Monday, January 07, 2008

Green Groceries

A few thoughts about my 2008 plan to but more ethically than previously. Ethical shopping, it's a bit of a minefield to say the least, is it not? I know I'm not anywhere near as green as I would like to be (yet!) but I'm an awful lot greener than in days gone by. So, as a little starter I want to share my "I'm not going to buy" list with you! Not just food but on this list so far I have:

kitchen towel (this drives DH nuts but it's a non essential paper product in my eyes. I haven't bought paper towel for ages now. What did we do before we had paper towel, eh?? Use a cloth, people!)

paper serviettes (ditto the above! I have some serviettes that I'm using up but they at least get recycled or used on the open fire afterwards. Fabric napkins are SO much nicer than a bit of 3 ply tissue!)

plastic/paper cups & plates and disposable cutlery (totally unnecessary!)

exotic fruit/veg flown in from countries thousands of miles away (I love baby sweetcorn but when they're air freighted in from Thailand??? I think not! Eat in season! While we're getting our allotment in gear I'm having a weekly delivery of organic veg. It's certainly made me be more inventive with my cooking and we've tried all sorts of things that I'd have passed by in the supermarket at any other time! Eating seasonally, and locally if possible, is cheaper and much more fun that plastic shrink packed bland veg that's been in storage for months on end)

ready meals (yes, yes, I know alot of people swear by them but I don't and won't anymore! Cooking from scratch is a pleasure, a challenge, an adventure! It doesn't have to be difficult or time consuming either. Why does convenience rate so much higher than taste for so many folk? And the packaging.....let's not even go there! Well, not in this post anyway!)

bread (I mean loaves here. I have a breadmaker and I love it! Ok, it's electric so you could argue the ethics of that angle but at least I know what goes in my bread now and who can deny that the smell of fresh baked bread is a joy??)

Ok, so not such a long list yet but it will grow, watch this space!

2 Comments:

Blogger emhowl said...

I agree with everything (what a surprise?!) I don't have a breadmaker but I do have a Kenwood Chef which was originally bought for making bread (probably pre-breadmaker days). I was only thinking tonight as I peeled the fourth variety of vegetable for our tea how pleasant it was and how much I used to resent spending time getting tea ready. Using a microwave to steam the vegetables means I peel one vegetable and put it in the microwave, peel the next and the first vegetable is ready. They all keep warm in the top oven while the meal is cooking in the lower oven. The accompaniment to this is my internet radio which will play Radio 4 or anything stored on our computers from CDs to listen again radio. Bliss.

3:54 PM  
Blogger emhowl said...

How about some links to your favourite green sites?

3:56 PM  

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