Science Fair Project idea!

I saw this article this morning, McDonald's Happy Meal looks the same after 1 year sitting on a shelf, and was just grossed out. The thought of a food product NOT decaying or molding while sitting out just skeeves me right out. Sure we all know that when the world ends Twinkies & cockroaches will be all that remains, but looks like Fast Food and all those preservative filled convenience foods we stock up on at the grocery store will also likely be around after the end of times. The preservatives act much like the chemicals they used way back in the days of Egyptian mummifications, gross right? And we are just filling up our bodies and our children's bodies with that crap!

Now don't get me wrong I am by no means 100% all natural eater or cook. I enjoy a good fastfood burger & fries with the best of them. I also enjoy the convenience of prepackaged rice mixes, cereal, soups, snacks etc etc etc. Am I trying to steer away from them? Yes, and I am hoping that by getting myself into this new routine of up early, work out, chores, to bed early will help give me the energy I need to cook a lot more from scratch. I am also hopeful that I can turn my black thumb green so i can at least grow some of our own fruits & veggies.

Where were we? Oh right, science experiment. So the kids had about 3 weeks notice for the annual Science & Math fair this year. I also seem to remember having much more advance notice, then again I loved doing science projects. We wracked our brains for something original, searched websites and just felt like everything had already been done a million times. So w settled on a memory test. Boring, predictable but we used what we had to work with. I'll find out today how Jared's project went. Anyways, this article sparked a great conversation on Facebook and an idea for a long term science project we can start now for next year. And that would be comparing the rate of decomposition on several different varieties of hamburgers. 1 from McDonalds, 1 from a frozen meal, 1 totally homemade and 1 boxed hamburger helper meal. This will be interesting (and yes even a bit disgusting) and I will be documenting it all with pictures right here on this blog. Now I just have to find somewhere to store this decaying food where the cats won't eat it and bugs won't get in to it, anyone with ideas feel free to share!