The weather is gorgeous today, reminding me in just 8 weeks I will be at full speed between picking up produce from the farms, spending time in the kitchen canning and dehydrating, and then at the weekly farmers’ market on Thursdays in McMinnville. The market is expected to start the very beginning of May, but my first harvest usually falls to the end of June, so until then, it is time to clear what we have in the freezer and to mix up our dehydrated veggies and herbs.
A few years ago when I started getting into selling the dehydrated offerings I needed to identify packaging that would keep the food safe and provide at least a year of tight seal for longer storage. The options were plastic…plastic….and plastic.
I’m pretty involved in Zero Waste McMinnville; it was a natural extension of the food waste reduction we have as part of our mission of Can-Do Real Food. As I learn more about how plastic has taken over our lifestyle, I have been searching for a new alternative packaging for the dried foods.
And while there are some new options this spring, there still is nothing that is workable. I will keep looking, but we will need to keep using plastic.
The bags I use all have zip-lock closure, so after I heat-seal the top of the bag, it is still closable with the zip lock after you open it. As such, the bags can be re-used and since they are good heavy plastic, I hope you will rinse and save them for personal use.