Progress

We have now been plastic-free for 11 days, go us!! We have to admit, it’s been tough but we are feeling pretty good about ourselves. During our first week, we decided to use up all produce in plastic that we had bought before we embarked on the plastic-free month and kept the packaging that wasn’t recyclable. Here it is, all 18 pieces of it, including little rings from juice cartons.

We feel pretty awful looking at the things we used to buy without even thinking twice. One of the main items was bread, I guess between the three of us we would get through 2 loaves a week plus baps, all in plastic packaging. We now only buy loaves from Peel Bakery and buns from either the bakery or Co-op.  Yum.

Tom and Bryony have found a genius way of buying meat for their sandwiches. They took some Tupperware tubs to the deli at Tesco so they could avoid plastic wrapping. The fellas behind the deli thought it a little odd, but also said that another lady had done the same last week! Who cares if it’s odd, it’s great to be different! Why not do this next time you go there and make it a normal thing.

We have even been making a few things ourselves which we usually wouldn’t bother to do, but it turns out they are so easy. I like to eat hummus, a lot, so instead of my usual plastic tubs of the stuff from co-op, I made my own based on this recipe.  It’s super easy and you don’t need to use Tahini like a lot of recipes suggest.

I also really missed tortilla wraps so I made some myself, which was also very easy, and way nicer not to mention cheaper.

We love discovering places that sell plastic-free stuff and a great one, maybe somewhat surprisingly, is Spar. In the store in Ballaugh we found Cauliflower, not in plastic (why on earth Cauli is usually in plastic is beyond me, it even has protective leaves around it!) and the store in Peel sells loose Satsumas so we aren’t forced to buy them in those horrid red nets, winner! The Cauli is only a little brown because we bought it a while ago and haven’t got around to using it yet. Veggie curry tonight methinks!

In Peel Top Shoprite we discovered a box of Uncle Bens rice, but we are not sure whether it has plastic inside. Let us know if you know.

If you have been following our facebook updates you’ll know that we found some amazing guilt free toilet roll, made entirely of recycled paper and wrapped in paper too. We are never going back now!

I hope you enjoyed this little insight into our challenge. If you need any help or inspiration to do the challenge yourself then head on over to the Marine Conservation Society website for tips. 

Why not purchase one of our very own Tote bags to take shopping with you and support our cause?

 

 

-Jen