How to cut the plastic you wrap your food in…

Stage 1 Warming Up

Bagger Off …start by saying no to “free” plastic carriers and taking your own reusable bag.

Get loose.. buy loose and unwrapped food and take your own reusable produce bags and and pots to put them in.

Water waste … take your own tap water in a refillable bottle.

Milking It Now….play that fun game Find The Milkman -stalk your neighbors looking for empties or check here

Having mastered stage 1 you will now feel like a real challenge. Well its not far away…

Stage 2 Giving Up 

Your task is to refuse plastic wrapped products and source substitutes.

This will mean some hardship and deprivation – no crisps unless you make them yourself!!!!!

You will have to make some choices here as to what you can and cant do without.

Stage 2 Lite

It should mean that you give up everything for which there isn’t a plastic free substitute. However if that is not possible I would suggest that you allow yourself a fixed number of necessities for which you cannot find a regular plastic free substitute. Mine include brown rice and noodles.

And I think you you can allow an occasional plastic treat. These would be plastic packed products for which there is no substitute, that you probably could do without -but life would be miserable. Mine are nori seaweed, smoked salmon and creme freche.

Next you next have to ask yourself what constitutes plastic wrapped.

Stage 3 Stealth Plastic

I consider all of the below to be plastic packaged.

Nearly all PAPER products used to wrap food are  Plastic coated paper – no plastic lined tetra paks, disposable cups, wraps of sugar and of course tubs of ice cream.

Foiled again…. most  foil packaging is also plastic wrapped- watch out for butter margarine and Boursin.

No can do – Tins & soda  are plastic coated so out they go

Pain in the jars. GLASS JARS WITH METAL LIDS what could possibly go wrong. The lids are plastic lined or have a little disc of plastic as a seal.

If you agree, your plastic boycott suddenly got way harder!

Stage 3 Lite as for stage 2

Again try to cut the above to the minimum, but don’t beat yourself up over a bottle of ketchup! Reduce the tins and jars you use but decide what you have to keep. I still buy honey, beans and tuna.

Help

You can find all the plastic free food I have sourced here

You can see the plastic food I eat here