Plastic is making me cranky. Its everywhere, not just wrapped around our food. I’m sitting on a vinyl chair, typing on a plastic keyboard, using a plastic mouse. I could reach out and touch plastic speakers, stapler, phone, ipod, printer, cables and cords, a lamp, picture frame, cell phone, camera … the word “ubiquitous” comes to mind.

I went shopping yesterday and purchased mostly fruits and veggies, along with a few other staples. I was feeling pretty proud that I had spent $75 and not one ounce of plastic had found its way into my cloth bags … or so I thought.

Turns out a cardboard label was attached to the pineapple with a plastic thing; the kind of plastic thing that you normally find on clothing. And there wasn’t just one. Seems an over zealous clerk found it necessary to use four of these things to attach two cardboard labels. (I wonder if this was done by a machine or if the labeling was done by a human.) I did not even notice the plastic until I had chopped the top off the pineapple and was about to put the leaves in the compost.

My second faux pas happened in the dairy section. Did you know that ‘cardboard’ milk cartons are actually plastic? The ’paperboard’ is sandwiched between two layers of Polyethylene. You can read all about it on the Elopak Packaging website.

I bought cream and milk in cardboard containers under the assumption that cardboard containers were lined with wax, not plastic. Guess I should have done more thorough research before I jumped to that conclusion. All the more reason to seek out a store that carries milk in glass bottles … well … except for that plastic lid.

What happened to the little cardboard disk that used to seal glass milk bottles?

Yup – I’m cranky and I still have three weeks left in my experiment.

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Remember that pineapple I bought last week. It wasn’t ripe when I bought it, so I let it sit on the counter for a few days. On Friday I realized that it was ready to eat, but I wasn’t ready for it, so I put it in the fridge to slow down the ripening process.

Today was a hot sunny day in Calgary and I spent some of the afternoon helping friends plant their garden and the rest of the day trying to catch up on the little chores that didn’t get done last week.

Late in the afternoon I started to get hungry so I did what most people do …. opened the fridge and stared … hoping that something quick, tasty and nutritious would appear to eat.

That’s when I saw the pineapple … patiently waiting to be chosen … knowing its days were numbered before it would be too ripe to eat and end up whole in the composter. What low crap food wants that fate?

“Perfect!” I said. “Fresh juicy pineapple for dinner. What could be better?” I contemplated making it into a shake with some nuts for protein; or mixing it into yogurt; or putting it on a salad.

But by the time all those thoughts went through my head I had already cut off the bottom and was enjoying the first piece … heaven … low crap food at its peek of perfection!

According to Low Crap Diet’s mission: I need to question everything; take nothing for granted; eat sacred cows (poetically); compost century old habits; seed revolutionary idea; and grow action from within.

So tonight I challenge the centuries old habit and sacred cow of Sunday Night Dinner. Who says Sunday Night Dinner has to have a certain amount of this or that or be covered in sauces or fussed over all day?

Go ahead … eat a pineapple or any other fruit this Sunday night for dinner … it will only take seconds to prepare (just wash and cut) and seconds to clean up.

My grandmother may be turning over in her grave at the very thought of Sunday night dinner without roast beef, mashed potatoes and cherry pie. Sorry Grandma … change happens … and there will be another Sunday next week …