The No Trash Diet

Now starts the reinstatement of a certain hooligan's blog. At least for now. I'm starting a project and, in true pop-culture style, it will need to be blogged about. Consider it a matter of public record.

I recently finished reading Colin Beavan's No Impact Man and became inspired to go on my own year-long no impact journey. I won't be turning off electricity or not using my car (though with the spring creeping and winter finally heading out, I will be using it much, much less). I've decided to go on a no trash diet. The reasoning is this: The only trash can in my apartment is a 5 gallon bucket. I empty that bucket every 2-3 months. That's very little trash, but trash is trash. I think 90% of it probably comes from food scraps and packaging. So! Starting May 1st I will be cutting out all food associated garbage. No packaging whatsoever.

All good challenges need rules, so here they are:

1. All food scraps will be composted, fed to chickens, or thrown in the woods
2. I will bring all of my own containers to the farmer's market and the co-op
3. If I have a choice between local and non-local, I always go with local
4. Eating food prepared not in my own kitchen will be limited to twice a week, unless I am out of town.
5. This challenge does not apply to friends who cook for me
6. Any prepared food I buy from restaurants or delis must not come in any packaging
7. My cat gets a free pass, though I will talk to local farmers to see if I can find a source of pet food straight from the farm (I don't have the stomach to make it myself).

Some of the challenges I foresee are things like tofu, tempeh, vegan butter, and rice milk. If I can't make it myself or find it in bulk, I will just have to do without. I think figuring most of this stuff out will be pretty fun and I've already gotten offers of help.

I'm hoping to keep this blog as a record of the challenges and the solutions. I also want to start reviewing books again, though I will keep them relevant to the challenge. Some days you might get recipes, some days book reviews, some days cost comparisons, some days bouts of frustration, some days might bring great thankfulness and joy (do I do that? I'm sure I must). For the days leading up to this challenge I'll be posting about my preparations and, of course, a bit about what I'm reading.

Stay tuned!