At first I thought I'd box up all the packaged food in the kitchen and set it aside during this 3o-day experiment. Then I decided to try to just eat it all first. 

I don't know how so much packaged food accumulates. And of course, it's the stuff I don't really want to eat that's left now. Was I enticed by the packaging? Why DID I buy this stuff? With my head already daydreaming about 30-days without packaged food, the last thing I want to do, is eat all of this. 

Here are some pictures of what remains. I can't help but think I will be relieved when all this food is out of here! It's been cluttering my shelves forever and now it's  time to purge. 

Ok, I'll admit, the chocolate chips melted on soft (if old) white corn tortillas was actually pretty delicious. 

It was Sunday evening, April 24, 2011 and I had a pile of recycling to conquer. My husband had dealt with this religiously, every month or so, for about the  past year. It was finally my turn. I stood there horrified, partly by the state of garage in the final weeks of winter - before the spring cleanse. 

Mostly, I was horrified that WE produce this MUCH stuff. We are environmentalists. When I shop, I purposefully choose items with as little packaging as possible, and with packaging that is as nontoxic as possible. I have to eat, but in order to do so, I make an effort to choose the products that are the healthiest for me and for the planet. 

What this giant pile of garbage was telling me though, was that I wasn't doing a good enough job. It was telling me that I had to stop looking at photos of piles of unpackaged beans, spices and fresh produce from traditional markets around the world. It was telling me, that I had to start shopping as if I was a customer at one of those markets. 

What's wrong with recycling, you might ask. Recycling uses a massive amount of electricity and the end product is far inferior to the original product. Thus recycling adds to climate change, air pollution, habitat destruction, and all the other nasty things that result from our energy production system. I try to take the guilt out of my eating, so this is something I try to avoid. 

Plus, packaging is all made in such a way that the recycled products are not as good as the original product, and there are a lot of byproducts. What this means is that  the loop does end and the packaging for my food will end up in a landfill, or as air pollution, or water pollution anyway in the not too distant future. (For more on recycling read Cradle to Cradle, by Bill McDonough).

You'll notice in the picture that my refuse pick-up company requires me to bag my recycling. So, now my packaging needs another package just to get recycled. Yikes!

Thus begins the adventure: What will it take, to go 30-days, without any packaged food. STEP ONE: Get rid of the recycling. STEP TWO: Get my Husband to agree to do this with me. STEP THREE: Clean out the kitchen. STEP FOUR: By food and start snacking.