Consuming Ethically
The complementary flip side of trading ethically has to be consuming ethically doesn’t it? This week I’ve taken a leaf out of the Myzerowaste family. They’re going for a target of throwing NOTHING away. Yes, nothing.
I’m not aiming for that, I’m not convinced I’d be able to do it. But I’ll be watching them closely for tips to seriously reduce what I chuck out.
So, this week we decided to try to limit what we buy in the big out of town supermarket (I refuse to name them as they get plenty of publicity). We collected up our bags, planned which shops we needed, after the bank, and set off. Yes, in the car - it actually works out cheaper then public transport for three of us, sorry.
We went to the butchers, Meadow Fresh, for sausages. I love this shop, it’s clean, busy, the staff are friendly and the meat is just lovely. I love this on their site:
We sell quality matured beef, lamb and pork from our own farm and other local Derbyshire producers.
The farm is just up the road here, how much better can you get? So, we came out with sausages, pork chops and 2lbs of beef mince…… and a free reusable bag because they like the kids. They always ask, “Do you have a bag?” Not *Do you want a plastic carrier?*, Do you have a bag? Because they’d rather you used your own. They chat about cuts of meat and cooking with anyone who wants to. Some of the mince is in a cottage pie in the oven right now and smells delicious!
Also in the pie are carrots that we got from the fruit and veg stall on the market (they don’t seem to have a website I can show you, sorry) There we got strawberries, apples, broccoli and at the lad’s request, a bag of salad. Oh and an extra cucumber because I wanted to make Tzatsiki using the highly technical recipe given to me by my Mum.
- Some cucumber
- Some garlic
- Some plain yoghurt (greek is best)
- Some olive oil
- A little squidge of lemon juice
- Pinch of salt
Peel and grate the cucumber, put in a tea towel and SQUEEZE until it stops dripping. Chop, press or otherwise pulverize the garlic (I used home grown, very nice), add oil, salt, lemon juice and yoghurt and mix a bit. Give the cucumber in the teatowel a squeeze for luck and add that in - but not the tea towel, only the cucumber. Mix well and taste to be sure it’s right. Put in a pot with a lid and put in the fridge. Eat when you feel the need!
We used our own cloth bags, and the new one from the butcher, for all the shopping and on the way back to the car we decided that maybe we could do with one of those trolley things for round the market?
The Greens at MyZeroWaste.com are truly inspirational and when you’ve done here I urge you to go and have a read over there.