post

Chewing Gum

by Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink Tagged , , 1 Comment

I don’t do chewing gum because not only does it come packed in plastic, it is actually made from plastic. Yes, while there are a few natural gums on the market  most chewing gums are actually synthetic…. plastic in fact.

As I am sure you know, chewing gum is a non-nutritive, non-digestible, water-insoluble substance that can be chewed, (duh!), without disintegrating, for a long period of time.

And that it consists of an elastomer, a chewy base, with added sweeteners and  flavours to make the experience more pleasant.

Up until WWII, the chewing gum base was usually made from chicle  a latex sap that comes from the sapodilla tree –  a  natural rubber. This has since been replaced with synthetic rubber, a plastic.

Which Elastomer

Elastomers in gum are what give it the chew.

These used to be and occasionally still are natural latexes such as couma macrocarpa (also called leche caspi or serve), loquat (also called nispero),tunu, elution and the most popular, chicle.

These days most elastomers are synthetic rubbers such as butyl rubber

The raw materials for making butyl rubber are isobutylene and isoprene. Isoprene is a byproduct of  naphtha or oil, and as a side product in the production of ethylene.

Other Stuff

Other ingredients according to Wikipedia  may include the following:

  • Resins: provide a cohesive body or strength, and are most often glycerol esters of gum, terpene resins, and/or polyvinyl acetate ( more about the latter below).
  • Waxes: act as softening agents and are most usually paraffin or microcrystalline wax.
  • Fats: behave as plasticizers and mainly come from hydrogenated vegetable oils.
  • Emulsifiers: help to hydrate, the most common being lecithin or glycerol monostearate.
  • Fillers: impart texture and the most commonly used are calcium carbonate or talc.
  • Antioxidants: protect from oxidation and extend shelf-life; the most common type is BHT.

The Gum Association says

Gum base ” is made of a combination of food-grade polymers, waxes and softeners that give gum the texture desired by consumers and enable it to effectively deliver sweetness, flavor and various other benefits, including dental benefits.

What are polymers?

A polymer is a string of molecules (monomers) that usually contain carbon and hydrogen. Polymers are found naturally in the human body, animals, plants, and minerals. For example, DNA is a polymer, as are the proteins and starches in the foods we eat.

Man-made polymers can be identical in structure to those found in the natural environment, but in many cases, these polymers provide guaranteed consistency, quality and purity that are not always found in some natural materials. This quality is particularly important for food-grade polymers used as ingredients.

What are food-grade polymers?

Food-grade polymers have been rigorously tested and have been determined to be safe for use in food. In chewing gum, polymers are what provide gum with its basic elastic properties. All polymers used in gum are food-grade and are legally permitted for use by international/national regulatory agencies, including those in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

You can read more about synthetic polymers here.

Safe To Chew?

So are these food grade plastics gums with their paraffin and  yummy vinyl acetate additive  are safe?  Well plastic and paraffin certainly don’t sound appetising and vinyl acetate was once  classified by the Canadian Government as a “potentially high hazard substance.” This was later overturned (2010) under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). The decision was based on information received during the public comment period, and  from the risk assessment conducted by the European Union.

Environmental Hazard?

YES!!! Because it is plastic, gum doesn’t biodegrade – which means it has to be carefully disposed of – either landfilled or incinerated. If it ends up on the street as much of it does, it sticks like mad to the pavement and looks really ugly. It needs to be specially removed – which costs a lot. “The LGA (Local Government Authority points out that the average piece of gum costs about 3p to buy – but 50 times that to clean up (£1.50). Most chewing gum never biodegrades and once it is trodden into the pavement this requires specialised equipment to remove. “

Natural Gums

If you cant give up gum there are some natural gums out there. I have not tried these so please let me know how they taste. And I guess they come plastic packed. Again do let me know.

Peppersmith U.K. do a natural based gum.

It contains Xylitol (wood sugar), Natural chicle gum base, Peppermint oil, Calcium carbonate, Gum arabic (thickner), Rapeseed lecithin (emulsifier), Vegetable glycerol (humectant), Carnauba wax (glazing agent).Suitable for vegetarians.

You can buy it at Holland & Barrett, other stores and of course on line.

Here is a review of 8 of the healthier chews available in the U.S.

Sneaky Plastics

Here are some more products that surprisingly contain plastic.

post

Truffles made with plastic free cream

by Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink Tagged 1 Comment

Yes I know you need cream to make truffles and being plastic-free we don’t have any. Cue squeaks of joy when I bring you this ….

How to Replace Cream in Truffles

Melt 1/4 cup of butter in a small saucepan. Add 3/4 of cup milk and bring to a boil to replace 1 cup of heavy cream in your favorite truffle recipe.
Add three cups of good-quality dark chocolate and you can have chocolate truffles.
Thank you Livestrong. You can find the full recipe here.

And plastic free ingredients here…..

