Meal prep to lower your exposure to phthalates, pfas and microplastics?
One of the easiest ways to decrease your exposure to phthalates, pfas and microplastics is cooking at home with fresh ingredients. The reason? Processed foods are a big source of these chemicals ( the chemicals, make their way into the food supply during manufacturing, processing and packaging procedures) as is eating out.
Want to expand your kiddos palate? Keep on cooking at home with fresh ingredients, try different recipes from different places with different ingredients when possible
Bottom line? Meal prepping is definitely worth it! It will make your life easier during the week and will assure your family is exposed to lower levels of these harmful chemicals.
Here are recipes we have for this week’s dinners. Please note 2 of the five members in my family are gluten-free so all of these recipes are gluten-free too. Additionally, two of the recipes are vegetarian.
1️⃣Creamy Lentil and Vegetable Bake (Vegan, Gluten-Free).
We try to eat vegetarian at least twice a week. Usually bean or lentil focused one day and a pasta on another. This recipe can also be topped with mashed potatoes if someone doesnt want the creamy cashew top ( or if you have a nut allergy)
I run low in ferritin and so do best with some red meat- and my kids love meat. But you can replace ground meat with ground turkey in this recipe too. This is a super quick and easy recipe and I usually serve it with Lundberg rice ( they test for heavy metals like arsenic which is so common in rice) and broccoli
Most kids like eating food on a stick and these kebabs are moist and will expose them to yummy spices. You can make a simple tzaziki sauce if you have greek yogurt and cucumber or make a simplified greek salad ( tomatoes, cucumbers and feta , add onions if your kids like)
4️⃣Chicken and black bean sopes
This is a fam fav and, while it takes a bit longer than other recipes in the list, you can use an organic rotisserie chicken as a shortcut ( pls note: when freshly cooked, hot, rotisserie chickens are placed in a plastic bag, you’re going to get some sort of chemical exposure. Once in a blue moon, it’s not the end of the world, but I would not make it a routine to eat rotisserie chicken that comes in a plastic bag.additionally: i have yet to find green tomatillos that are organic. I make sure to peel and wash well before roasting, you can also place in a bowl with baking soda and water and rub the tomatoes well with the baking soda and allow to sit for 15 min. This will work well against any pesticide residue.
I also make extra black beans from scratch and freeze for another meal another day!
5️⃣ Curried red lentils with coconut milk
We are obsessed with this recipe and could literally have it every week. I push it to every two or three weeks mostly because the coconut milk we find is in a can, which means that it likely line with some sort of bisphenol. But once every two weeks, I am completely comfortable making this recipe. Those in the family that are not gluten-free eat this with naan.
Tumeric can be a source of lead- but it is also an anti-inflammatory powerhouse. I buy simply organic turmeric, which has been tested to be safe oflead.
On weekends we keep it simple: pasta, homemade pizza, a sheet pan recipe or we eat out!