My dishwasher recently stopped working. He wanted more
money. Ha ha. This lead to a simple equation: Dishwasher on the fritz + hating
to wash dishes = devising a way to eat three meals a day without having a mess to
clean up afterward. First off, I used plastic forks, knives, spoons (that I conveniently discovered
unused and lurking in the cupboard from a party last year!), paper
plates, and a roll of paper towels for napkins. Liquids were in disposable
cups, drank from water (or beer) bottles, and boxes (such as Vita Coco not wine).
Perhaps not so eco-friendly, he wrote cautiously, but dishwashers do use
a lot of water anyway, so I suppose it was bit of a trade-off. But do note I used plastic ware that I already had on hand and of course there are many disposable products out that are very eco-friendly! Armed with a
fully stocked and carefully thought out refrigerator and larder, please read on to see how I met the daily challenge. Use anti-bacterial, disinfecting cleaning wipes on counter tops, etc. as you go, of course.
P.S. I was able to finally schedule an appointment with the dishwasher repair man for this week!
MONDAY
Iced Coffee every morning with milk, no sugar; rinsed out the glass,
stirred with disposable straw
Breakfast: Fruit smoothie with kale
every morning made
in
Vitamix (or blender) and poured into disposable plastic cup; read
here and
here for my recipes; rinsed out Vitamix, sometimes power-washed Vitamix on high with a little dishwashing liquid and about a cup
of water—cleans perfectly, just rinse out bubbles
Lunch: My
tuna with
elbow noodles on pita and sprouts went in sandwich bag to office; serves four resulting in leftovers. Individual
Fage peach yogurt snack, disposable spoon. Communal Ghiradelli chocolate squares
from office.
DAMAGE: 1-a pot to wash that elbow noodles were boiled in;
2-a strainer; 3-a big bowl holding leftovers to later wash
Dinner: I went out for Cuban food at
Cuba!
TUESDAY
Iced Coffee
Breakfast Smoothie
Lunch: All went in sandwich bag to office: Leftover tuna
from Monday with pita and sprouts. Slice of co-workers birthday cake on office
paper plate and plastic fork
Dinner: Left over grilled salmon with coconut rice and black
beans from Cuba!
Frozen chocolate covered banana from freezer.
WEDNESDAY
Iced Coffee
Breakfast Smoothie
Lunch: Leftover tuna from Monday on pita with sprouts, with
hummus straight from the plastic container, with chips for dipping; individual
cup applesauce with plastic spoon
Dinner: My Pete-tatouille found
here. I sauteed onions and
garlic in a pan, stirred with a spatula. Foil went over a cookie sheet and
vegetables were roasted and added to pan—foil thrown out and cookie sheet
stored away.
DAMAGE: 1-pan to be cleaned later as leftovers were wrapped,
remained, and refrigerated; 2- spatula
THURSDAY
Iced Coffee
Breakfast Smoothie
Lunch: Worked from home. Sandwich
with peanut butter banana and honey on Pullman’s
loaf bread (keep in the freezer but quickly thawed on countertop), Almond
“Milk” Smoothie and Nutri Grain apple cinnamon bar
Dinner: Leftover Pete-tatouille with Uncle Ben’s boil-in-a
bag rice—no strainer needed, kitchen shears to cut open bag, rinsed! Pita with hummus, tahini, sprouts as a snack later
DAMAGE: 1-hand-washed ice coffee glass; 2-pot used to boil rice;
3-knife
FRIDAY
Iced Coffee
Breakfast Smoothie
Lunch: Worked from home. Pre-packaged egg salad on Pullman’s
loaf bread with sprouts; chips; individual cup applesauce with plastic spoon
Dinner: Taco Night! Lightly toasted taco shells on
foil—could even use foil for another use! Browned meat in pan, drained, stirred
in seasoning mix with spatula, topped with salsa packet and shredded reduced
fat Monterey Jack cheese
DAMAGE: 1-pan; 2-strainer; 3-spatula
SATURDAY
Iced Coffee
Breakfast Smoothie
Lunch: Leftover taco beef on over easy egg, topped with
low-fat Monterey Jack cheese, low-fat sour cream, crumbled taco shells and
chopped scallions (cutting board easily rinsed)
Dinner: Two ears roasted corn on the cob, in the oven on
foil-wrapped cookie sheet, quickly devoured; fresh-made purchased lobster
ravioli in porcini broth, leftovers put in sealable plastic bag
DAMAGE: 1-pan for egg; 2-spatula for egg; 3-knife for
scallions; 4-iced coffee glass pot to simmer broth, then reserved in disposable
cup once cooled—I used same pot to cook ravioli
SUNDAY
Iced Coffee
Breakfast Smoothie
Lunch: Part of a can of cheese soup with skim milk over
broccoli, rinse microveable dish used for broccoli; frozen chocolate banana
Dinner: Leftover ravioli, reheat in rinsed microveable dish
used for broccoli; oven-roasted zucchini and squash (on foil of course),
drizzed with olive oil and served with low-fat sour cream, roasted pepper,
parsley and chive sauce made with Vitamix—power-washed Vitamix on high with a
little dishwashing liquid and about a cup of water—cleans perfectly, just rinse
out bubbles
DAMAGE: 1-small pan for soup; 2-microvable dish for broccoli
and later ravioli; 3-vessel for herbed sour sauce with roasted pepper, to be
washed at a later time.