Find more recipes in the plastic free cookbook

post

Pancakes & Pancake day

by Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink, 3.1 Special days & Parties Tagged , ,

To make plastic free pancakes in a plastic free non stick pan …
you will need:
Eggs in a cardboard box. (If you buy them from Queensgate Market Huddersfield you can reuse the box and get a discount.)
Milk in a glass bottle from a milk man. Find one here
Flour in a paper bag
Unpackaged lemons bought in a cotton produce bag
Sugar in a paper bag
Butter in paper

Plastic free frying pan

Make

Make your batter. The BBC cookery website have a great range of recipes and
exciting pancake related information.

Heat the plastic free frying pan
Add a knob of butter
Swirl in the batter
Flip
Serve with lemon juice and sugar

More

Here is some exciting pancake related information.

Check out the plastic free cookbook here

Smoked Salmon

by Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink Tagged

How I love it! It has been up there on guilty pleasures list (the plastic wrapped food I can’t give up!). The sad thing is it doesn’t need to come like that. Up in Scotland I found 2 places that smoked their own salmon and were happy to sell it to me in my own containers

Wester Ross Fisheries Ullapool http://www.wrs.co.uk

The Loch Torridon Smokehouse http://www.lochtorridonsmokehouse.co.uk

OMG it was fantastic. But it is rather far to go – so I am going to try this….

“Tim Hayward visits London’s Billingsgate fish market, a builder’s merchant, sources some electrical equipment on eBay … then shows us how to combine his unusual purchases to produce the finest home-smoked salmon ”

… and it looks really easy!

Find more plastic free food here

post

Chocolate – Original Beans

by Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink Tagged 9 Comments

Oh my….. this company is leading the way. Their chocolate has to be the greenest I have yet come across.

Original Beans was founded by Philipp Kaufmann who,has worked for both the the WWF and the UN. He wanted to develop a business that would drive conservation.

So for every bar you buy, Original Beans plants a tree in the rainforest. They help conserve the rainforest and the bean farmers livlihood plus pay them a decent wage.

How

Original Beans helps establish tree nurseries, creates conservation training programs, and helps with planting buffer zones around rainforest reserves. New cacao trees generate income for farmers after three years; the other diverse plantings secure future food and firewood.

“Original Beans obligates itself to pay the farmers more than the sixfold of the official fair-trade premium in exchange for high quality and ecological commitment. This way we can convince smallholder famers to refrain from slash-and-burn pratices – the number one climate killer – and instead convert to a more sustainable semi-wild cultivation of mixed crops.”

They work with international agronomy institutes, such as the CATIE and the CIRA. Full traceability is guaranteed of all cacaos And they encourage the growing of unusual and rare cocoa beans for example they rediscovered and replanted a long forgotten and almost extinct bean , the Piura Porcelana.

The chocolate is organic which means the cacao beans have been grown in pesticide-free fields and free of preservatives.

The finished product does not additives or lecithin, raw cane sugar is used as a sweetener.

Plastic Free Packaging

There is so much more of interest But it is the packaging that really gets us going over here at PIR.

They use bio-compostable carton packaging made from FSC paper and printed with low-migration, natural inks from Lessebo Bruk.

They use  “Natureflex foil for the chocolate sector. Made from renewable FSC wood, with a thin metallised layer (0,02%), it guarantees a  high barrier to moisture, yet is garden-compostable by EU & US standards.”

And finally “To protect your chocolate, we use FLO-PAK Green packaging chips, made from 100% recycled material. They will be biologically reduced to carbon dioxide, water and humus without any residues within 1–3 years.”

Sadly I havn’t actually got to try any and at up to £4.45 A BAR IT IS NOT CHEAP.  

If any one else has tried it, please let me know how it is.

You can find places to purchase here.

And more plastic free sweets & chocolates here

post

Refill/Bulk/Zerowaste Stores

by Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables, 3.1 Food & Drink, 3.2 Shops & Businesses Tagged , , 85 Comments

Bulk buy or refill stores are places you can buy all kinds of food like rice, suet, even soup mix – loose and unpackaged.
You take as much as you want/need from a larger container, weigh and pay.
You can usually use your own packaging.
The advantages for the #plasticfree shopper hardly need stating!
These are common in America and Australia, far less so in the U.K. But we do have some.
I have put together a list of stores that sell loose products, listed alphabetically by the location / place name.
If you know of others please add them, with as many details as possible, in the comments box below and I will incorperperate them.

Packaging

While these shops provide bags and they are almost always plastic ones. You will need to take your own plastic-free /reusable bags, tubs and bottles.

Tare

The weight of the container may make a difference at checkout. Some shops  subtract the tare weight but other don’t. The tare weight is the weight of the empty container.

Latest Loose Food Shop

from Twitter

Popped to the fantastically named @weighahead in Dunblane, a new #zerowaste shop near #Stirling. Highlights were finding packaging-free bar soap and stocking up on staples without any single-use plastic. We’ll be back! 

Jarfull Ltd

“Our shop all being well will be open sometime in the first couple of weeks of December. We will announce the confirmed date when we have done a little more decorating so please follow our social media pages to keep informed. “From their website

@jarfulluk

2 Bower Street, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG1 5BQ

Heard of one in Chapel Allerton. will be checking that out later.

