My Favorite Plastic-free Cold Remedies (GIVEAWAY)

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My Favorite Plastic-free Cold Remedies (GIVEAWAY)

Blog Of The Week

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

by Beth Terry, Founder of My Plastic Free Life

Hacking cough, running nose, body aches and chills…these are just a few of the souvenirs I brought home from a recent trip. Fun times. So, anyway, I thought I would recap some of my favorite plastic-free cold remedies.

Vegetarian hot & sour soup in To-Go Ware Tiffin

When I have a cold, my favorite treat is Chinese hot and sour soup. Living plastic-free, though, means that I can’t just pick up the phone and order it to be delivered. Lucky for me, Michael is usually on hand and willing to run down the street with our To-Go Ware stainless steel tiffin and fill it up for me. We’ve never had any hassle from either Chinese restaurant in our neighborhood — Great Wall or Becky’s Chinese — when we bring our own container, although the staff at Becky’s once tried to put the tiffin in a plastic bag. It’s got a handle. It doesn’t need any bag!

Spicy Virgin Bloody Mary

The alcohol is unnecessary. I just get tomato or vegetable juice in a glass bottle and add a healthy dose of Tabasco or other pepper sauce, also in a glass bottle.

Okay… I just know that someone is going to tell me I can juice my own veggies or tomatoes. So I’ll just say it for you. I could juice my own veggies… if I had a juicer and if I didn’t feel like crap. The thing is… I don’t really drink juice very often… not enough to buy a juicer. I’d rather have whole fruits and vegetables that include all the fiber. So for the few times a year I drink juice, I’m happy buying it in a glass bottle.

Homemade Cough Syrup

Ingredients: cayenne pepper, ground ginger, honey, apple cider vinegar, water. I wrote up the full homemade cough syrup recipe last year. The comments on that post are invaluable and include many other home remedies for coughs and colds, so be sure and click on the link. This particular concoction is very soothing (and surprisingly delicious in a weird way) but it doesn’t really suppress a cough. Still, it feels good going down.
Many people have mentioned slippery elm bark. Well, I went out last year and bought some, but it seems that I may have bought the wrong thing. Mine looks like shredded bark, but all the recipes I find online call for the powder. Is there anything I can do with the kind I purchased?

And one of you (I can’t remember who!) mentioned a recipe for homemade cough lozenges on my Facebook page last year. I’m going to try making them soon and will post the results here. I’m thinking of using honey, lemon juice, and ginger. What do you think? In the meantime, I’ll take my syrup and also drink a lot of…

Tea With Honey And Lemon

The tea comes from the Whole Foods bulk bin or from Lhasa Karnak herb shop in Berkeley, where I bring my own containers. I use a metal tea ball to steep it. The honey and lemon juice come in glass jars (or sometimes we get bulk honey in our own jar.) Tracey TieF turned me on to Lakewood organic lemon juice. Of course, I’d prefer fresh lemons, but when you’re sick and desperate and just home from a trip, you use what’s in the house. And I like having the bottled lemon juice on hand.

I do have fresh satsuma tangerines, though. Yummy and good.

Ceramic Neti Pot

This thing is wondrous. I rhapsodized about my little blue neti pot in a post last year. Click over to that link to see a photo of me pouring water through my nose and also a video with complete neti pot instructions.

Lots of cloth handkerchiefs

Okay, this one is purely hypothetical. I don’t actually have lots of cloth handkerchiefs. I have enough for everyday sniffles but not enough to sop up what’s coming out of my nose at the moment. But they’re on my to-do list. Last year, many of you chided me for breaking down and buying a box of soft tree-killing Kleenex (the first box I’d bought in several years!) and recommended homemade hankies made from old t-shirts. It sounds like a great idea and much softer than the rough recycled toilet paper I’ve been using on my nose this time around. But right now, I don’t have any t-shirts I can cut up. I’ll put a WANTED ad on Freecycle and see if I can get a bunch. OR I could pay one of you crafty people to make some for me. What do you say??? Any Etsy sellers out there?

Natural Memory Foam Pillow

The best thing for a cold? BED! And while my mattress is not plastic-free — I purchased it years and years ago — my pillow is. I’ll write more about natural pillows and mattresses in a future post. My pillow is from Essentia and was sent to me to review. And it’s my favorite place to put my head when I don’t feel well.

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Ready for some more natural cold remedies? Check out these other great submissions from our Blogger Network!

Just a Teaspoon of Sugar, by Paige from Spit That Out
3 Natural cold & Flu Remedies, by Brenna from Almost All The Truth
Natural Cold & Flu Remedies, by Betsy from Eco-Novice
Natural Cold & Flu Remedies So You Can Stay Healthy This Holiday, by Amity from Green Gifts Guide

Great submissions everyone! Thanks so much for sharing your experiences and advice! Interested in being a part of this program? Sign-up here!

