Groceries
This first week of plastic free July I have aimed at sorting myself out food wise, checking which shoes have plastic free supplies and prepping some food for the week. I think beside few stickers on some apples, couple elastic bands on veg, and a plastic tag from a pineapple I did pretty well. I didn’t worry about spending too much £££, but I also didn’t want to over buy and but things I don’t need.
First I have visited a farmers market and a general grocery store to get my fruit and veg and any canned beans. I know that cans even if they are not plastic, they create waste if not recycled properly, but buying black beans and chickpeas in zero waste show would mean spending loads more money than I should.
I’ve spent just under £40 for all of the fruit and veg, which isn’t too bad since this will last me a while.
I did make a plan beforehand of what I might need to make sure I don’t overbuy and waste anything that eatable. I also ended up using up things like the beetroot greens, steaming the leaves with a little oil, garlic and dill for a mushroom wrap, and the stems cut in chunks and frozen to use in a soup later on. Beet greens contain loads very nutritious vitamins and minerals including vitamin K, A, C, B12, copper, magnesium, potassium, iron, fibre and many more, but they don’t contain any saturated fats or cholesterol, so why not eat up 🙂
A first plastic-free meal was some Pulled Aubergine wraps, with homemade tortillas, and since I can’t yet find any lettuce that’s not in plastic, I made a lovely and fresh savoy cabbage salad. The recipe for the wraps filling came from BBC good food magazine which I came across at my friends’ house, and since I wanted to make the wraps I just picked any easy recipe online, and they are super simple to make.
For the salad, I have used 2 large leaves of the savoy cabbage, 2 small carrots, 4 radishes, 1/2 small onion, 1 spring onion, 1 avocado, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, half lemon, a pinch of sea salt, pepper and fresh parsley. You can add 1 tbsp of oil as the cabbage in itself is a bit dry. Salt and vinegar should make it a bit softer to eat.
Homemade hummus is also a must for a vegan going on a plastic-free journey. All I do to make mine is use one can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained, 1 grilled bell pepper, 1/2 clove of garlic, 1 tbsp tahini, 1/3 or 1/2 of lemon depending on how sour you want your hummus, 2 tbsp oil, 1 tsp smoked paprika, a pinch of smoked or plain sea salt and black pepper to season. Blend it all well till smooth or leave some junks if preferred. All ingredients can be adjusted to personal taste, but the only thing to look out for is how much liquid you put in the mix. If it’s to runny you might have to add more chickpeas to thicken back up. I think this portion should be fine in fridge for 4-5 days.
I have also visited good old Clean Kilo in Bournville to get some cashew nuts, macadamia nuts for some banana bread, sultanas, oil and cereal.
I’ve kep all my prices with me to share:
- Cashew nuts – £2.10/100g ( 506g for £10.63)
- Macadamia nuts- £3.80/100g ( 210g for £7.98)
- Sultanas – £0.70/100g ( 306g for £2.14)
- Apple and Cinnamon cereal- £0.72/100g ( 1.098kg for £7.91)
- Rapeseed oil – £0.51/100g ( 783g for £4.00)
Click here for Clean Kilo Bournville product and price list.
I have also stumbled across a bakery called Loaf just down the road from Clean Kilo, which sells fresh baked goods, bread, pastries and flour. I got myself a rosemary and sea salt Focaccia (£2.00 per piece) and a Stirchley loaf (large for £2.00). Click here for Loaf product and price list.
Climbing and Travel Adventures 