A to Z of Refill Shops

A

Aberystwyth read more here

B

Barmouth Weigh & Save Travelled on to Barmouth on the Welsh coast. It was hot and sunny and the tourists were out in force. I don’t like it like that. I only stayed  for the excellent weigh and save shop (read more about them here…)  called the Weigh Out This sold (amongst other stuff), loose 

  • pasta
  • powdered milk
  • cystalised ginger
  • cocoa
  • roasted peanuts
  • dried fruit
  • sunflower seeds
  • bran flakes

Barnsley 

Market Got a loose lettuce pickled beetroot Cheese from the cheese stall shoes by Loake – British made 

Weigh To Save

Visited Weigh To Save and yes they did loose cocoa. This stall has just recently opened at 1 Metropollian Centre May Day Green, Barnsley S70 1SX Closes 4:30PM 01226 772239 “Unique Market Stall selling a range of dried products, choose your amount & weigh to save.Products include, Nuts, Dried Fruit, Cereals, Rice, flours, sugars, other baking products, washing powder, herbs and spices all at reasonable prices. Helping to save the planet with no unnecessary packaging, you can even bring your own reusable containers. see for yourself in Barnsley’s inside market, Unit 13 Market parade(old semi open market under multi storey car park).” Photos diary of my visit here 

Bath

KathrynH (https://secondhandtales.wordpress.com) had this to say “Just noticed that our Holland& Barrett store in Bath has some loose items (mostly nuts) but you can also buy, and then refill, bulk oils in glass jars. It’s quite a large store but wondered if other branches were doing the same?” Bath store – NewLeaf HealthFoods, 29 Shaftesbury Road, Bath, BA2 3LJ Happy to preweigh your container with what you are going to fill it with. Bulk bins of nuts, flour, sugar, grains, dried fruit and more. Loose herbs and spices. Ecover refills. 

Blandford Forum

thanks for the add. I thought zero-wasters living in Dorset might be interested to know about my wholefoods store, Cariad Wholefoods, in Blandford Forum. We’re still quite new but sell lots of wholefoods, herbs, spices and botanicals loose. We also have a refill station for Bio-D cleaning products, loose soaps, etc. Everything we sell is ethically sourced, cruelty free and suitable for vegans and we are happy to take bulk orders and work with food co-operatives. It’s a growing business and my personal dream to sell as much as possible unpackaged over the coming months. Hope that some of you will visit 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/cariadwholefoods/ 

Bridlington 

Weigh & Save 

Brighton 

HiSbe We’re an independent supermarket standing up for how it Should be. We help people cut down on plastic packaging by selling many items by weight, including fruit, veg, pasta, rice, sugar, lentils, cous cous, porridge oats and chocolate buttons! HiSbe Website Hello! My shop, Wastenot, is in Brighton and offers dried produce, loose organic fruit and veg, cleaning product and bathroom product refills as well as plastic free household and beauty items! My website is http://www.wasenotshop.com 

Bristol

Bristol has a few: Scoop away- http://www.scoopawayhealthfoods.co.uk/ and Wild Oats – http://woats.co.uk/. Also worth mentioning if you’re a member of Bristol university or affiliated in any way there’s an amazing food co-op which is worth checking out: https://www.facebook.com/HungryCaterpillarCoop/?fref=ts 

Brixam 

Weigh & Save 

Burley in Wharfedale “Waste Not The Grange, Station Road, Burley in Wharfedale, LS29 7ND, UK
do shampoo refills as well as lots of other stuff. more details here“

Buxton 18.1 Day Zero in Buxton. A great little family run refill shop. Very friendly and helpful in giving advice on how to make changes. Also responds to the customer to try and source plastic free products should there be a request for it.

C

Camarthen
“There’s the ‘green scoop’ in Camarthen
http://www.thegreenscoop.com
9 Hall Street, Carmarthen, SA31 1PH”

Cardiff
Cardiff- Ripple in Roath. Zero waste shop

Chichester
Chichester has Refilled Chichester at Drapers Yard, The Hornets. Drapers Yard also has other plastic free friendly shops including Zest for Taste which does oil and vinegar refills and Bear Boy Fresh with local organic veg and a milk refill station .

Cleethorpes
Spill the Beans St Peter’s Avenue #cleethorpes now have paper bags out as an alternative to plastic. If you’ve not been here PLEASE check if out! Loads of fab whole foods plus cereals Baking stuff and more #cleethorpes #discovernel #totallylocallyne

D

Dundee
Little Green Larder opened in Dundee today

E

Edinburgh

The new leaf co-op that offers a wide variety of stuff package free. Bulk stuff includes washing up liquid ontap, laundry liquid on tap, hair care, loads of spices, flour, müsli, beans & pulss, grains, rice, dred fruit, nuts, seeds, vinega, oil, soy sauce and much more. It’s an incredible place! They also have a very nice website where you can read all about them and their products. Here is a snippet “The New Leaf Co-op is collectively owned and managed by the people who work here, and we have chosen to put our principles right at the heart of our business.Our aim is 1simple: To offer affordable, healthy vegetarian wholefoods, with a focus on organic, locally sourced and fairtrade products, with as little packaging as possible. We carry more than 150 different lines of food and household products for customers to scoop and refill themselves, and our range is ever growing!” 

