Sad about Blue Planet?

So this weekend has been a good one for raising awareness of plastic pollution, with Blue Planet II showing just how harmful our use of plastic is, and the news that the government are considering a tax on 'takeaway' plastic.

I've got 5 tips on how you can reduce your plastic immediately, but they're at the end of this post! Feel free to scroll right down and get to the action points!

It's also my 3rd weekend of the plastic free month, and it's been a week and a half since I last blogged- mostly because I haven't had a tremendous amount to say!
I know that sounds bizarre- when I was prepping for the month  I felt like the choice to avoid plastic was going to become quite all encompassing. Don't get me wrong- it's been quite a journey with a lot of changes to make but 90% of them were in that first week! Since then it's been pretty business as usual- it's just that 'usual' looks a bit different to how it used to!

Day to day I've found my groove- my water bottle, reuseable cup, knife fork and spoon are with me almost all the time, as are a couple of reuseable bags that fold up tiny (I have 2 IKEA ones I got in my stocking a few years ago) and a tupperware in the car. I've learned the fun way that one of my reuseable cups doesn't hold enough for a 'regular' costa/starbucks machine in a petrol station (cue a coffee flood) so that cup's become the back-up choice!

Food-wise, my habits have also 'stabilised' into a reasonable routine- the veg box comes fortnightly on Thursdays, the fruit and veg shop or the Mediterranean store fill in any produce gaps. Meat (on the one occasion I ate it) came in my own tupperware  from the butcher, and Tom made my day by arriving a week ago with a whole black bomber cheese in wax. I'm finding food shopping for day-to-day 'sustenance' (veggies, pulses etc) much easier than when I decide there's a specific recipe I want to make. It took 3 shops for me to get everything I needed to cook a girlie brunch last weekend, and when we made dumplings earlier in the week, some of the ingredients were nigh on impossible to find (dumpling wrappers?!). This is one of the elements that I'd be glad to see the back of in November as I do really love to cook a couple of recipes a week! Eggs butter flour and sugar are all fine so there's been plenty of baking!

brunch ingredients courtesy of the milkman, the butcher, the greengrocer and Tesco!

homemade coleslaw is becoming a lunch staple

First request for the butcher to use a tupperware. He couldn't have cared less!

I have a new found appreciation for my local greengrocer. (I use my own bags)

However, it's also been a good fortnight of planning and cooking from scratch, I've made biscuits, bread and yoghurt, and it was real pleasure to be cooking for day-to-day use rather than as a 'one off treat'. It's definitely made me more mindful of consumption- knowing that if I eat all the biscuits means I'll be making another batch definitely helps keeps the brakes on!

this mix made 60 biscuits so I've frozen them in batches

homemade yoghurt step 1

homemade yoghurt step 2

straining the yoghurt to make it thicker and more 'greek yoghurt' style.

It's also been nice seeing how much I can get in 'normal' shops- tins of pulses and veg (haven't opened a plastic-lined one yet), paper-wrapped chocolate as a treat (I love the Divine chocolate caramel bar) and the occasional bottle of IPA/ gin and fevertree tonic.

Pyjamas and chocolate: plastic free bliss!

From a beauty-routine point of view, I finally ditched my super blunt, last plastic disposable razor and switched to a safety razor. It was scary and I may have googled for about half an hour before finally attempting to shave my legs in the bath! 8 cuts on my ankles later and I think I've cracked my technique- changing the blades regularly is definitely a key element of that! Now to work out how to safely recycle the used, blunt blades! I'm going to get to the end of the weird, 1950s-esque stinky man-smell shaving stick that came with my blades and then swap to this from Southsea Bathing Hut. They were at the Stansted House Christmas fair today and have a whole lot of plastic free goodies that I'm excited to try out as time goes on.

