Lent Plastic Challenge: Days 11, 12 & 13

Day 11:  Our Saturday morning shopping trip produced mixed results. I needed fresh mint to dress a salad I was making on Sunday.  I was able to salvage enough sage leaves from our herb garden but the mint has died right back.  Our local greengrocer sells naked bunches of parsley but every other herb is presented on a polystyrene tray swaddled in cling film.

The butcher's assistant was happy to sell us sausages wrapped in a square of paper, but insisted on weighing our mince in a plastic bag.  It's still preferable to the plastic trays sealed with plastic film I'd have found in any supermarket, but I may need to consider buying mince in larger quantities and freezing it in smaller portions.

Our weekend paper revealed hidden horrorss.  The Guardian's magazine comes in a plastic bag, as did this month's copy of Country Living!

Day 12:  A fairly uneventful day on the challenge front.  Apart from the mint, my contribution to my choir's shared lunch was a plastic free roasted vegetable salad.

Monday's packed lunch

Day 13:  Inspired by Noriben, a Japanese film I saw at the weekend, I dug out one of my bento boxes and filled it with brown rice, roasted root vegetables, homemade turnip pickle and dried apricots.  Of course the box itself and the silicone cake holder I used for the pickle are plastic, but they're reused many times and eliminate the need for single use varieties.

Top Tips

• If you can't buy an item plastic free then buy it in the largest manageable quantity.
• Packing your lunchbox closely bento-style cuts down on the need for disposable containers. 

Lent Plastic Challenge: Days 8, 9 & 10

Help!  I've been plasticked!

Day 8:  When I find myself  cooking and eating alone I often take comfort in one of my favourite dishes - boiled egg curry.  I'm sure that even the thought of it will put some people off, but I love it.  However, when I emptied the tin of tomatoes into the pan I was horrified to discover that I had encountered one of the dreaded plastic lined tins that Nicola Holderness had warned me about earlier in the week.  Too late to do anything about it and I have to admit that it did nothing to impair the deliciousness of the sauce.

Wrappers from potatoes?

Day 9: You may remember my apprehension regarding the restocking of loo rolls.  Well, it turns out that our local Southville Deli stocks Essential toilet tissue packaged in polymers made from renewable sources such as potato starch, which is even GM free!  They are, of course, more expensive that the supermarket equivalent but I reckon I save in other areas so I'm not going to quibble over it. 

Single use plastic free fish supper

Day 10:  One of the joys of shopping local and independent is building up a relationship with traders.  Today was only the second time I'd shopped at my local fishmonger, aptly named The Fish Shop,since I started this challenge, yet he remembered that I wouldn't be wanting a plastic bag for my delightfully pink salmon fillets.

Top Tips

• It's impossible to tell from the outside whether a tin is plastic lined, so make a note of which brands are plastic free.
• Check out local stores.  Sometimes what you're looking for is closer to home than you'd imagine.
• Make friends with your local traders. 

Lent Plastic Challenge: Days 3 & 4

Chickpea Flour & Almond Biscuits

Day 3:  I had a few Quaker friends round for a meeting in the evening and baked a banana cake.  Then I remembered one of them is coeliac.   Normally I'd have bought a gluten free alternative from our local deli but was sure this would involve a plastic wrapper, so I searched the internet for biscuits made with chickpea flour and found this one.  Trying out new recipes on other people is always risky but I needn't have worried.  I flavoured them with ground cardamom and rose water and sprinkled them with poppy seeds.  They were delicious, reminiscent of the 'ladoos' I ate as a child in India.

Day 4:  We remembered to carry empty containers when we went shopping this morning to avoid plastic bags in the butcher's and fishmonger's.  I was a bit wary of asking to use them but they were both happy to oblige.

Top tips:

• Bake your own biscuits and cake.  They'll probably cost less and taste better.
• Buy fish and meat from local independent traders and carry your own containers.

Lent Plastic Challenge: Days 1 & 2

If you want to shop plastic free you need to be prepared

I wasn't intending to give up anything for Lent this year.  But then I picked up a tweet from City to Sea Bristol encouraging people to give up single use plastic - bags, wrappers, cups etc - the kind that cannot be reused and go straight into the bin.  Being a sucker for challenges, and having just returned from Cornwall, where I'd been shocked by the volume of plastic waste washed up by the storm, I signed up on the spot.