Gin!!!!

To be truly plastic free, you may have to set up a still in the back garden!  Unless you can get to one of these liquid delis. 

Demijohn offer a spirits, liquor and other drinks refill service in

Edinburgh 32 Victoria Street Edinburgh EH1 2JW 0131 225 4090 

Bloggers

Check out Scottish blogger Westywrites for Scottish based plastic freeness  

Emsworth 

in Hampshire  – Pantry Weigh. Thanks to Emma for this info “There’s a small shop called Pantry Weigh in Emsworth in Hampshire  https://www.yell.com/biz/pantry-weigh-emsworth-763392/ 

G

Glasgow

Many thanks to Lord Cut Grass for this Locavore in Glasgow is another one for your list. Grows and sells its own locally grown vegetables and can buy grains, rice, pasta, etc in your own container. 66 Nithsdale Road, Glasgow, G41 2AN http://glasgowlocavore.org/

Harvest Co-op is another place in Glasgow where you can bring your own containers to buy in bulk. 1143 Pollokshaws Road, Glasgow, G41 3YH http://www.harvestco-op.com/

Whole foods And there is always the Glasgow branch of Wholefoods. 124-134 Fenwick Rd, Giffnock, Glasgow G46 6XN, UK Do I sound excited? By a supermarket? Well yes I am. And the reason? This supermarket sells food loose and unpacked. I don’t just mean meat or vegetables (though that too) but nuts, spices and other dried commodities. The kind of stuff that usually comes swathed in plastic! They do a good range of rice, dried beans and pulses and more unusual stuff like blue popcorn, dried cherries and unroasted peanuts. Read more here See our Facebook Album here 

H & I

Horsham!

A surprise discovery on a day trip to Horsham! Town & Country Weigh is at 7 East Street, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 1HH. It has bulk food bins for rice (long grain, short grain, arborio, basmati), dried pulses (e.g. black eyed beans, chickpeas, butter beans, red lentils), flours (including rye flour and potato flour), milk powder, and a wide variety of muesli ingredients. Thanks to Kake for the above write up.  Please, if anyone knows of any more, do add them to the list! Hull Heres a new one for the list Alans Naturally Health food/scoop and save shop 13 South Street Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, HU1 3QG Huddersfield List of shops and markets here 

Hythe

in Kent I found another Loose Food shop called U Weigh in Hythe in Kent the address is 51 High Street Hythe, Kent, CT21 5AD Facebook address is https://www.facebook.com/uweigh What Are Refill Stores? Bulk buy or refill stores are places you can buy food loose.You take as much as you want/need from a larger container and you can usually use your own packaging.  

J&K

Kingsbridge

Save A Packet: http://www.saveapacket.org.uk
8 The Anchor Centre, Bridge Street, Kingsbridge, TQ7 1SB

L

London Shops

Earth Natural Foods,
200 Kentish Town Road, London, NW5 2AE
Open 8.30am – 7pm, Monday to Saturday, closed Sundays. Great review on Refuge For Daffodils

And another from Laurie Pym
I went to Earth Natural Foods on Tuesday. Bought some loose herbs and will be headed back there to get coffee & more soon! Still no taring, and it was quite difficult to use my own containers as I hadn’t read the A Refuge for Daffodils review in advance. Foolish me brought heavier containers. However, I used the available kraft paper bags, which I labelled with the seed and /kg price (as they request). Once bought, I put all bags in a Kilner jar to keep them fresh. When I got home I gently opened the bags, which I will reuse when we need more herbs. smile emoticon It is a lovely, LOVELY shop, which I will continue to patronise!

Bumblebee Natural Foods

To see what loose foods they do read this great review by Kake of Croydon

Food For All

A blog worth keeping an eye on this month is Junk Free January as they try to live without packaging for a month. I am sure lots of useful info will be sourced. Already another loose fill shop has been found. The following is taken from the blog….

“The hero of the day was Food for All, on Cazenove Road next to Stoke Newington railway station. The last shop on my search, I was pretty glum by the time I got here, but cheered up right away. This small independent shop has a friendly atmosphere, good ethics, good prices, and a huge range of loose goods – all the herbs, spices and teas you can think of and more, meusli, different kinds of rice, lentils, etc. “

The Big Table

http://www.thebigtable.net/ 45 Chatsworth Rd, London E5 0LH

Mother Earth
https://www.facebook.com/MotherEarthLondon
282 St Pauls Rd / 5 Albion Parade / 101 Newington Green Rd
London, United Kingdom

Planet Organic Muswell Hill
http://www.planetorganic.com/unpackaged-at-planet-organic/

111/117 Muswell Hill Road, Muswell Hill
London
N10 3HS

Whole Foods Market  

Whole Food Market – if we have to have supermarkets let them be like this….

