You guys have been asking for it and finally I am sat at my laptop and doing it!

Here is the first of 4 blog posts on how to shop sustainably. The ones to follow will cover; body care and make up, cleaning products and your wardrobe.

In this blog I will talk about tips for planning, sourcing and storing your groceries!

A simple weekly meal planner is a great starting point, from here you can plan where you need to shop and reduce wastage, this planner cost £2.75 from wilkos.

I also think its worth pointing out we have a budget of £90 per week for a family of 4 for all our food and household items that is £15 over the UK national average of £75- however being eco does not always mean more expensive simply storing your food efficentley you can reduce waste

my personal favs for ethical FOOD AND DRINK

1- Clipper teas one stop fair trade tea shop There earl grey is the best! And I love their red fruits tea. You can bulk buy from their website. You cant get more sustainable than these guys

2- Divinechocolate the delicious Chocolatiers and coco growers…Divine were one of the first fair trade brands to hit UK shelves in the 1990’s they always stay true to their orginal core brand values

3- Nespresso if coffee machines are your thing check out Nespresso recycling pod scheme, I cant personally vouch for the manufacturing and their reputation isn’t note worthy but Nespresso have been recycling their customers coffee pods for over 10years they are waves ahead of their competitors

4- Sacred bean a social entrepreneurship ran by a passionate Derby coffee roaster who trains and employs people coming out of the Criminal Justice System or breaking free from substance abuse issues

5- Green and blacks fair trade, delicious, luxurious and organic chocolate makers

6- Montezumas super creative, experimental, beautiful, fairly traded chocolate treats and gifts

The biggest issue an our house is plastic food packaging and this is majorly affected by where we shop.

Where to shop to reduce plastic waste

Duffield Diary delicious locally made milk, they have a small delivery catchment area but if your in catchment USE THESE GUYS! they are cheaper than most and the milk is packed with flavour
Just-ice not only is the ice cream fair trade, scummy and imaginative flavour combos but the small Derby ice cream making team are dedicated to growing their business so they can train and recruit ex-victims of human trafficking
Martins green grocers- eagle markets these are a fantastic fresh fruit and veg suppliers all packaging is paper (They are currently doing home delivery of fruit and veg boxes for C19)
Greedy pig butchers- they don’t specifically do plastic free but you can take your own containers- they are soooo friendly, super knowledgeable and support so many charities
Croots offer a great range of meat, dairy, fruit, veg, cafe and kids play area (They are currently doing a order and collection service for all customers during C19) although it is the most expensive
R3fill Derby come to your door and refill your glass bottles with detergent, hand wash, cleaning products and body products

A couple of UK national

Pipers farm a farmer with a passion for producing sustainably sourced meat that is farmed in harmony with nature. We are new to using these guys but cant wait to try more of their boxes…there really affordable and plastic free packaging and we love the sound of their innovative farming methods
Milk and More - a wonderful milk and grocery delivery service, the milk is twice the price of normal milk so we go back and forth with this but it is so good not to have the unesscary milk plastic bottles and the product is far superior. We also like their salad boxes, bamboo toilet roll and paper sandwich bags. They pack there fruit in cotton netting which I love and we reuse all the paper packaging for art and crafts and food storage
Abel and Cole- these guys are revolutionary when it comes to sustainable farming and I think there packaging is ingenious. You pay a premium but if your extremely careful about not wasting any produce and enjoy a wide variety of seasonal produce check them out! They also deliver dairy, dairy free, household, bakery well basically everything!
Riverford- a slightly more affordable version of able and Cole, a great service and massive promoters of organic farming

Keep your broccoli fresher for longer by placing it in a glass of water!

How best to store your fresh groceries:

Broccoli, asparagus and herbs- remove any packaging, trim the base and store in a glass of water in the fridge

Leaves such as lettuce and spinach- separate and wipe with slightly damp kitchen roll (thanks Delia ;) ) and store in the a container or fridge draw inside a tea towel so the leaves don’t crush each other

Bananas- keep away from all other fruit as the release ethene which rapidly speeds up the ripening process…unless of course you want to let your avocados ripen fast in which case cosy them up

Tomatoes- keep on the workshop until ripe then store in the fridge but serve at room temperature

Avocado- store at room temperature, avoid putting in the fridge, if you have made guacamole or have half an avocado left over always keep the stone inside the avocado or bowl of guacaomole because this will slow down it browning

Carrots- take them out of any plastic packaging where they will get all sweaty and place them loose at the bottom draw of your fridge

Mushrooms- keep in a paper bag not in plastic in the fridge

Garlic- store at room temperature in a jar with no lid to allow full ventilation otherwise it will go mouldy

Eggs- keep in a cool dark place not the fridge

Yogurt- the liquid on the top of your yogurt is full of amazing bacteria make sure you don’t throw it away but eat it up!

Cheese- keep wrapped in a beeswax cloth and store in the fridge

Eggs! Well for that one if you know me I am a passionate keeper of chickens! We have kept chickens in all sorts of gardens some tiny some huge and we LOVE the chickens and their eggs.

There is no comparison to a freshly poached egg!

I could write for days about keeping chickens in home gardens…but I won’t bore you. If you want any tips message me.

Always take a pack-up! Whenever you go out try and grab a pack up to avoid plastic wrapped food. These are my favourite and super affordable items we use for our pack ups.

Wilkos water bottle with metal base £3.00

Waxed paper sandwich bags £3.99 for 50

Kids metal water bottle £10.00

Wilkos bamboo lid and metal base lunch box £6.00

Don’t use cling film!!! Such an easy first step…there are loads of alternates…

1- Put your left overs in a bowl and then put a plate on top of it!

2- use Tupperware…I love ikeas new glass containers. Did you know that food can last twice as long in a glass or ceramic container?! This is why companies like the yummy pots and co use ceramic containers.

3- Keep your plastic bread bags and reuse it on something like raw meat.

4 - And of course you can make your own beeswax wraps! I offer online workshops and kits for this. Since making our own beeswax wraps I haven’t purchased a single roll of cling film!

Learn more

Kitchen roll and throw away surface wipes can be easily replaced with reusable fabric cloths and fabric napkins. I have friends that are weaning young children and keep a tub or water and essential oils by there sink with small pieces towelling inside to wipe there little ones faces.

Or if you really love kitchen roll this brand Cheeky panda offer a really affordable and sustainable option

And then lastly HOME COMPOSTING!

To finish off the cycle if you can build a compost bin in your garden or have one in your kitchen- there are loads of space saving composts these are my two favourites; indoor wormeries and outdoor heated compost bin. We have always made our garden compost bins from old pallets.

If you shopping with the above food suppliers you can cut up all the food packaging and compost them!