Day 133 -- Let Us Spray!

In my never-ending quest to rid my diet of any crappy food products, I've decided that it's about time to get rid of the PAM cooking spray.  Especially after reading about the propellant used to get the oil from the can to my frying pan.  According to some things I've read, the manufacturer does not have to list the individual elements in the propellant if they aren't food.  However, they do end up in your mouth.  So what makes up the propellant in PAM and other cooking sprays?  According to wikipedia, it's food-grade alcohol, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide or propane.

Really?  Propane?  Isn't that what you burn in a campstove?  And other sources say there could be butane in cooking spray.  Butane is what you fill a cigarette lighter with.  Not something I want to eat.

There are other reasons for ditching the cooking spray.  Some of the propellants contribute to greenhouse gases.  And if that's not bad enough for the environment, there's all those empty cans going into a landfill.  And then, to top it all off,  some health advocates fear that using aerosol products is risky since the long-term effects of inhaling the particles and vapors of other artificial ingredients isn’t known.

This is leading up to my shopping trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond, in search of a Misto.  Misto is a can for cooking spray that you fill with your favorite olive oil.  Plain, old olive oil without any artificial ingredients.  You pump it full of pressure and out comes a fine mist of pure olive oil -- without propane.  The Misto was only nine dollars, a good buy in my mind.  It's also available through Amazon.com and their listing includes a lot of great reviews and advice for use.

Everyntime I take something bad out of my diet, I do a little happy dance.  Bye-bye, PAM!  It was nice knowing you, but I won't miss you.