Tooting

I just wanted to share with anyone else living in London (especially others in S / W London) that there are two sweet stalls/shops in Tooting Market- Get Juiced! (That sell vegan drinks, food and bulk products – they are also likely to go zero waste soon!) And Nuff Cosmetics that sells bulk cocoa butter , shea butter, natural unpackaged soaps etcetc. Really refreshing to find these two in this area!

Croydon – great write up by Kake who gives this shop a very good press

The rest

Leeds 

read a review here. 

Leicester 

Leicester now has a zero waste shop https://zerowasteleicester.co.uk/ 

Lincoln

Gaia Wholefoods in Lincoln Central Market Lincoln, Lincolnshire 07891 370197 Nicola, the proprietor sells whole food that she bags up but is willing to weigh out into your own containers if you give her enough notice. Thanks to Not Quite A Vegan for that 

M

Manchester Village Green Co-op

Prestwich Village Greens is a Community co-operative grocery in Prestwich with fresh, local, organic, affordable produce . For the plastic free amongst us it has some loose, self-service products in dispensers on the wall including Oats Muesli base Chia seeds Pumpkin seeds Hemp seeds Sunflower seeds Lentils Brown Rice I was pleased! Lentils and brown rice which have been off the menu until now. Yay! There was also paper wrapped butter and milk in glass bottles. Loose , organic veg including some unwrapped lettuce. Loose soaps, health care and Natura menstrual products. Plus some cocoa from Suma that I have to investigate. And really good fresh bread. They do Ecover refills you have to ask at the counter Well worth a visit. Check out the photo album on Facebook pastedGraphic_2.png

0

OXFORD

Welcome to SESI
We are Oxford’s longest serving refill station of food products and household detergents.

SESI has its own range of laundry and household detergents which create no packaging waste from factory to consumer.  They are also effective cleaners, environmental and cheap.  We also offer refills of some well known products from Bio-D, Ecover and Faith in Nature.

The SESI food depot offers a growing range of fairtrade, organic and local foods.

We exist to help you minimise packaging waste and access the best products at a reasonable price.  We reduce packaging by encouraging customers to bring their bags, bottles and tubs for refill at our depot or at our farmers market stall.

All 250 refills and food/household products we hold as depot stock are available to order through this website.  You can download a catalogue of 5000 more! For tips on how to get the best out of this website go to ‘More About Ordering’.Please note we don’t take payment when you place an order – pay us on delivery or collection.  We accept cash, cheque or you can now pay by card.

P

Plymouth
Ethica: http://www.facebook.com/EthicaVeganStore/
155 Armada Way, Plymouth, PL1 1HY
Refills for detergent, shampoo, washing up liquid etc; soap bars, non-plastic toiletries, cleaning items
Blog post includes trip to Ethica https://ourrubbishblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/07/a-clean-break/

Peterborough
Backyard Food in Peterborough is an ethical shop looking to enhance the availability of local, organic, fairtrade, vegan, plastic-free products. It stocks food, household products and toiletries as refills. Recently re-launched, they plan to expand their current range of refills – https://www.facebook.com/backyardfoodpeterborough

Penzance

15B Causewayhead
Penzance
Cornwall TR18 2SN

One of the incredibly eccentric loose food outlets that can occasionally be found huddled under the idiosyncratic Weigh and Save umbrella. You can read more about them here…
This is a good one selling all manner of loose food stuffs. I stocked up on

  • raisins,
  • sunflower seeds
  • dried apricots
  • brown rice
  • COCOA!!!

Blog post about our visit to ‘Save A Packet’ and ‘Weigh Inn’ (Penzance) https://ourrubbishblog.wordpress.com/2018/05/03/the-incredible-bulk-stores/

R

Ramsbottom

Fulfilled: Plastic free shop

@FulfilledShop

Ramsbottom plastic free/zero waste food & household shop. now open! North West, England

S

Sheffield We are OPEN!!

Come along and check out our huge range of spices, refills of cleaning products, household items and plastic free wholefoods- we’re open until 6pm today! link here

Southampton

Jen ‏@choose_to_reuse   says Got some bulk dry food today from @RiceUpLtd – a #zerowaste haven! #choosetoreuse

Rice Up Wholefoods @RiceUpLtd We are an ethical (Vegan, GM Free, Eco/Organic friendly) mini supermarket. We are run as a Workers Coop. Open 10am-6.30pm (5.30pm Sat and closed Sunday)

T


Thatcham
Can you please add Thatcham Refillable to the list. We are in Thatcham near Newbury in Berkshire.
http://www.thatchamrefillable.co.uk
We sell refill household cleaning & personal care products daily and we hold a monthly market where we have stall holders selling dried food and other eco products from our shop.

