A few weeks ago, I was nuking some leftovers for lunch at work. A co-worker came out, inspected my chili, deemed it savory-smelling enough, and then commented that he had the exact same plastic tubs at home but was hesitant to use them. When pressed, he muttered “Bisphenol-A” and left it at that.
That’s my travel mug. Or at least, it was. It has a nice lock-tight lid so that when I start talking with my hands (which I do), I don’t wind up with tea all over the place. You see, apparently it has a “7” on the base, and no “BPA-Free” tag, so according to another co-worker…it’s a hazard.
I’ve heard of many things that BPA can do to you, including cause obesity, cancer, and possibly the advent of land-wars in small rural countries. Well, maybe that last part is a little over the top, but it’s being blamed for a a lot of things. While I’m trying not to be paranoid and buy into the culture of fear, I’m going to err on the side of caution on this one.
Made me think, though. In my Grandmother’s day, we didn’t have microwaves. We had plastic, yes, but it wasn’t until the end of their lives that microwaves were coming into fashion (Gran Smith had one, but she was rather modernist in comparison. I think Granny Martin had a toaster oven and that was that). Microwave ovens weren’t standard issue in their kitchen. They had tupperware, but if they were reheating things, it went into corningware or something similar.
So it makes me wonder, what with the processed foods we’re eating for convenience sake, plus the other tools to make that half-hour-or-less lunch much faster, are we really doing ourselves any favours? Makes me wonder if I should be bringing a microwaveable bowl with me to work today. Maybe one that doesn’t have a chance of containing BPA.
In other news, I made pizza! Dough came from a recipe online, the sauce from a jar, and with real cheese and hand-sliced pepperoni… Absolutely tasty, and the kind of thing we’ll have to limit to once a month or so as a treat. If you’re at all the type of person who can easily gulp down a small to medium pizza in about two bites, do yourself a favour and make one sometime. Not only will you appreciate the labour, but you’ll find it’s actually more filling. Seriously. I ate three slices, and even that was Way Too Much.
Tonight’s menu? Chili! Looks like going strict Atkins/South Beach / Low GI-style will happen next week….
We have glass food storage containers, Pyrex makes lovely ones with plastic lids! Not too expensive.
Yep, going to have to search those out. Though I’m finding, so far, that a good compromise is to take the food to work in plastic tubs, then empty into a non-plastic bowl for reheating.
And Robin got me a new travel mug that won’t try to kill me! It’s one of the porcelain (?) Starbucks’ mugs with a plastic lid. Looking forward to trying that out. Squee!