Day 1 - Ash Wednesday:  We had friends round for dinner and I'd decided on an aubergine and potato curry, dal and rice.  I found most of the vegetables in one of our local greengrocers but had to go on to Lidl for unwrapped aubergine, and abandon the fresh coriander garnish.  We'd had to cancel our doorstep delivery while we were away so I needed to pick up a couple of pints of milk.  I tried a number of shops but couldn't find any variety that didn't come packaged in plastic, even if it was just the lid on a tetrapak.  So I had to give in and buy a 2 pint bottle.

Day 2:  The easiest way to stay plastic free is to buy nothing.  At this point I should point out that the challenge only applies to stuff bought in Lent.  Much of the food on my shelves, the clothes in my wardrobe, the toiletries in my bathroom etc came packaged in plastic.  I've challenged myself to seek out alternatives, if they are available and, if not, to make my own ... or consider doing without.
 
Looking ahead, we're shortly going to run out of toilet tissue.  An initial recce has turned up only one possible option - an Andrex 2-roll-pack wrapped in paper.  It's in Poundland alongside 4/6-roll-packs for the same price.  All the others, including one by EnviroSoft, are packaged in plastic film.  I have, however, been given details of two shops where I should be able to lay my hands on a plastic free loo rolls.

Top Tips

• Buy your fruit and vegetables from a local greengrocer where you're more likely to be able to buy single unpackaged items.
• Invest in reuseable shopping bags.  I use an Onya Orignal and and an Onya Weigh for my fruit and vegetables.
• Have your milk delivered.  We use milk&more who are undoubtedly more expensive than any of our local supermarkets, but it keeps the milkman in a job and eliminates plastic.  A little while ago milk&more did threaten to switch from glass but happily there's been no sign of this yet.
• Grow your own herbs.  I've had mixed results with this.  Rosemary, sage, bay, thyme and parsley have all thrived, but I've failed dismally with two of my favourites, basil and coriander.  Asian stores are the best bet for unwrapped bunches, generally at much lower prices than supermarkets.
• Ask for advice and share your experiences.  It was a tweet that prompted the recommendations on where to find loo rolls.  

Buttering us up?

I've been drawn to the latest Lurpak ads, which advocate a return to an 'old fashioned' way of life - homecooked food, quality over presentation, the celebration of simple pleasures, the virtue of patience and zero waste. I love them!

Unfortunately for Lurpak they have not persuaded me to switch to their brand. I'll stick to my local butcher who sells a very acceptable variety wrapped in environmentally friendly paper.

Surprisingly, although Lurpak's website features a tempting selection of recipes, it says nothing about the recyclability of their packaging.

Week 6 - Coffee Packets

I have to confess to being a bit of a coffee snob. I love coffee but it has to be the real thing. None of that instant rubbish. Normally we drink cafetiere coffee but for breakfast at the weekend we use a stove top percolator to make strong dark coffee which we dilute with warm foamy milk. The problem with coffee is that most of it comes in mixed material packets with plastic widgets designed to preserve its freshness. Not very environmentally friendly. However, our local deli sells coffee beans, freshly ground to your own specifications, in brown paper bags. And it's organic and fair trade!

Isn't it amazing how many waste-related issues can be solved by shopping local?

Weekly Weigh-In = 230g

This is, unfortunately, up on last week. I baked a cheesecake to take to an NCT reunion and was left with two cream cheese and one double cream container. Reminder to self to chase up Recresco's promise to have more wide ranging plastic recycling facilities in the future.

Week 4 - Meat Packaging

One of the secrets of reducing waste is forward planning, as I have learnt to my cost these past few weeks. My local butcher closes on Monday afternoons and all day Wednesday so, if I want to buy mince or sausages on these days I'm forced to visit my local supermarket, where they are sold in plastic containers or plastic wrappers. The same applies to cold meat. The butcher and deli sell it loose but local supermarkets don't. This week I had to buy chicken in Tescos. Last week it was salami.

This week I'm going to plan my menus in advance so that I don't get caught out.


Weekly Weigh-In = 360g

This is an improvement on last week but 70g more than my current best. I must take this more seriously.