Tiverton
Todmorden
Totnes

W
Plastic Free Places that start with the letter W can be found here
Including
Watford
Wimborne
Winscombe
Worcester

XYZ
York

A to Z

Frozen Food Loose
Pain Au Chocolat - home bake Pain Au Raisen - Home Bake Yorkshire Puds Fruits of the forest and other soft fruits Roast veg - peppers to potatoes Uncooked Vegetables ...
Read More
Lidles
Lidles  is a chain of budget supermarkets. It offers some plastic free surprises. (Click the links to see a review and other options). Take your own bags Lidl Stiftung & ...
Read More
Oil Vegetable Cooking Refill
Vegetable oil is difficult to source plastic free. Buy in glass and the metal caps will have a little plasticized disc or plastic liner on inside and maybe a plastic seal ...
Read More
Tea & Coffee Merchants
Here are some independent Tea & Coffe merchants. You may need to take your own bags Leeds The Teapot has coffee beans and leaf tea from all round the world. Really lovely ...
Read More
The Range – a chain of home & garden shops
Loose pet food, home wares and some loose sweets. Being committed to local shopping, I prefer to buy that way whenever possible. I would encourage you to do the same ...
Read More
U.K. All over Weigh and Save Shops
Long time ago when I was young we used to visit the Weigh & Save shop in the precinct down the road. In it were a number of  big bins ...
Read More

U.K. Wide

.

Other Supermarkets & Chainstores
Sometimes supermarkets can surprise you – check out the plastic-free and reduced packaging products here.

Remember
While these shops provide bags and they are almost always plastic ones. You will need to take your own. 

Find A Milk Delivery Service With Glass Bottles

Here 

 

Online


This is an interesting option that allows you to buy basic foods on line plastic free.
You can even use your own produce bags. Read more
HERE

Ask A Local

A great source of info is the Plastic Is Rubbish FB support group. We have people everywhere who,are ready to help. Join up join in.

Please add any shops you know of in the comments below and I will incorporate them into the post.
Links to reviews particularly welcome.

SaveSave

SaveSave

post

Spirits

by Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink Tagged

Most spirits come in glass bottles usually with metal caps. Saved. No, the caps  are usually plastic lined.

To be truly plastic free, you may have to set up a still in the back garden!  Unless you can get to one of these liquid delis.

Demijohn offer a spirits, liquor and other drinks refill servic. I have not used them – please let me know how you get on…
Edinburgh 32 Victoria Street Edinburgh EH1 2JW 0131 225 4090
Glasgow 382 Byres Glasgow G12 8AR 0141 3373 600
York 11 Museum Street York YO1 7DT 01904 637 487

Buy British

Failing that you can at least buy local, (Yorkshire that is), moonshine… erm I mean , premium quality, traditionally distilled and using Harrogate Spring water, Yorkshire gin masonsyorkshiregin.com

You might also like this British made vodka

“Glen’s Vodka is a brand of vodka, owned and produced by the Loch Lomond Group, a Scottish company. It is produced from sugar beet at the Catrine Distillery in Ayrshire, Scotland

In 2009, Glen’s Vodka came first in a blind-tasting test conducted by British newspaper The Telegraph.[3] The tasting included a variety of premium-brand vodkas including Grey Goose and Absolut.
In 2015, Glen’s launched Platinum, a 40% ABV premium grain version of Glen’s Vodka.
Read more here.

Vice got a tester to test it.
“I see this is vodka from England. The aroma is nice. I feel the grains, I feel some fruits – citrus, refreshing notes. And the palette, it’s quite full and rich, and I feel some spiciness, some soft pepper. The alcohol, I think, is very well balanced; it’s got quite a punch. It’s OK to mix, of course, or as a shot is fine. This one would suit more fizzy drinks, like a vodka tonic.”

You can see which supermarkets stock it (and for how much) here

Vodka can be used to make a coffee favoured drink
disinfectant
to make essences and flavorings

and gin! Which can help you to live longer… and not just because you are happier!

INGREDIENTS
750ml good quality vodka

2 tbsp juniper berries (more if you like juniper-forward gin)
1 tsp coriander seeds
2 cardamom pods
2 peppercorns
Half a cinnamon stick
A small piece of dried orange peel (remove the white pith as it’s very bitter)
A small piece of dried lemon peel (again, no pith)

Instructions here

Mixers & Soft Drinks

Tonic comes in tins which are of course are plastic lined.   Mixers come in glass but the  metal lids of glass bottles are also plastic lined. And who can afford Fever Tree? You can make your own with a soda stream and  ready made syrups.

Read more here

More

You can see all our alcohol related posts here

And a quick write up about alcohol here

N.B.

lines changes, products get removed. For more information why not ask the Plastic Is Rubbish FB group for updates. They are a great source of tidbits, personal experience and the latest news. Why not join them and share the plastic free love x

And before you go…

If you have found the #plasticfree information useful, please consider supporting us. It all goes to financing the project (read more here) or

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

SaveSave

SaveSaveSaveSave

post

How To make Tea, Tea pots, & strainers

by Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink, 3.2 How To...plastic-free Tagged , , , 5 Comments

These days most of us automatically reach for the teabags but is that really the best choice? Certainly not from a plastic free zero waste point of veiw.

Nasty Bags

  • Whats in your tea bag? Paper and tea you wish but actually no. Most do in fact contain plastic and so are only between 70-80% biodegradable. And chlorine bleached. Read more HERE.
  • There are plastic / chlorine free bags out there but they are very expensive and often come packed in plastic read about them here.

