Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Green Challenge

Time again for the Green Butrfly Award!

I’ve gotten some great suggestions from you guys! I’m working on checking them all out. But in the meantime, here’s what I’ve found.

The award goes to…

Nestle’s Pure Life water is the water I normally buy. It’s fairly cheap ($3.88/case at Wal-Mart) and they have a “Save the Label” program for schools. I mentioned in the first Green Challenge that getting rid of my water bottle habit is going to be the hardest thing for me. Kelly sent a GREAT suggestion for a water bottle - which I will totally try next time I have something to order from Amazon - but I haven’t gotten it yet. Until I have the opportunity to try that out, Pure Life has found a way to ease my guilt just a little more. They started using 30% less plastic! How do they do it? I don’t know! But that means I’m saving almost a whole bottle a day! It may not change the world, but it’s definitely innovative and a lot more eco-friendly.



The runner up is Annie Chun’s Express Noodle Bowls. This suggestion came from Cherann. The great thing about them is that the bowls are made from biodegradable material. So I wasn’t guilted into washing out the container to recycle (try doing it with lasagna, it’s Fuuuuun!). However, the seasoning, noodles and sauce all came in their own wrappers, and the package itself was wrapped in plastic wrap. That seems kind of counter-productive to me to use that much packaging when your main package is so friendly.



The noodles themselves were alright. I wasn’t fond of the Szechuan kind - but I may not have let it cook long enough. The chow mein would have been a lot better with some veggies thrown in and less sauce (the instructions tell you to add to taste - I used a little with the first kind and a lot with the second - next time, I’ll try to go medium).



They are definitely worth a try - especially for something you can just leave at the office or something.


An honorable mention - because it’s not really eco-friendly but I really want to share it with you - is Peanut Butter & Co’s Dark Chocolate Dreams Natural Peanut Butter. (Hey! It’s ‘natural’ and recyclable!) This stuff is just heavenly. It has LESS calories than JIF (my normal brand) - but costs much more. At my Wal-Mart, it was about $3.00 for a small sized jar (much cheaper than their webstore sells it for!). Try it. But don’t blame me when you eat the whole jar by itself.


Give these products a try and don’t forget to send me your suggestions!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey! great ideas...I use Annie Chun too..

I have a water filter installed in my home so we don't even use water bottles at all..I'm saving plastic and money...can't beat that..

(It's Janet by the way, I've changed locations!)

MommasWorld said...

PUR water filtration systems had an offer last month to send free sports water bottles. I think drinking tap water from a reusable sports bottle would help cut down on the plastic bottle pile up. Snow White LOVES water! To her nothing taste better than a glass or bottle of ice cold water, even in the winter! Since she is a child and bottled water usually has no fluoride what so ever I put tap water (has fluoride) in her sports bottles. We also keep a pitcher of water in the refrigerator.

The most difficult Go Green task for me is to remember to shut off the water while brushing my teeth. My toothbrush goes from my mouth to the sink so quickly that sometimes I forget to turn it back on. I know it is silly but I am trying.

We started recycling our soda cans but apparently a card board box is not a suitable container to place them in at the curb. We have not received a recycling bin since we moved in and thought why not use the card board box since it too is recyclable? I was told the card board must be stacked and bound. They cannot take a box that is not flat. Until the city will give me my recycling tubs I cannot recycle. I am saving the cans for that day instead of tossing them in the garbage can.

Does the natural peanut butter spread well? I have a half jar of natural peanut butter but went back to Jif due to torn up wads of bread. Snow White was frustrating the heck out of herself trying to spread the natural peanut butter on the bread. If your’s spreads well I will give it a try :-)

Stacey said...

I love the Annie Chun's line. I haven't had everything but I love the Miso Soup and some of the noodle bowls. They are low in fat too which is another bonus.

Cherann said...

You know, when I suggested the Annie Chun's...I totally didn't think about the fact that the noodles and sauce came in plastic containers...I guess that the stuff wouldn't keep otherwise.

Canadian flake said...

I am completely in agreement with recycling but do I even wanna know how they recycle peanut butter??I am visualizing and not liking what I am thinking...lol.

Kristina said...

I tried the Annie Chun's express Teriyaki.....it was ok, not great, not horrible. I think I should have cooked it longer and had more sauce.

The cook time and sauce seem hard to master!

I bet it would be a TON better with some veggies thrown in!

Chocolate peanut butter!?!?! THIS I must try.

Butrfly Garden said...

JJ & Mommasworld- I've thought about getting a filtration thing, but we have really hard water and I think I'd be replacing the filters a lot and...well...I'm really cheap. :) I'm totally going to get one once we get a water softener, though.

workermommy - I saw their soups online, but not at the store. I was sad.

cherann- I grew up on maurchan (sp?) ramen noodles, so I was like, "ARE THESE WET?" hahah... I totally want to take some to work and throw a bag of peas in the freezer. Quick lunch. They're feeding me some horrible stuff at this event. I'll elaborate once it's over.

canadian - Ha! Yeah, it was really early when I wrote this. THE JAR is recyclable, people! Please, PLEASE, do NOT recycle the peanut butter!

Kristina - DUDE. Why didn't you have some Sunday morning??? You totally should have had some with a health nut bagel! Don't worry, we will master the sauce. ha.

Stacey said...

Oh Aaaaameeee, where are you ?

Brillig said...

I always find that sports bottles make my water taste like plastic. Am I alone here? I'd love to hear about one that doesn't do that...

And I'm all over that peanut butter. Sounds YUM!

Kristina said...

I've heard lots of good things about this:


http://www.shaklee.net/lapish/getclean/ourproducts/basich2/concentrate

It's an everything cleaner that lasts forever and is apparently "more than organic"


I guess a lot of the other products are good too....I think I might get some.

Kateastrophe said...

I love, love, love these ideas! Thanks so much for posting about them and helping me be better with this stuff! I heart you and your blog!!!