40 Day Plastic-Free Challenge: Day Four

40 Day Plastic-Free Challenge Day Four

Dinner's in the oven and just sitting down after a productive day to watch The Six Nations.  Ooo another England try as I type. Woo Hoo!

Anyway, back to the task in hand. I was up early for a Saturday at 7am I tell you, with jobs to do buzzing round in my head - bake fresh bread for the day, go fruit & veg shopping and finish off some pyjama shorties for my daughter (which I may feature later in this challenge when discussing second hand/thrift shopping - a favourite hobby of mine). 

I wanted to feature fresh produce shopping today as a big problem area when it comes to plastic packaging. I love to bake, cook from scratch and eat quite a few vegetarian dishes when we can therefore we buy lots of fresh fruit & veg. With at recent move to shopping at Aldi's, where there are hardly any loose fruit & veg on sale, it was getting very noticeable how many plastic trays and wrappers were going in the bin. I even wrote to them a while back to ask what there plans were but no luck.

My first move today was to go back to Morrisons where they offer the paper produce bags instead of the flimsy plastic ones or pre-packaged products. So, armed with my shopping list we brought the items below which came to just below £9. 

There were no loose cherry tomatoes and only one type of orange sold without packaging. All the more reason to shop seasonally when you can. Missing my allotment even more now but the one I had was way too big for me to tackle on my own and it usually involved weeding, weeding and more weeding so wasn't very enjoyable. I am going to look at incorporating growing some fruit and veg into our tiny garden this Spring especially berries and salad items.

I have a couple of other avenues to explore when shopping for fruit and veg - the local town market, a greengrocers a mile away or farmer's markets. Maybe I will get to know a local vendor and strike up a rapport and get to know what's good and when. 

When I was in Morrison's today I enquired at the Deli about buying items to put in my containers that I had brought with me but was told that that this service was only available at the fishmonger's and butcher's. Not sure why it should be any different. The cheese at the Deli counter was all wrapped up in large drums and looked like they could only be purchased as such and not by desired weight. As for the sliced ham surely they could have put that in my container?  But when I next need some chicken, sausages or gammon I'll try again at the butcher's with my tubs and let you know how it went. 

Now that I am doing more bread baking I searched out the baking isle and found yeast sold in a small metal container which I can pop in the recycling bin when done rather than throw away the little sachets. I also checked out the butter packaging which says it is made of foil and is widely recyclable. Doesn't look or feel like foil so may need to check further. Stocked up on maple syrup and honey (in glass jars) ready for some snack making later on which I aim to use instead of all the individual cereal bars we buy.

Tomorrow is day 5 of my challenge and sees us going to the cinema! We will have to avoid the packets of sweets, plastic bottles and fizzy drink cups. My husband did mention that the popcorn and pick'n'mix comes in paper packaging so not all doom and gloom. Or I could sneak in some healthy snacks to munch on.....

Oh and I want to check out some local Deli shops too for cheese. If Nigel Slater and Nigella Lawson can frequent them and get paper wrapped products then surely I can too.......

40 Day Plastic Free Challenge: Day Three

40 Day Plastic Free Challenge: Day Three

Thanks for checking in to my 40 day challenge on day three. I am feeling quite spurred on at the moment but am sure I will meet a few pitfalls soon, especially with cinema trips and birthday celebrations coming up.

Today I am revisiting something we have done before as a family: Having milk in glass bottles delivered direct to our door. We did this a year or two ago but stopped due to a couple of reasons but was determined to restart as part of this challenge. We probably use a lot of milk for cereals, baking and the quintessential English cuppa. I have even looked at various ways of upcycling the large plastic bottles - from Halloween glow lights, upcycled jewellery to storage jugs and more. Lots of the ideas I have saved on my Upcycling Pinterest Board

But why feel the need to do this in the first place when I can send the glass bottles back to the supplier when empty? Who remembers the fizzy drinks the milkman delivered when you were young? Giving away my age now!

So I searched for my local milkman and set up an account including specifying delivery days and payment method so no more searching for cash every week. You can even add changes up to 9pm the night before which will maybe stop those last minute dashes to the convenience store paying premium prices at the local garage etc. Talking of prices it is approx 80p for a pint of milk so a bit more than your local supermarket giant but hopefully as demand grows the prices might go down as the buying power increases. Some companies offer recycled plastic cartons as another alternative. Most glass bottles can be reused up to 18 times which helps compensate against the carbon footprint.

At the moment the large supermarkets don't seem to be making plans to change what they offer their customers but if we were to a make a call to action they might take notice.

You'll just have to weigh it all up and go with what is best for you.

.

 Be sure to check in tomorrow for Day 4 of my challenge,

40 Day Plastic Free Challenge

40 Day Plastic-Free Challenge: Day Two

It seems my lent challenge idea was not so novel after all. This article in The Metro dates back to last year but it is probably  even more relevant today as the situation is worsening but on the plus side is being addressed more and more than before by companies and individuals alike. Time for the government to step up now especially reading about the actions taken by other countries around the world. The plastic bag issue is probably the most commonly addressed here in the UK but what about other packaging?