How To Use Loose Tea 


In short, loose tea is a better option. But it may seem daunting. It’s not. Here is a guide on how to make the perfect cuppa.

Buy

First you will need to source some loose tea. Not as hard ad you think thanks to PG Tips. Find out more HERE

Pots, Strainers & Balls to you Mrs!

Next you will need a teapot and, unless you fancy taking up fortune telling, something to stop the leaves getting in your cup. You can get great teapots from charity shops. I favor the stainless steel 70s version, good for traveling in the van with. You can get all metal tea strainers if you look. Try the market, Ebay or  Amazon. I am not a big fan of tea strainers. They dribble and you need a saucer to put them on. And you have the icky job of removing the tea leaves from the pot afterwards, a soggy business at the best of times. No, I like these mesh balls. You put the tea in them then put them in the pot. At the end you empty them in the compost bin without worrying about nasty plastic mesh. Easy as!  You can even get some teapots that have integrated diffusers built in.

Just One Cup?

If you are brewing up for the WI, a teapot is fine but what when you want a quick cuppa for one?
You can get cotton bags that you can fill to make your own reusable teabags but really who can be bothered with that kind of faff.

I have found that a steel mesh single cup infuser works perfectly. It sits on your mug, you fill it with loose tea, let the brew, brew then remove. Really no effort at all and very easy to empty into the compost bin after. Mine was given as a gift but I have found something similar on Amazon

Brewing Up

So now we are good to go. Put the leaves in the pot (or the mesh ball first) add boiling water and let it brew.

and again…

Don’t be so quick to empty the pot. You ca muse those leaves again to make a fresh pot. Even keep them in the fridge and reuse the next day.

When the tea gets a bit weak you can ad a pinch more.

Honestly. I learnt this from the Chinese tea shop where they sell 50 year old tea for a hundreds of dollars a gram. Yes apparently tea, like wine, does improve with age. Who knew?

Milk?

If you take milk, you will need to get yourself a milk man who delivers milk in glass bottles and possibly a milk jug!

More

Find other sneaky plastics here….

Buy Teapots & Strainers

Being committed to local shopping I prefer to buy that way whenever possible. I would encourage you to do the same. One of the joys of living plastic free is mooching round the local shops seeing what you can source.

If you can’t buy local, please do check the links in the posts.  They link direct  to the suppliers.  Do consider buying from them and support their online businesses.

If you can’t do that then I have put together and Amazon catalogue. Yes I know…

Amazon is a very dirty word at the moment and I thought long and hard before suggesting them.  Heres why I went ahead….. No we are not entirely happy with Amazons recent history. However these links are for 3rd party sellers, we have always found the Amazon service to be good and their packaging usually compostable. In the absence of anything else we feel we can recommend them.

Kitchen Craft Stainless Steel Double Handled Tea Strainer- boxedTea Ball Infuser 2" 18/8 Stainless Steel.Tea Ball/Strainer Mesh Tea Infuser Tea filter Reusable
Kitchen Craft Stainless Steel Double Handle…
£5.50		Tea Ball Infuser 2″ 18/8 Stainless Steel.
£0.71		Tea Ball/Strainer Mesh Tea Infuser Tea filt…
£1.52 – £2.19
Kitchen Craft Le'Xpress Tea Strainer, Stainless SteelStainless Steel Spoon Tea Leaves Herb Mesh Ball Infuser Filter Squeeze Strainer2 Cup Glass Tea Pot with Infuser
Kitchen Craft Le’Xpress Tea Strainer, Stai…
£1.65		Stainless Steel Spoon Tea Leaves Herb Mesh …
£1.60		2 Cup Glass Tea Pot with Infuser
£21.63
Glass Stainless Steel Loose Tea Leaf Teapot With Infuser 750ml/500ml --- Size:LVonShef Modern Stainless Steel 600ml Glass Infusion Tea Pot Loose Tea Leaf Coffee InfuserSabichi 750 ml Glass Teapot with Infuser
Glass Stainless Steel Loose Tea Leaf Teapot…VonShef Modern Stainless Steel 600ml Glass …
£4.99		Sabichi 750 ml Glass Teapot with Infuser
VonShef Satin Polish Stainless Steel Tea Pot with Infuser. Available in sizes Small, Medium & LargeDesigner White Ceramic Tumbler Brewing System
VonShef Satin Polish Stainless Steel Tea Po…
£6.99		Designer White Ceramic Tumbler Brewing System
£15.00

.

And before you go…

If you have found the #plasticfree information useful, please consider supporting us. It all goes to financing the project (read more here) or

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

SaveSaveSaveSave

  • N.B.
    lines changes, products get removed. For more information why not ask the Plastic Is Rubbish FB group for updates. They are a great source of tidbits, personal experience and the latest news. Why not join them and share the plastic free love x
Join our Facebook group here
post

Crisps

by Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink Tagged 2 Comments

Wahey…after years of no crisps…. THIS….

