This marks the third week of the Deli Meat and Cheese Challenge. Time to take a look at how things are going.
So far, I haven’t needed to buy any meat or cheese in their conventional plastic packaging. Some things, like the alternatives, have worked well for this challenge. But there are some strategies that I’m not sure if they’re making any difference. Here’s a breakdown of what I mean…
What’s been working for the PF meat and cheese challenge
The deli meat alternatives have been a good addition to my lunch menu! They’ve met my criteria for “sandwiches” and my criteria for being plastic-free or reducing plastic waste.
With the plant-based proteins (chickpeas and peanut butter) I’ve been able to go waste-free as well as plastic-free. So that’s a huge plus! Making the chickpeas from scratch, where I soak and cook the beans, did take more time. But one batch yielded enough hummus to last me well over a month. Also, if I am pressed for time I can always use canned chickpeas. As for the peanut/nut butter, I can get them in glass jars at the store if I can’t get to a bulk market.
The freeze-dried meats* have also been quite helpful for this challenge. I really enjoy the Curry Chicken Salad and the Beef Salad. They’re simple, quick, and can be prepped ahead of time. While they are both delicious, I will say that all the mayo from these salads is starting to feel like a bit much. As a future note, I need to make sure I’m alternating the meat salads with the hummus sandwiches to be sure I’m getting good variety.
What needs more contemplation for this meat and cheese challenge?
Since it seems to be against store policy everywhere that I’ve tried to bring in my own container to get deli meats, I decided to take some insight from the past. After looking into what people did for purchasing deli meats before plastic, I tried asking the deli department to wrap my meats in butcher paper. While that was successful, it turns out that the butcher paper used for meats has a plastic coating. I haven’t figured out a way to evaluate whether or not this falls under the reduced plastic option because I don’t have a good way to compare it.
What about the cheeses?
I would say that buying the cheese in blocks instead of the packages of pre-sliced or shredded cheese puts them in the reduced plastic category. This month, I’ve been getting the small blocks of cheese from the cheese counter that are cut from a larger wheel/block and then wrapped with cling wrap. The cling wrap looks and feels like less plastic than the standard sliced and shredded cheese packets. Which is why I’ve put cheeses in the reduced plastic category. I’m currently looking into ways to evaluate just how much less plastic this option uses. I haven’t gotten a large wheel of cheese because I’m not confident about storing it properly.
Before next week’s conclusion
Next week I will use more of a scoring system for this month’s deli meat and cheese challenge results. Things I want to adjust in the next week are to better optimize the butcher paper for the deli meats and to start pre-shredding and slicing the cheeses when I get home. I’ve realized that I haven’t been doing any shredded cheese because I don’t have a container that seems to work well for it. So I will be working on those things between now and next week.
Thank you to everyone who has been following my journey this month. I look forward to sharing my insights and conclusions from the past month next week!
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