It's been a month since my last post and boy, has it been a busy few weeks for me! Summer finally hit us here in Michigan and with it, a whole host of new zero waste challenges for grilling with friends, enjoying time by the pool and traveling. Sadly the weather has only been nice for one weekend since Memorial Day, but it's given me plenty of time to prepare for the rest of the summer without creating more waste in the mean time!
Being busy for me often means creating more waste. I have less time to prepare and think about what I need and therefore I inevitably have to buy something in packaging I don't want. Our first warm weekend we were desperate to get outside and hangout by the pool and eat with friends. Suddenly it became clear we have nothing suitable to bring drinks to the pool with us (we have rules about glass and open containers!), nothing for me to bring to grill on (as I'm vegan I don't generally like putting my food directly on a shared grill) and no suitable covering for our serving bowl to take a dish to a potluck. We quickly learned we needed to be more prepared if we wanted to maintain the low amount of waste we have been making.
I mentioned to a friend at work my issue with grilling and if she had any suggestions as to what I could buy to cook on a grill with. The next day, she brought me in a spare cast iron pan she had at home for me to use! It's the perfect size for a veggie burger and some veggies to grill and small enough to carry in your bag without weighing it down too much! How awesome are friends?? Patrick and I also purchased two stainless steel tumbler mugs and straws from Corkcicle to solve our outdoor drinks problem. They keep your drink cool for hours, even in the sun! Perfect for lemonade or maybe some sangria by the pool. They even have a special grippy surface on the bottom minimising the chance that it will be knocked over.
I'm still on the lookout for something suitable to act as a more secure cover for our serving dish but in the meantime holding a tea towel around the top seems to be doing the trick if we aren't going far.
This weekend is scheduled to be gorgeous here in Ann Arbor and with July 4th right around the corner too, I'm looking forward to getting a lot of use out of our new waste minimising additions!