We're not done yet! We also have a GIVEAWAY! (CLOSED)

Congratulations to Jill Businelle, who said "For colds we drink lots of tea: Ginger, peppermint, Immune support. Take extra probiotics or eat things with probiotics. Use a saline spray from a metal can. Take a steamy shower. Massage the sinuses. Eat oranges, take a spoonful of honey, swallow raw garlic & onions. Try to get some fresh air & sunshine." Thanks everyone for your submissions! Now we have a lot of new ideas to try next time someone in our families get sick!

We are always amazed by Beth's Plastic-Free tips and how she's nearly eliminated it from her life! We really hope you'll try some of her tips and reduce your use of plastic, too! We also have a giveaway if you'd like to try a different natural remedy - Zarbee's. It's not plastic-free, but the bottle is indeed made of recyclable plastic. For a chance to win, answer this question in the comments:

What are your natural cold & flu remedies? If you've never tried one, what would you like to try?

Comment by Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 11:59pm PST for a chance to win a Zarbee’s Cough & Sleep Drink Prize Package. Valued at $50, the gift set includes:

2 sleep drink cartons
2 grape cough syrup
1 cherry cough syrup

For an extra chance to win, sign up for the Healthy Child newsletter and leave a comment saying you did so! We will pick a winner and announce it here on Wednesday, November 16, 2011.

The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and not necessarily those of Healthy Child Healthy World.

Eligibility Statement: Contest open to U.S. residents. Employees of Zarbee's and Healthy Child Healthy World and their families are not eligible. Entry into the contest is premised on the leaving of a comment and eligibility is not conditioned on the payment of consideration.

Legal Disclaimer: Zarbee's is a Trusted Partner of Healthy Child Healthy World, a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring a movement to protect children from harmful chemicals. Trusted Partners are companies that offer superior products that meet Healthy Child Healthy World's high Quality Standards, demonstrate a long-term commitment to their mission by joining their Trusted Partnership program, and contribute financially to the organization.

Posted by Jesus D on 11/14/2011 at 08:54 PM

My natural cough medicine is Eccinecea tea, organic better and an 8 oz. of Vitamin C juice for the day to boost the immune system.

Posted by Ania D on 11/13/2011 at 11:05 PM

I signed up for the Healthy Child newsletter

Posted by Miriam on 11/13/2011 at 08:16 PM

Onion poultices for colds. Buckwheat honey by the spoonful for a cough remedy!

Posted by Felicia on 11/13/2011 at 02:54 PM

I want to win! I LOVE Zarbee’s natural cough products! We use the dark honey cough syrup when my little one is not well.

Posted by Nicole K. on 11/12/2011 at 06:59 PM

We are big on drinking tea when we get sick. I also have this fantastic chest rub from LuSa Organics that works like a charm :) I have a ceramic neti pot but it never seems to work out for me… I keep thinking practice makes perfect though, right?

Posted by MizzB on 11/12/2011 at 08:31 AM

My natural cold and flu remedies are:
1. the neti pot, which I use weekly during cold and flu season, whether I feel anything coming on or not. I use it during the rest of the year if I have been around sniffling people, or feel a throat or sinus tickle.
2. lots of citrus, which is great because peak citrus season in my area is winter time. I have a few trees of my own (lemons, limes, oranges and a grapefruit), and can buy from local growers at farmers’ markets around Houston.
3. Yoga’s lion pose - sticking my tongue out as far as possible, to the point of a straining feeling at the throat muscles; done if I feel my throat tingling, like something is trying to infect me.
4. the old standby or gargling with warm water and salt, which I do weekly during cold and flu season as a preventive measure.
Haven’t had a cold or the flu in years since I started doing the regular preventive maintenance.

Posted by susan on 11/12/2011 at 05:05 AM

I take my daughter outside to get some vitamin D when she doesn’t feel good and lots of filtered water. Organic berries if they are in season.

Posted by Wendy C on 11/11/2011 at 08:41 PM

I already subscribe to your email.

Posted by Wendy C on 11/11/2011 at 08:40 PM

I’m a big fan of hot lemon tea with fresh ginger slices and honey. I also take this Chinese cough syrup that includes a bunch of herbs. It’s sold in a glass jar, so that’s right up your alley. You’re in the Bay Area, so 99 Ranch or any Chinese market will carry it. I also like Trader Joe’s lemon, ginger, echinacea, but that’s in a plastic jug.

Posted by Sarah Dawn on 11/11/2011 at 08:36 PM

Three words… Oil of Oregano! I take a “shot” several times a day when I have a cold… a “shot” meaning a shot glass half full of water and 5 drops of the Oil of Oregano. It may not taste the best but it helps kick the cold!

