Beyond "single-use": Glass jar edition

and quinoa salad and lentil bolognese in a jar

Its been happening slowly. Over the course of the last few years I have flirted with glass containers as I flirted with nontoxic cleaning products. Toggling between 7 Generations counter spray and vinegar in a glass spray bottle…decisions. Buying washing soda to clean our clothes? Check. Inevitably I can’t get a stain out and I revert back to unscented Tide or 7 Generations laundry detergent. I tried buying the prepackaged laundry sheets that are good for the earth—they come in a flat package. Those worked well, really well. I decided to get a subscription and then I noticed a few white spots on some of our clothing and then on our towels. I wanted to use the least amount of chemicals but also not ruin our clothing. My washer is a front loader perhaps the sheet creates a bleach-like stain on the clothing on which it dissolves. I did not investigate further so I cannot say it with conviction. Back to 7 Generations for now.

Anyway, I digress. For the past few months I have stockpiled glass jars. I still have the plastic containers, the ones we get from just about everywhere we go…black bottom rectangles, or circles, of all sizes with the transparent plastic lid, also yogurt containers, or the containers you get from the deli. I have all of those but this winter I decided to back off and instead I set my sights on glass jars with conviction. Last summer, before I knew I was going “all in” I purchased Pyrex dishes with red lids and those are handy for larger items. I also purchased a few different size square glass containers with lids and I find myself very attached to the purchased glass dishes not willing to freely send them home with another family. That becomes a problem when I have a dinner party and there are leftovers I want to share with my guests. At Thanksgiving my family brought their own leftover containers but that will not always be the case.

I decided to take stock, I had a few mason jars with the tops that can be unscrewed into two separate pieces, one of which always goes missing. Since I do not do any canning presently it is unimportant if I have Ball mason jars. It is not necessary for the jars to be of any particular brand or shape or size because the number of items I make and the amount of each item is always changing depending on what I buy each week. 

I began by observing items in my fridge. As I finish the product I will clean the jar. If the glass container looked like it could hold a serving of whatever I am making it is up for grabs. You can do this too. It takes little effort. Open your fridge, survey the shelves and see what types of glass jars you have. Artichokes in a small jar can be used for salad dressing. I store my beans, my roasted pepitos, roasted quinoa, roasted tomatoes, uncooked quinoa, anything, all in different size glass jars. The original labels come off in hot, soapy water or peel right off after a round in the dishwasher. If I want to write on them I use a sharpie marker. I did originally use the old fashioned label maker but I do not always use the same jar over and over for the same thing. Your choice how you label.

I have started getting creative. A few weeks ago I found myself using up the last of some coconut aminos (which come in a glass container like you would get soy sauce in). I was making homemade vegan Worcestershire sauce so you can imagine how happy I was to pluck the top spout off, clean out the bottle and use it for my Worcestershire. It’s amazing how fast we can accumulate the jars.

Kismet that I finished a glass container that had a pouring spout that I would need the same day!

When we make a lot of our food then the jars are always in rotation. It makes portioning out lunches easy if you batch cook. It also makes any type of food prep easy and once dirty they can be popped right into the dishwasher. If we gather too many jars, options are to recycle or store them until we have a dinner party and then we have “to go” containers. Problem solved!

While I do not think this is novel or that I am solving a new problem I decided to talk about it because I have been doing this on again, off again since 2020 when most of us were home. There are articles, even scholarly studies on the perception of which packaging is better…plastic or glass. Let’s not get into an argument. It can be a personal choice. My choice is that reusing glass makes the jar no longer a “single-use” glass jar and it is a free container. No purchasing Pyrex. The more I use it and rewash it the more value I gain from it-the same could be said for reusing the deli container. The difference for me is when I put the deli container in my dishwasher often it comes out warped; that can’t be great.

As I begin to buy more and more beans in bulk and other items in bulk I love that I have my jars. Additionally, as I batch cook it makes storing all of the food that much easier. Give it a try and let me know if you reuse jars. If you do, you will feel like a the smartest human in the room every time you open your fridge. Whether you are dreaming of how to re-use a jar or you are marveling at your Tetris-like skills in how you place the jars filled with delicious creations, you will have a sense of satisfaction. And you should.

Recommended Recipe

Two recipes that I have tried here in earlier posts that we can revisit, create, and then pack in recycled jars.

The first is Quinoa salad with beans and veggies of your choice.

My quinoa salad with beans, veggies and a delicious dressing made for a good lunch for Michael last week.

The second is lentil mushroom bolognese.

Veggie bolognese made with brown lentils and mushrooms

My daughter and my girlfriend each talked about making bolognese this past week using brown lentils. When I made this for the newsletter in November I used red lentils. It was good but I like using the brown lentils in this version better. They are meatier. I already had the sautéed mushrooms, and tomato sauce so all I had to do is process the mirepoix, (for me this time it meant, spring onion from the farmers market, 4 cloves of garlic and a medium carrot). Added the minced veggies to my dutch oven, along with the mushrooms for a few minutes, added the tomato sauce and the lentils I had cooked earlier. I had a quick “meat” sauce over Venda’s ricotta lemon ravioli. (It was part of a lovely gift to Michael from our niece. Thanks Liv!)

The whole thing was delicious and also helped me to use up ingredients currently in my pantry and my freezer. That’s another post though. As you can see above I had enough bolognese to store in a glass container and have it again at some point this week. Enjoy your week and remember, start with beans!

All sizes and shapes. What you store can be cooked, dry, or liquid; can fill the jars completely or only halfway

Contact

If you have any questions on integrating beans consistently for gut health now and into the near future, please email me at Denisemancieri1@gmail.com. Feel free to comment below if there are topics you would like to see.

Please share this newsletter with others if you find it may assist them in adding beans to their diet. Or click the heart, below left, so I know you were here. Thank you! 

Note: I am not a doctor. I am a teacher and an educator with an earned doctorate in educational leadership. I enjoy research and I can distill large amounts of information into easily understood and digestible pieces allowing people to understand what is happening to their body and possible steps to reverse it with food as medicine. I have healed my own GI issues through choices with food. I followed Karen Hurd’s bean protocol diet, I meditated and still do and I healed. I feel compelled to be in service and educate others as the more people eating beans, alongside a healthy diet and sharing their stories the more people will live a healthier existence. Joy, peace and freedom abound. Please see your doctor and discuss nutritional options before you change any course of action with your health.