• Reusing bread bags – this article has a list of ideas for usage, plus many more in the comments section – a good place to mine for ideas that fit *your* needs.
• Reuse your bread bags » Earth and Body Friendly – a *few* more ideas.
• I also found a couple of short but interesting blog posts from the Our Green Year blog – one on “Reusing Bread Bags” which led me to “Collecting Dew” with plastic bags.

Right now we recycle our bags for things like dog doo when we are on walks, lunch wrappers, and reuse for food storage in the fridge – right now I have parsley stored in a tortilla bag.  Any ideas out there?  I’m all ears!!!!

These days, grocery shoppers are scrutinizing more than prices — some are looking to see how many miles their squash and pork chops traveled. But some say focusing on food miles isn’t the best way to ‘go green’ in the grocery store. So what is the best way to eat sustainably? Author Michael Pollan and others discuss.

Of especial interest to me was co-guest James McWilliams and his new book, Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly.  I’ve not read this book, and while I didn’t agree with some of what he said, he was reasonable and intelligent.  Amazon.com has an absolutely fantastic review of his book by Susan Wittig Albert – please check it out if you are interested in the geography of our world’s food production.  (On a related note, she also recently reviewed Wendell Berry’s Bringing It to the Table: On Farming and Food.)

I’m a somewhat embarrassed to say I’m way behind on Michael Pollan‘s books – his latest being In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.  His perspective is more my own, ‘though I do wish he’d decided to go vegan. ^_-  (heeb’n'vegan has a great review of both The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food from a vegan perspective.)

Brian Halweil I also was not familiar with.  I found his blog at the World Watch Institute site here.  If you’re interested in the greenness/healthiness of our current food production system, this is a worthwhile read.  (His latest entry is a review of Food Inc., a film released this summer that looks into “the horrors and hopes of the way we eat.”  I’ve not seen it yet – though I look forward to it.  I can think of a fair number of folks I know that ought to watch it, based on reviews and press releases I’ve read.)

I’ve a lot of catch-up reading to do on the issues of sustainable food production and consumption.  What I have read I hope to blog about in my next post.  (Note – crossposting this to my nascent food blog.)

So, it certainly can’t hurt to investigate Green options while buying new hardware. Just be aware of “greenwashing” practices in the marketplace; you may not save as much money as you might expect. And, of course, the easiest way to save cash is by shutting off devices you’re not using.

First off – silly me – I didn’t read the side of the box where this (—>) image was located.  I really try to avoid silly packaging – and this “freshness pack” represents an unrecyclable for me between the shrinkwrap plastic top and the #7 Other plastic bottom.  Yeah my tacos were nice and unbroken, but so were the paper wrapped Old El Paso “Stand ‘n Stuff” taco shells I bought to supplement the Ortegas.  (Not enough in the one Ortega box I found to feed my crew.)   There was a bit of shrink-wrap, but the rest of the package was recyclable paper.

Secondly, the Ortega shells had the same amount of fat in much smaller shells.  They did have 6 grams of fiber per serving compared to the El Paso shells’ 1 gram.  The Ortega shells apparently are a gram heavier for the same serving, but create a smaller serving area.  In appearance they are greasy and flat looking – wish I had my digital camera at hand.

Overall, the Ortega shells represent a less pleasant eating experience hardly worth the whole grain addition of 5 grams of fiber.  And considering the packaging, I WILL NOT be purchasing a similar Ortega product again.