’m reheating stuff twice a week, that adds another 60 g CO2eq. So I’m avoiding at least 8,810 g CO2eq per week in my dinner-less state…and definitely more, since I’m not counting emissions from cooking or turning on my kitchen lights, or the lifecycle carbon footprints of the potato, sour cream, broccoli, lentils, ciabatta, cheese, mushrooms, onions, rice, nori (seaweed), herbs and spices.
At this rate, in a year I’d avoid about 0.5 tonne CO2eq (8,810 g CO2eq/week * 52 weeks * 1 tonne / 1,000,000 g). According to Conservation International’s carbon footprint calculator, my annual carbon footprint is 8.2 tonnes. So if I can keep skipping dinner for a year, I’ll cut my carbon footprint by at least 5%! Not as big a reduction as I’d like, but every little bit counts.
So what do you think? Should I replace the microwave-oven unit? Buy a new standalone microwave…and a new microwave cart to put it on? Sponge free meals off my neighbors? Go out to eat every night and support local businesses? Just keep on skipping dinner and going to sleep at 8:30 pm? Do you have tips on how to reheat food on the stove successfully? Discuss!
jcwindsor says:
June 27th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Hey FIJI Green Gal! Perhaps you could replace your old microwave-oven unit with an Energy Star rated appliance. My guess is that you’ll probably be able to eat dinner and lower your carbon footprint. What do you think?
Neal says:
June 27th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Well first of all congratulations on your low carbon footprint - most Americans are responsible for over twice as much CO2 - so your handle is well deserved!
I do have a suspicion that your Havarti (mmm…cheese) adds significantly to the footprint as it requires cows, fertilizer, refrigeration, packaging, and generates emissions in a landfill if not eaten. It’s also very water intensive - it actually takes more water to produce a pound of cheese than is needed to produce a pound of pork or chicken.
Not to single out dairy products, but butter probably has a pretty large footprint, too. It takes over 2 gallons of milk to produce a pound of butter, where our friend Mr. Cheese requires 1 gallon of milk per pound.
Maybe what the world needs right now is a carbon neutral dairy farm. Then we could happily slather on the butter, eat delicious guilt-free cheese, and keep the planet cool with a bowl of CO2-free ice cream!
dropofkim says:
June 30th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Congrats on the carbon footprint! My family is working hard to do the same thing. I don’t even use a dryer anymore. AND as much as my hubby hates it, we don’t use a microwave either. It did take some getting used to but we are doing great without it.
When reheating leftovers, I always add a little bit of water and heat on low. If reheating in the oven, do the same but cover the dish. If reheating a bread or biscuit, wrap in foil. Little more work than zapping it in the microwave, but no cold spots! Also, we make meals that taste great cold the next day such as veggie banana pepper pizza. YUM.
Your going to bed earlier might be saving you having your lights on later. Not sure if you counteract that with having them on earlier or not, but in our area, it is pretty light during the hours you are up.
Let friends and family know that you are always available for dinner and your reasoning, that way, when they are having more than enough, they will think to invite you over. We have several friends that have open invites for dinners, and I think that saves by just one person using electricity for several people.
Do support your local restaurants and pick choice nights to go eat at them, such as when they are having specials on the items you love. When you do go, eat on the patio if they have one.
Hit up your farmers market and make meals from there. I love doing that. It is very inspiring and I usually end up using only the steamer for a whole meal.
OR bowls of cereal for supper. I love when it can be that simple. Sometimes, it’s just super yum. Make sure you get some fruit on it! Plus side to that is, you lose weight with that method too.
I look forward to seeing what you have decided in the great microwave debate!
PS - you will lose space with that microwave cart!
CatieB says:
July 7th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Well I do say congrats, not only on your lowering your carbon foot print, but calculating all that week of energy! sleepy and hungry do not a mental brilliance support. (Not to be cheeky, but I tried it myself in that condition. Your calculations were better than mine!)
I also have an oven/microwave unit. I loved it, and it saved so much heat and energy in my kitchen. while I still have the micro feature, my oven is not working above ninety degrees. I have not fixed it yet either. Still debating.
But, as far as your dilemma, given you have such a busy life, and it would really save you time, it may be worth it to have the micro part fixed, rather than replaced. I once gave away two appliances, a micro/oven, and a dryer, to those who needed them and said they would fix them. they did, (repairs turned out to be minor) and went on to use them freely for years. I learned a lesson that day.
If you choose a well made cart with extra features, made from recycled wood, it would be a double success.
some have knife slots, towel bars, storage cabinets, etc. I have remade one to use for my unit. And it adds a nice character to my kitchen. It is in its fourth life actually, I like to re-purpose and re-fabricate rather than get rid of things if possible.
BTW, the losing weight thing is a bonus, and there is an old adage that would bear repeating. for your diet, eat like a king at breakfast, a prince at lunch, and a pauper at supper. This took practice when I first tried it. But eating cereal and fruit is an excellent supper as you get enough sustenance to keep from being hungry, tryptophan from the milk to aid in sleep, fruit and fiber to support GI health in the morning. Good all around..
good luck with your decision…
CatieB
LiSa California says:
July 10th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
If you don’t want to leave a carbon foot print. Stop drinking FiJi Water. It has to be flown in from another country… that is so NOT green! Drink your local water and save our earth.
SEO Boot Camp says:
July 11th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
I linked to your site, but I don’t think the ping came thru on your end. oh well.
Psychic Advice says:
July 12th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Great blog, subscribed to your rss feed. Thanks.
micguillicutty says:
July 13th, 2008 at 7:02 am
you are all idiots! the reason you are so tired is because your body isnt getting enough food and therefor enough energy! if you really want to loose weight then exercise more ride a bike or something instead of driving that will lower your “carbon footprint” thats stupid too, carbon is natural part of our environment, damn humans are living hydro-carbons that is what our body is made up of, same as other living beings! we breathe carbon dioxide plants use carbon dioxide and turn it into oxygen, so if you really want to stop putting carbon into the air perhaps you should stop breathing too, that would do everyone some good.
Betty says:
July 15th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
There is another alternative - you could go raw foods for dinner. They can be made up ahead of time, and there are great raw food substitutes for tacos, lasagna, etc.
Here is a link to a web site with great videos and recipes - the food is delicious… there are lots of places on the web where you can get more recipes, videos, etc.
http://www.welikeitraw.com/rawfood/raw-food-recipes.html
Good luck!
Darwin says:
July 16th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
So how come the tag line is “Untouched by man. Until you drink it” and not “Untouched by any human. Until you drink it” or “Untouched by anybody. Until you drink it”? Not exactly the way to get women to get excited about Fiji….
Import from China says:
July 19th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Nice post, you got some good points there - thank you.
dana says:
July 20th, 2008 at 11:07 am
good job at least you’re not gaining any like me!!