The fly in the ointment this week was definitely a work trip to Nottingham. It was my first trip away from home without my car, and I was gone for 3 days. I had to really think about packing carefully- having necessities but not loading myself like a pack horse! I ended up taking my lunchbox, plastic (I know... but I did already own it!) reuseable coffee cup, and my water bottle. Nonetheless, it was tough going. Firstly- there's nowhere to fill waterbottles. I don't know if WH Smiths etc are paying train stations to keep hot-taps only in toilets but I had to ration my 1l bottle from Nottingham to Southsea. In the end I gave  up and drank G&T in a tin (not complaining!) but obviously that's not a solution to the wider problem. Similarly, I'd brought hummus and veg sticks for the trip up, and we were fed well at the hotel, but for the journey back, other than McDonalds (without straw, lids, or sauces) fruit or chocolate wrapped in foil, there was very little to eat at the station. Hats off to Pumpkin cafe for selling their cakes etc in paper bags, they kept me going! However- there's little to no segregated recycling in stations so it's either send the paper bag to landfill or bring it back home and recycle it! Combine that with all biscuits at the conference being individually plastic wrapped and by Thursday we were dealing with a very tired and over-thought Sarah! I was glad to be back home and back into my own routine.

The biggest thing I'm realising from this month is how much convenience feeds into our reliance on plastic. Whilst I can easily bring my coffee cup/water bottle (it's just a matter of new habits)- reducing my reliance on prepacked sandwiches, salads or snacks has  been much harder whilst working a full-time job. I've ended up 'eating in' in super market cafes on a few occasions just to avoid the plastic packaging for lunch options in the chiller- but the best option is definitely making a pack up- I just need to stay organised now the 'grab a sandwich' opt-out is no longer an option.
Similarly I was gutted at the Stansted Christmas Fayre today at how many of the food carts used plastic or polystyrene packaging/cutlery rather than cardboard or something biodegradable. I still haven't found the courage  to give them my own tupperware and ask them to fill it so Lucy and I bailed and went to the cafe instead! It was delicious and no packaging in sight.

Plastic that has snuck in this week has been:

• 2 straws- I keep forgetting that in pubs I have to say 'no straw' or they'll give  me one automatically! It's really frustrating as straws are a)mostly useless unless you're infirm, elderly or incapable of reapplying your lipstick, and b)a HUGE contributor to ocean plastic fields.
• Meds: I had already left my prescription medication out due to medical need but I went down with a horrid cold in Nottingham and had to buy cold and flu rememdy and a box of tissues that had a plastic seal. Again not having the car or many options meant I had to take the tissues available to me!

I'm realising that the chances are  a lot of the changes I've made for November are likely to be sticking around once this month is up. Additionally, I'd been having tummy problems for a few months (since July/August time) and because I've had to cut out pretty much all processed food, my stomach has been great all month! I've had wheat, sugar, chocolate, alcohol but everything has been cooked from scratch and it seems to be agreeing with me! Happy days.

Coming up in the next week:

• I need  to buy more cheese- time to brave the supermarket and try and get them to fill my tupperware. Cheese and Cheers on Osborne Road have been lovely but they are not cheap.
• Bokashi bin #1 is full and ready to go ferment for a fortnight. I need to work out where I'll put it and get started on #2.
• I'm running out of washing up liquid and my attempt at soap nuts as laundry detergent has been a funky-smelling, stinky, abject disaster. I'm going to try splosh this week and see how their products go!

My journey to trying plastic free took time, thought and prayer but I'm aware that a lot of my friends have contacted me since watching Blue Planet this evening to say it's really made them think about their plastic consumption. If you want to cut down on plastic but 'plastic free' sounds far too far, firstly- I hear you- I thought the same thing initially, and secondly- start small!

Here are my 5 ways to start reducing plastic consumption today! Feel free to share this graphic:

As ever- thanks for lovely messages, articles shared with me and support across social media! You guys rock and are keeping me focussed as we pass the half way mark of this mad challenge!

Week 1

We're a week in, and I'm infinitely happier today having sourced chocolate and milk for my tea. Funny how it's the little things that make life feel 'normal'!

Turns out: this plastic-free malarky requires organisation- not one of the adjectives you often find connected to my name unless it's preceded by 'Sarah would benefit greatly from an increased level of...'

