Plastics in the kitchen..Safe?

[big brown horse]

Yep, snow and ice sounds good, now!

Not to change the subject y'all... but after Hurricane Ike we lost power for 11 days..yeah, I know I'm not over it yet.

So it was as hot as hot can get inside the house. At night we sat outside hoping for some semblance of a breeze. If anyone dared to turn on a flash light or light a candle, the giant "tree" roaches dive bombed you and landed on you (because they have incredible aim) seeking out the light source.

Talk about the heebie jeebies!!!!

 

[Henrietta23]

The snow has stopped but it is 10 here in CT.

Yep, snow and ice sounds good, now!

 

[freemotion]

I will take 10* over dive-bombing roaches any day of the week!!!!

Henrietta, at least we can light a fire and get warm when we lose power....there is nothing one can do to escape the heat!

 

[miss_thenorth]

Sorry to hijack a bit In my new book--Ecoholic, I read that the bags fo rmicrowave popcorn , some chips etc are lined with teflon, so even if youget rid of your teflon frying pan, and you eat those types of things, your still consuming teflon.


sorry, I know, its not plastics, but it is stil bad.

 

[Henrietta23]

I will take 10* over dive-bombing roaches any day of the week!!!!

Henrietta, at least we can light a fire and get warm when we lose power....there is nothing one can do to escape the heat!

I'm with you! I hate the heat, the humidity and the bugs of summer, not necessarily in that order!
Now to back to the original topic. I had a conversation at lunch yesterday about why I'd rather carry my salad in a heavy glass container than a plastic salad specific container. I have to say I was out numbered by those looking for convenience. The majority couldn't think past walking from their car to the school with as little baggage as possible. I have no idea what a comparison of resource use to produce a plastic salad container vs. a glass Pyrex dish with a plastic lid would be, but they now think I'm weirder than ever.

 

[kcsunshine]

What about all those silicone products? Bakeware, spatulas, large spoons, etc? Bad as plastic?

 

[rty007]

Right now, I have moved for some time to sort my life out, back to my parents, but while I was staying away I sometimes cooked/prepared parties and such, for friends and their friends that I was introduced to, by word of mouth. I have a friend who owns a restaurant so he usually borrowed me all the equipment: knife/pans/pots all SS, and let me tel you... it is THE BEST and the only way to go in the kitchen. I once helped him prepare a catering wedding at his place, BOY am I getting a all marble/SS kitchen. And one of those big re/fridge couse most polish homes have those small stackable fridge/refrigerator that you barely can fit anything in it. I think that it is so due to WW I and then WW II and then communism, while there where basically vinegar and salt in shops you had to buy in bulks from farmers and can/dry/preserve some other way. So people try to cut from that period having those ridiculously tiny refrigerators, buying just for the day, going shopping daily. Also there is the lack of perspective thinking... while a bigger refrig uses some more electricity it saves a whole bunch buying goods in the low season and freezing, so the overall balance turns out savings while using a bigger refrig. I know I know, I was supposed to talk about plastic... You can easily find SS containers on some websites that provide gastronomy equipment but if you were to go all SS it is quite pricey.

 

[big brown horse]

Ture, it is more pricey...but you only have to buy ss stuff once.

(Interesting about the small fridges rty007.)

 

[ORChick]

Its not only the people in the former East Bloc countries with the smaller fridges. The people in the former West Germany do too, as well as in Gr. Britain and Ireland (the only places where I've been in kitchens ), though maybe things are changing now. Back in 1991, when I first met her, my cousin-in-law (who grew up in East Berlin) was the only German I knew with a freezer - a small one, but a freezer nonetheless. She said it was not unusual in the former communist Germany, as (as rty007 mentioned) foodstuffs were not always available, and so needed to be bought, and saved somehow, when they could be found. In West Germany it was typical to go shopping everyday, so no one that I knew had a freezer.

Back to topic, a good alternative to plastic spatulas, spoons etc. are what these things replaced - wood! Though, for flipping pancakes I will always prefer metal spatulas.