“Oregano oil products have been used as an anti-viral, anti-fungal, (yeast and candida problems), anti-microbial, and an anti-tissue agent, meaning it halts coughs and eases spasticity of the lung tubules.

Oregano essential oil has also been used as a mucolytic, (it helps thin mobilized mucous), anti-spasmodic, (eases tightness and spasms of muscles, and anti-parasitic.” www.oiloforegano.com

Posted by Heather Murray-Herlocher on 11/11/2011 at 07:31 PM

Lots of super probiotics and a mega-dose of vitamin C - taken early enough it almost always nips a cold in the bud, and the once a year we do get sick, it shortens it to a few days, much less than a week. For flu, we take oscillo or one of a few other homeopathic remedies, always bounces us back quickly. Oh, we also swear by Other things I love that support a healthy immune system: chicken noodle soup made with homemade chicken stock, lots of fresh fruit, raw honey, and I mean, truly raw, never heated, unstrained - it is full of antibiotic, anti-viral properties. A teaspoon every day for every body! Raw honey is also really great at soothing throats and quieting coughs. I also love Throat Coat tea from Traditional Medicinals.

Posted by Marie on 11/11/2011 at 06:04 PM

My son is battling a cold right now, so this is helpful. Tomorrow being SAturday, and lounging around the house, I think we’ll have a bunch of tea with honey & lemon flowing!

I’m curious about the onion suggestion - any info on that?

Posted by Michelle- Mkokopelli on 11/11/2011 at 05:04 PM

I’ve been using Burt’s Bees honey drops this week for my sinus infection/upper respiratory infection. They taste pretty good. I also tried Vicks Nature Fusion- but it made my stomach churn and tastes really bad. Taking a shot of honey with warm water (or tea) is also really soothing. And drinking lots of organic OJ. (the only time I drink juice)

Posted by Amanda Alvarado on 11/11/2011 at 04:45 PM

Am subscribed to your newsletter

Posted by Amanda Alvarado on 11/11/2011 at 04:45 PM

We haven’t tried natural remedies but I would love to find something other than OTC cough syrup and benadryl for dd when she gets hit by a cold or her allergies are acting up.

Posted by Susie H. on 11/11/2011 at 04:22 PM

I also get the newsletter, thanks! :)

Posted by Susie H. on 11/11/2011 at 04:21 PM

I drink lots of tea for colds, my kids and husband prefer orange juice. Fresh air circulating in the house and both rest and some mild activity. I would love to find a natural medicine without harsh drugs or additives. I took a peek at zarabees website and am thrilled to see that’s pretty much what I’d love to try!

Posted by Emily on 11/11/2011 at 02:25 PM

I would love a chance to win! Thanks!!!

Posted by Anastasia Borisyuk on 11/11/2011 at 01:57 PM

I put to cloves garlic through the press with two tablespoons honey and one tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice. Knocks the cold/flu right out! Especially if symptoms are just appearing. If I’m already sick then some echinacea/goldenseal with at least 4,000 IU Vitamin D really helps recover quickly.

Posted by NATALIE WEEKS on 11/11/2011 at 01:30 PM

OF COURSE I get the newsletter! Thank you xx

Posted by NATALIE WEEKS on 11/11/2011 at 01:29 PM

for myself, I make a lemon ginger tea (a pot of water with lemon slices and ginger root - no frills :) for the children, we use Similisan & Sinupret -those are my lifesavers! I haven’t tried the Zarbees, I have seen it in the store though

Posted by Keria on 11/11/2011 at 01:19 PM

We really like colloidal silver. We use many of the things you recommended here but colloidal silver helps to boost the immune system and we always get over things twice as quickly as everyone else we know. I swear by the stuff.

Posted by Adelle F. on 11/11/2011 at 11:50 AM

We use a lot of garlic lemonade: bruise and steep a few cloves of garlic in a pint of boiling water, add lemon juice and honey to taste and drink very warm. That and the neti pot nip thing in the bud.

Posted by Suzanne Holt on 11/11/2011 at 10:14 AM

The ceramic neti pot is awesome! With a 1:2 ratio of baking soda to non-iodized salt it’s better than any nasal spray you can buy over the counter.

We are also a big fan of supplements vitamin C, zinc, magnesium and if that doesn’t know it out add the garlic capsules! :)

Suzanne
Radically reducing the use of chemicals in personal care and cleaning.

Posted by AF on 11/10/2011 at 04:45 AM

When I have a chest cold I am afraid will go into bronchitis - I drink Traditional Medicine’s Breath Easy Tea. I used to have to take my inhaler a bunch and would get bronchitis, but this tea has kept me bronchitis free for almost 2 years… with limited use of my inhaler.

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