Dole Makes It Easy

Ahhh, they sure do. Sending fruit to lunch for the kids has never been easier. Just buy and send. What could be easier?

Hmm. I don't know. How about just frickin' buying fruit and freezing it yourself? "But you can't get blueberries fresh all the time." How about that. Maybe go without blueberries if you can't get them at a certain time. You won't die. "But pineapples are really hard to cut." So don't eat them. "But I want them." You can't want them that badly if you can't even be bothered to do the work of cutting them. "But I don't have time to do this for my kids. It's easier to buy this stuff." You don't have time? Then why did you have a kid or three? Shouldn't you have the time to do something properly if you are going to do it? Are you telling me you are doing a half-assed job of raising your kids because you are too busy to do it right? Nice.Tell me I'm wrong, cuz that's what I'm hearing.

By all means, since you do not have time, please continue to consume plastic products, which increase the need for oil production, and keep buying these things for your kids to throw away, because actually they are the ones who will have to deal with the mountain of plastic garbage from their childhoods anyway. They'll only have themselves to blame. It's cool.

Yet another example of a product where we could take a second to think, "Is this really worth the plastic waste created here? Or can I do without it? Is there a better way?" But we don't.

I cannot find out what kind of plastic this is. I'm not inclined to go to a store right now to look, either. Is it #2? 5? If they get thrown away at school, I hardly think they are going in the recycling. So they are going in the garbage. Nice. Hello, Ocean. Bet you thought you had enough plastic already, huh?

Nope.

We Can't Make Our Own Damn Meatballs??

Here's the story from 7/8/12 on msnbc.com:

Meatball company recalls 300,000 pounds of meat over listeria risk -By Lily Kuo

(Reuters) - A New Jersey meatball manufacturer is recalling more than 300,000 pounds (136,000 kg) of meat products due to possible listeria contamination, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service said on Saturday.

Bridgeton, New Jersey-based Buona Vita Inc was recalling about 324,770 pounds of frozen, ready-to-eat meat and poultry products produced in May, including meatballs, chicken and beef patties, and loafs of chicken and beef, the agency said in a written statement.

The FSIS described the health risk related to the recall as "high," according to the statement.

Representatives for Buona Vita, which says on its website that it produces 200,000 pounds (90,000 kg) of meatballs a day, could not immediately be reached for comment.

The possible contamination was discovered through testing by FSIS and the Ohio Department of Agriculture, the FSIS statement said. There have been no reports of illness related to the company's products, it added.

Listeria bacteria thrive in low temperatures. Outbreaks are usually associated with deli meats, unpasteurized cheeses and smoked refrigerated seafood products. Listeriosis has a long incubation period, with symptoms sometimes not showing up until two months after people consume tainted foods. Symptoms include fever and muscle aches, sometimes preceded by diarrhea and other gastric problems.

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012

Here's my first thought: quit buying pre-made meatballs. Mom used to make a whole big batch of meatballs at once from scratch, cooking them then freezing them, so they were ready to use any time. It didn't take long. It was surely more economical to buy bulk ground meat. It was very surely better because we knew every ingredient that went in there. How many preservatives and other crap are in these frozen foods, besides the Listeria of course?

200,000 pounds of meatballs a day??? How lazy are we? And STOP with the "I don't have time, frozen is more convenient" crap. I don't buy it. LOOK at what happens when we rely on our conveniences. We get Listeria outbreaks. Was it worth it? Was the 30 minutes every few weeks you saved worth it? NOPE.

These problems go away when we grow our own food, make our own food, buy locally, and cook once in a damn while. Make your own meatballs, people.