Two farmers produce the hand hand-cooked crisps using potatoes that they grow, harvest, store, cook and pack using renewable energy that they generate on their farm in Herefordshire.
Flavours ‘lightly salted’, ‘Hereford Bullshot’, ‘Hereford Hop Cheese & Onion’ and ‘Salt & Cider Vinegar’.

Most importantly the crisps are packaged in 100 percent compostable bags!

You can buy on line or from these stockists.

See the rest of our plastic free sweets snacks and nibbles here

And all other foods here

N.B.

Lines changes, products get removed. For more information why not ask the Plastic Is Rubbish FB group for updates. They are a great source of tidbits, personal experience and the latest news. Why not join them and share the plastic free love x

And before you go…

If you have found the #plasticfree information useful, please consider supporting us. It all goes to financing the project (read more here) or

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Bramble Jelly

by Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink, 4.3 My Projects Tagged ,

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAToday’s action is to ‘share it’. 80% of people in a Cooperatives UK survey said that sharing makes them happy. By sharing our skills, time and stuff, we can improve our wellbeing and reduce demand for limited resources.

So I thought I would share the free food I foraged  and took a jar a bramble/port jelly to a ham based dinner party!
Free food, plastic-free, whats not to love?
And though it was late in the year I managed to get enough blackberries to make a couple of pots of jelly.

It is really easy, but then discovering jam sugar has changed my approach to preserves. Before this I found it a complex process needing tons of fruit and lemons  that resulted in a liquid syrupy gloop. However using this ready mixed sugar and pectin has (so far), been fool proof.
Even better you can use it to make really small amounts.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

So while I only got a handful of brambles, I could still preserve them and make this lovely looking, tasty gift!

Heres how…. Equal amounts of blackberries to jam sugar
Boil
Strain
return to boil
add cinnamon nutmeg and lemon to taste
Slosh of port

Take to dinner party – garner compliments!

More


Check out the #plasticfree cookbook here.

 

post

Apple Juice & Leeds Urban Harvest

by Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink, 4.3 My Projects Tagged ,

Today’s action is to ‘grow it’. Did you know that being immersed in a natural setting or even viewing greenery from your window can reduce stress levels and improve relaxation? Today we’re asking you to give yourself and nature a helping hand by growing something.

And it is a great way to get plastic free and very tasty food. However when you live in a van that can be a bit tricky. So why not let nature take its course and go foraging instead. Theres loads of food out there to be had for free.

And if you are in Leeds and like apples you can join in the urban harvest. This weekend Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st September 2014 Leeds Urban Harvest will be picking a tree near you.

What is Leeds Urban Harvest? The following was taken from the website…

Leeds Urban Harvest is a voluntary run project that collects and distributes soft fruits that grow unharvested around our city on trees and bushes in both public and private spaces.
Fruits are distributed to groups, volunteers and the local community.  Damaged fruits are turned into juice, preserves, jams and chutneys.  Any money raised is put back into the project to help with running costs.
As part of the project we aim to raise awareness of the great abundance of local tasty and healthy food that is available for everyone and for free!
To be affordable to anyone, we decided to sell our juice at £1 minimum donation and if you bring back your bottle, we give you back 50p. We also collect the tops of the bottles as the Scrap Creative Reuse Art Project in Kirstall can re-use them in their projects.
Leeds Urban Harvest have teamed up with All Hallows Church in Burley and we now have a great kitchen for juicing, space for sharing and lots of friendly faces too.

post

Tomato ketchup

by Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink, 4.3 My Projects Tagged , , ,

Today’s action is to ‘borrow it’. How many things do you own which you hardly ever use? We’re asking people to be resourceful by borrowing rather than buying. Whether it’s joining your local library, signing up to a neighbourhood borrowing scheme or even borrowing a dog (yes, that’s right, there are websites that allow you to do this), borrowing is a great way to access what you need and meet others in the process.

So here goes…. borrow it ketchup using yesterdays puree
Got the ketchup recipes from the internet. I used them more as a guide because I was using what I had in and what I could borrow!
So it said apple vinegar but I only have balsamic vinegar and white vinegar. White seemed a bit harsh so I went with WLLM FOOD8balsamic.
I used white instead of brown sugar as I cannot source plastic free brown sugar.
I borrowed the spices and they did have plastic lids BUT I can get them plastic free. I didn’t because  I am on holiday living in a van. To buy a load of spices to make some experimental sauce seemed daft. So…I used those listed below because they were the ones I could borrow.

Here is my ketchup recipe

Splash of olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped medium
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup tomato purée – hand made yesterday!
1/5 cup sugar
25 ml balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon all spice
Salt and pepper

Fried the onions added the spices cooked it up and blended it.
WLLM FOOD12I would be the first to admit that this not quite tomato ketchup. Its the wrong colour for a start! Thats the balsamic vinegar for you.
The texture isnt quite silky enough either.
But it is sauce and it tastes really good! I can’t quite believe it! It is tomatoey and vinegary and sweet.
It will last a month in the fridge apparently but if I was doing it at home I would freeze it in small batches.

So impressed with my homemaking skills.

Find more recipes in the plastic free cookbook