Cleaning out the plastics

The fam was away last week on vacation (Happy Passover, everyone! and Congratulations to Amanda and Alan!), which explains my web silence. But don't worry everyone, I'm back.

My dearest darling Kara recently asked for some recommendations I may have about eco-friendly cleansers and about what research I've uncovered on alternatives to traditional sippy cups. I thought I'd post my email to her in response:

First, cleaning products. I've tried just about everything (Method, Seventh Generation, Eco line, etc.), but my favorite is Shaklee. I originally heard about it on a couple of Oprah's "going green" episodes, and then heard more about it from some friends who are devotees. Now, I'm hooked. If memory serves, the current owners discovered the company (and eventually bought it) when they were searching for non-chemical cleaning options for their sons who were suffering from allergies and severe asthma. The prices actually end up being better than a lot of the stuff you can buy in the stores because everything is concentrated. I started with the "Get Clean Starter Kit" and I am a fan of everything in there. And my cleaning ladies, who were very skeptical, have now been won over. They're even recommending the stuff to their other clients -- and they aren't interested in the eco-friendly part of the stuff. They just like the way they clean.

Now, sippy cups. This is somewhat tricky. The one I seem to like the best is The Safe Sippy. It's bpa, phthalate and DEHA free. But everyone else seems to like that one too because it's sold out literally everywhere until mid-May. It only seems to be available on the internet. I like this because it's basically like our Sigg bottles but with a sippy-style cap. Not wanting to wait a month, I have been searching for other options.

I bought this one at Babies R Us yesterday: . So far, it's ok. It doesn't leak, but it's somewhat heavy for Luke to carry (he manages, though), and there are 4 components to the top, which is kind of annoying. Babies R Us was out of the Born Free cups, but I intend to go back tomorrow to pick up some when they restock. They're free of bpa, but they don't specify that they're free of phthalates or DEHA, too.

And although they're not a pure sippy, I highly recommend the Sigg bottles for the whole family. We all have one. The boys drink fine from them -- although Luke had a learning curve at first with understanding that he couldn't tip it over. I just now read something, though, that says although Sigg is better than plastic, some people aren't convinced that its aluminum construction is risk free. The Klean Kanteen line seems to be more widely accepted as "safe" because it's stainless steel, and it has a sippy-style lid (which is currently backordered).

And for other tableware options, the Boon line seems to be good. It's sold at Babies R Us. Note that their sippy cup got terrible reviews on Amazon. Apparently it leaks and is hard for kids to figure out how to drink out of.

In general, short of finding something that it guaranteed to be free of such substances as phthlates, you can feel fairly comfortable about #5 plastics.

And as far as food storage goes, there's Ikea's 365 glass line, and Crate and Barrel has a decent glass selection. I bought some pyrex yesterday to use for storage (I couldn't find anything online saying it was bad, but please let me know if you find anything...). It's incredible (and scary) how much plastic there is around our house...