Picnics and popsicles

I feel like I have this new disease called blogging syndrome.
It must exist.
If it doesn't then I'm inventing right it now.
The more I think about what I am doing - that is, the more conscious I become - I just have so many thoughts and so much research to do everyday that there isn't enough time to do it all. If a few days go by and I haven't posted, I start to feel idle (really, I'm not kidding). I just counted the open tabs across the top of my firefox browser and there are 12 articles waiting for me to read and follow up on and, if they are worthy, pass on to you guys. And one of those tabs is a slowly evolving post about some serious environmental stuff that is often too heavy for me to deal with at the end of a long day.

But enough about that, let's talk about more relaxing things... things like picnics and popsicles.

It's been hot here. Suddenly. The winter in the Berkshires often turns quickly into summer before we have a chance to process that it is even spring time. It's been hot and I've been exhausted from working and the kids schedule has been overwhelming to say the least... so all I want to do is go to the lake and swim and picnic for dinner.

It used to be easier then it is now, but I'm up to this particular challenge (as you know). Oh it would be so easy to just go get some grab and go food from the co-op or get take out (especially a pizza)... but we don't want the package waste and the littlest guy is gluten free. So I get creative and I cook cook cook so that we can pack it all up and take it in our containers and go have a picnic. The biggest issues with this is having enough food for my growing family - especially the 13 year old boy that is due for a growth spurt any second now and often goes for 3rd and sometimes 4th helpings at dinner.

So yesterday we did it:

Here is the little guy and my partner waiting patiently (actually, not really) for my older two kids to get out of the water and come eat. We had 2 kinds of mac and cheese (one gluten free, one not), tuna salad (with fresh tomatoes and and avocados... mmmm), sliced cucumbers and some corn chips. These corn chips make me a bit mad, actually, because they come in a paper bag, but it took me buying them and opening the bag to discover the secret plastic lining that made it not actually recyclable at all. Grrrr. Anyway, my family was happy to have a snacky food that wasn't popcorn for a moment.
Oh yeah, and we had watermelon. Because what's a picnic without watermelon?

Check out my newest favorite airtight stainless steel containers that I just picked up from green home (they are on the table).

And then of course there are these beauties, which I got from the same place:


      
My new stainless steel popsicle makers! I love them all and I am very happy with the company as well. I was a bit nervous about my first online order since attempting to reduce waste, but all of their stuff came packed simply and any plastic bags involved where very clearly marked as being recyclable. No trash with this order! They were all pricey but super worth it.

One thing I am constantly re-learning is that quality is far superior to quantity in most aspects of my life.

I will let you know how the posicles turn out once we have one... which will probably be tomorrow. I always feel like a piece of the test is how easily you can get them out of the molds...

And we will of course have many more picnicking opportunities this summer but if anyone has any good zero waste tips for picnic time, please share!