Menu Planning Monday: Week of 8/8

Food for Thought

Reading some of Kitchen Stewardship’s Monday Missions have been good for me…and hard. Scanning through the list, I found one entitled #13: Plastics, Part two: Rethink Plastic Food Storage. I use a lot of plastic food storage. In fact, I have been washing and re-using plasitc containers for storing dinner leftovers. Of course, I also often use my favorite Pyrex glass containers too!! here is a quote from an entry on plastic safety that gives you good basic information:

“What do microwaves do to plastics?

The way BPA (and other random chemicals in our containers) gets into our bodies is by leaching out of the plastic into our foods. Time and heataccelerate leaching, possibly up to 55 times as fast. FDA science policy analyst Catherine Bailey says “When you microwave, it’s a good idea not to have the plastic touch the food.” For more on the microwave, click here.

What plastics are safe for food?

The good news is that not all plastics have BPA in them. Here’s the breakdown:

Evil: #3, 6 and some 7 (#7 means “other” so there’s a wide range, but better safe than sorry)
Better…maybe: #2 HDPE, #4 LDPE, #5PP (This has been the standard “safe list” for a few years. Recent research is raising questions even here.)
Basic plastic water bottles are generally #1. They are for one-time use only. The safety is questionable.”

After reading the above, I was persuaded to think about looking at all my plastics and getting rid of the ones that are not #2, #4, and #5. Also, we have been buying water bottles at Kirkland and they are unmarked as to what plastic they use. Even though they are one-use bottles, (since I am frugal-minded) I have been re-filling the water bottles to use them multiple times.

I also read that BPA has been linked to increased diabetes, heart disease, and infertility.

Here and here are more articles I found on plastics.

Then, my husband found a this post that links to a study that says BPA does not pose a hazard to humans.

What have you found on BPA or plastics?

What did you think of my last week’s food for thought: shred your own cheese?

Below is my menu for this week (last week I didn’t cook all that I planned, so you will see some recipes from last week carried over):

Cook Light – BBQ Chicken and Blue Cheese Pizza

Dinners:

Monday: California Chicken Wraps (from Kitchen Stewardship)

Tuesday: Crockpot BBQ Chicken with Fresh Corn on the Cob

Wednesday: BBQ Chicken and Blue Cheese Pizza (from Cooking Light – 252 cal per serving)

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps (Cooking Light – 265 cal per serving) with Zucchini Fries

Saturday: Chipotle-Black Bean Soup (Cooking Light – 276 cal per serving)

Sunday: (this may end up a leftover day)Crispy Popcorn Chicken (Real Simple – 586 cal per serving)

Lunches:

Summer Tomato, Mozzarella, and Basil Panini

sandwiches

leftovers

Breakfasts:

smoothies!! (I’ve been doing a lot of “experimental” smoothies these days with a mix of frozen fruit, yogurt, oatmeal, ground flax seed, and milk – MMmm!)

homemade waffles

cereal

Favorite Dinner Last Week:

Tomato Basil Pasta Salad (found on Kitchen Stewardship)

If you would like some more menu ideas check out the many blogs that participate in this week’s Menu Plan Monday over at I’m an Organizing Junkie.