Nevertheless, I'd thought I was quite prepared, I'd spent most of the previous week getting ready! I'd bought a bokashi bin, sewn enough produce bags that I could take most of Lidl home in them, and improved my indoor recycling bins to hold more and be easier to empty when full.

On halloween, I braved my fear of masks and headed into Southampton to Rice Up to get some staples in bulk. The fact I was popping into Southampton on the way home from Bournemouth just to get some basic storecupboard essentials suddenly seemed insane and I began to freak out about just what exactly I'd signed up to do!

Rice Up were great- weighing my homemade bags before I filled them and again once full. I stocked up on rice, risotto rice, orzo (the only pasta they had) and bombay mix (I'm quite a snacker!). Learning point #1- work out how your reusable bags relate to your containers at home! I eyeballed it and ended up with an extortionate amount of risotto rice- and far more Orzo than the bag would have suggested it held!

Anyway- cupboards duly stocked, I was off on my way to Northumberland for a couple of days with my parents. I wouldn't have chosen to road trip on my very first day of plastic free but hey- needs must and I don't get to see Mum and Dad very often, so off we went!

I packed a  'survival kit' to get me through a few days away from home: reuseable cup, reuseable water bottle, pyrex dish, produce bags, bees wrap, homemade granola bars, bombay mix and a load of veg left from the last veg box that I didn't want to waste. Never did I dream I'd become the person packing 2 beetroot and a cabbage for an 8 hour drive but, when needs must!

The trip itself was absolutely fine- most service stations have somewhere where you can eat in rather than take away, and we even managed snacks for the journey!

All Krispy Kreme bags have a little plastic window as do the boxes, so we just took them in the greaseproof paper.

I'm realising very quickly that I prefer filling my cup in the Costa self-service machines to having to give it in at the counter  if it's already had one coffee in it that day (so looks 'dirty'.) Social awkwardness is definitely something I'm gonna have to work on over the course of this month (as our delightful trip to the fishmarket later this week showed us!)

Coffee and snacks procured, it was up to Amble for a few days. This little town was plastic free HEAVEN (until 5pm when all the independent shops closed!) They had a selection of little pods round the harbour, and there was a cheese one who happily sold my mum and dad a selection of cheeses wrapped in paper. The Northumberland fish hatchery is there and has a fishmonger, and the local newsagent had glass bottles of milk (something I tried to no avail to find upon my return to Portsmouth on Sunday night when I realised the milkman wasn't coming til Tuesday and I had no milk! Sad, sad, uncaffinated times ensued). Also good options for veg, but as I'd seen fit to haul half the veg output of Wayside Organics to Northumberland with me, we didn't need any more!

Amble Harbour Pods (photo credit)

Dad cooked on the first night- due to no garlic being available except in a net we ended up using garlic granules from a jar! We cooked on the second night, having headed to the fish market that morning to get something nice to cook. I optimistically took my glass pyrex dish with me, (it's about 25cm square) and a selection of bees wrap to put the fish in.

I catagorically under estimated how big fish are!! I don't own anything (other than maybe a wok) big enough to fit a gutted-but-unfilleted sea bass/bream/large mackrel in. So the squid went in the pyrex and the fish man offered to find paper to wrap the fish. Except then the mid morning rush arrived and he couldn't find any paper. Cue an excruciatingly awkward 3 minutes (felt like 3 days) where I was biting down the desire to say 'never mind' and get it vac wrapped in plastic like everyone else. I even contemplated just carrying the bare fish back to the holiday cottage just to make the awkwardness stop! Needless to say, they found the paper eventually and we were off with a nice package of fish for tea.