Day two of my challenge is to stop buying shop -bought bread. My family takes in pack lunches to work and school nearly every week-day plus there's the weekend too so we probably go through a loaf or more each week. Unfortunately we cannot recycle these plastic bags very easily at the moment and I do not live near a local bakers where I can nip in with my 100% cotton produce bag asking for a fresh white loaf. My parents lived in a remote hamlet in France for a bit and a local baker in their van would do the rounds with fresh bread of the day...sounds idyllic doesn't it?

Is there a gap in the market for surburban London perhaps? So the other option? Bake them myself.

I've had a bread machine for several years now but only really used it as a nice treat - fresh bread on a Sunday, Hot Cross buns at Easter or Foccacia bread for buffets and picnics for example. It gave up on me a couple of weeks ago and the manufacturer had made it impossible for us to replace the motor belt which was the only thing wrong with it. So that's another conundrum I'm faced with - disposing of electronics but maybe that's for another post.
Anyway back to the bread, I think the main advantages include the unbeatable taste of freshly baked warm bread (obviously), the amazing aroma (another obvious ..even at 6.30am this morning when it woke me up), plus you get to know exactly what is in it and finally no plastic bags to put in the bin. (Note to self - find bulk supplier of yeast rather than all those small sachets.) So are you sold on the idea yet?
The main disadvantages I suppose are timing and planning - no more last minute dashes to the convenience store but if I have all the ingredients in bulk it should not be a problem (crossing my fingers). The other downside is that it does not go as far - no matter how hard I try I cannot cut it thinly enough. So doorstep sandwiches it is.

Tried some wholemeal rolls for a change too today hoping that they'll stay fresh a bit longer than sliced bread.

Join me for Day 3 tomorrow for more zero waste antics. Again would love to hear your stories.

40 Day Plastic Free Challenge

As Lent starts I thought I would try something different and do 40 days of cutting out single use plastic - not sure if this is easier or harder than giving up biscuits! Many of us are probably stuck in the same old routine of buying plastic milk bottles, toiletry bottles, plastic wrap and so much more. So I am using this as a much needed nudge to change my behaviour one day at a time. The going may be slow and there may be many mistakes along the way but hopefully I will find some easy swaps and great alternatives to use going forward. Why not join me on my journey? Wish me luck...

Day One: Naked Toiletries

Shampoos and shower gels are purchased regularly in our house and I wanted to cut down on the plastic bottles as well as choose a more natural product that inevitably ends up down the plug hole and out into the world beyond. I often walk straight past Lush thinking that the strong scents wafting out would give me a headache the moment I walked in the store. But I had heard much about their naked packaging as well as their much publicized opening of their new store selling waste-free products only so took the step over the threshold.
When I walked in I did not know were to start so commandeered an assistant and asked for help choosing naked a shampoo bar and a facial wash bar to get me started as I was running low on the usual bottled stuff back at home. They're not cheap at approx £7 a go but I think they last about 80 washes. The assistant asked about skin and hair qualities before we started and she even let me test them on my hand to get a feel for them. I eventually chose a honey based shampoo bar and a Jade based facial bar. They will take a bit of getting used to but I will let you know how my skin and hair feel at the end of this journey. My daughter was with me and of course she did not want to feel left out so she got a lavender bubble bar which you can break off in chunks for each use. I will review these items and update the blog later on once they have all been used a few times.

I would welcome your stories below about products you have tried and other great places to buy similar waste free products.
Be sure to join me tomorrow for Day 2 of my 40 day zero waste challenge

Fiona's Lime, Courgette and Coconut Loaf

I wanted to share this tasty recipe with you which is proving popular with friends, family and at cake sales. I know, I know courgette...but trust  me it works. It adds moisture and a nice texture to the cake and with the lime syrup that is added at the end this is guaranteed to please. It is so very morish that one slice never seems to be enough...but it contains one of your five a day! So enjoy and please leave comments below letting me know if it worked out for you.

Ingredients

125g butter, cubed
225g self-raising flour, sifted
Pinch of salt
125g caster sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
Finely grated zest and juice of 3 limes
1/2 medium courgette, peeled and grated
30g dessicated coconut

For the topping

Juice of 2 limes
200g caster sugar
Dessicated coconut for decoration

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180c/ gas mark 4. Line and grease a 2lb loaf tin (I use the pre-shaped liners).
2. Mix flour and salt together then rub in butter until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. 
3. Stir in sugar then add eggs, lime juice and lime zest and mix.
4. Stir in grated courgette and coconut and stir gently until just combined.
5. Spoon into loaf tin and bake for 45 - 55 minutes. 
6. Insert a skewer to test. Cool slightly in tin.
7. Meanwhile mix lime juice and syrup together. Prick surface of cake and pour over syrup leaving it to sink in. Add a sprinkling of coconut whilst syrup is still sticky.
8. Lift from tin to cool completely.

Notes:
I use a fan oven so adjust accordingly.
I found that using 2 limes and 200g of sugar for the syrup was a bit too much so try adding half, letting it sink in for a while and then adding the rest.