I stupidly presumed we'd be able to get  some sort of oil in a glass bottle, even if I had to cough for local cold pressed rapeseed or something else equally gourmet and exciting. Unfortunately, the Co-op was pretty much useless (a pattern I'm seeing in co-ops down here too.) We decided to cook the calamari in lard- a first! This was just one of the many times where my food ethics (less meat) clashed with my eco ethics (less plastic) but as lard is a byproduct of the meat industry I decided for November it was the lesser of 2 evils.

yummy! (not)

Almost every fruit and vegetable in the shop was wrapped in plastic of some description. It's so frustrating- especially when you compare it (for example) to the Mediterranean store I use a lot in Portsmouth where absolutely all the fresh produce is loose:

Coop

Mediterranean Food Store

We headed home and cooked. The lard went according to plan, and we had a really great dinner of fish and potatoes. I'm not sure I'd cook with lard again, but it served its purpose on this occasion.

Cosmetics-wise, my lush tins of soap, solid shampoo and conditioner were great for travel.The only quibbles I have is that the eczema on my back seems to be waking back up (although that may be from it being November and cold, rather than the change in products), and that the bars need to dry open in their tins or go all gloopy and sticky which makes showering then packing them straight away a no-no. All-in all though, I don't look like I've been pulled through a hedge backwards  or smell too bad, so all seems OK on that front.

purple one is my night-time soap (lavender) the blue one is for when I've done a hard  workout (I like to reward myself with a 'treat' shower- weird I know. Tin back right is shampoo, and the bar at the front is conditioner.

We then spent a night in a hotel where EVERYTHING was plastic wrapped- even down to the disposable plastic water glasses! I just don't get it. Are we so scared of other human beings and contact with them that everything we use has to be single-use disposable? I drank from a mug (non plastic wrapped) ate the snacks we'd packed and soon we were headed back to Pompey (via a Starbucks drive-thru who made my coffee in a disposable cup, emptied it into my reusable cup and chucked the disposable one away: I kid you not!!)

We arrived home and almost immediately I realised I had no milk. Argh! Suddenly the inconvenient aspects of the challenge were back front and centre. I dealt with this by going to the  pub and drinking G&T (both from glass bottles!) It was time to try plastic free in real life!

My uncaffinated Monday got off to a terrible start when I turned up for training 24 hours early! I then couldn't find cheese for the dinner I wanted  to cook and ended up in a proper; "why am I even doing this?!" gloom. However, a lovely evening and a delicious beetroot risotto later and I was counting down the minutes til the milkman arrived with my milk (and therefore- my access to tea and coffee!)

I'm working from home today so have made a couple of loaves of bread and a big batch of coleslaw to keep me going. The veg box (and next round of milk) is due Thursday, the bokashi bin is gradually filling up and I am loving not having to empty the 'normal' bin! I think I'm slowly finding my way- one meal/dilemma at  a time.

Musings:

This project is awkward. It's socially awkward (especially fish/cheese/meat/coffee buying), it's tricky having to plan so far in advance and really monitor what I've got in and what I'm going to need,. However- even in the one week I've been going so far, I've found it's also been a very mindful, intentional way to live. I was SO excited  for my orange juice this morning, and am drinking it very slowly, a glass a day until the next bottle can be delivered. It feels like  real treat and something to be savoured, and I think that's because I can't go running out to the shop for more if I decide to neck it all in one go. Similarly- I'm wasting less food because it's such a hassle to come by (and dispose of)- I'm eating my bread to the very last, stale slice (toasted) and am 'mindlessly' snacking much less as I know I have  to find or make any snack myself from scratch.

Also- a few people are loving pointing out inconsistencies and errors in my plastic-free-ness (blatently not a real word) be that linings of tins, the fact I'm still using up fresh food that's left from October but was bought in plastic and so forth. I'm loving the discussion this month is causing on all my social media channels- feel free to challenge me, ask stuff and send links (thanks to everyone who sent me this one for example). I am never going to be perfect at this stuff- I barely even recycled until September of this year and am on a huge learning curve. If this is causing you to think about how I could reduce my plastic even further (and believe me-  I'm thinking about this a lot too)- can I challenge you to turn the focus onto yourself, and see if there's anywhere in your life you could cut down on single use plastics? Even if it's just in your beauty routine or how you buy bread- the difference in waste getting sent to landfill over time would be huge!

Thanks for reading and being so supportive! Onto week 2 we go...