Recycling a Step too Far?
I am trying to do what little I can to save the planet. Easier said than done a lot of the time. Perhaps I'm not quite as committed as I could, or indeed I should be, but I really am doing my best and trying hard. Baby steps. Surely anything is better than nothing.
My main bugbears are plastics, and wasting food. I recycle what I can and take brown paper bags to the supermarket to put my fruit and veg into, and loose bakery items can be put into them too. However, on so many occasions I am unable to purchase loose products. I have now taken to unwrapping them, once I'm through the checkout of course, and leave the supermarket to deal with the issue. Yes, I do get a few funny looks, but hey who cares I'm saying the planet. LOL. I know this doesn't get rid of the problem but if more people did it them maybe all supermarkets would start to take the issue more seriously. I know some supermarkets are starting down that road and good for them, let's hope more follow suit, and as quickly as possible.
Next on my list is food waste. This is often made more difficult as I cannot buy smaller amounts of produce. Ok if the extra can be frozen but sometimes this just isn't possible. I know I am sometimes at fault by overbuying, or by not eating what we had planned as we go out to eat, or just don't get around to eating what I've bought. Good meal planning is the definitely answer to this but even sometimes this can fall apart and there are leftovers. I am good at turning leftover veg into soups, adding to casseroles and stews. Lettuce browning at the edges, not so good, squiggly tomatoes the same. I know you all find these things lurking at the bottom of the vegetable drawer in the fridge from time to time.
I recently read about turning potato, carrot and sweet potato peeking into crisps or even indian bahjis! I do plan to give this a go soon. How bad could it be? Watch this space.
This week I was reading through Delia's Summer Cookbook for some ideas when I came across this recipe for pineapple juice. This is made by fermenting the pineapple peelings. Not sounding very appealing? I reserved judgement until I'd tried it. After all fermented foods are very in at the moment from a health point of view.
All that is involved is covering pineapple peelings in 850gms of water. Cover and leave at room temperature for 3-4 days until it starts to bubble. Strain, add sugar to taste and top up with soda water.
I added ice, resisted the temptation to add a slug of vodka, and tasted. To my surprise it wasn't too bad at all. In fact it was quite pleasant and I'm sure the vodka wouldn't have detracted from this LOL. That's for the next time! I've put the pineapple top into water to see if it will grow. So although I still have the post fermentation skin to dispose of I have at least gained a lot from the initial purchase which by the way was a 66p buy in Aldi.
So on with the fight, one step at a time, little by little. I sometimes think how little rubbish my parents and grandparents had. Pre plastic wrap, glass bottles and no huge fridges or freezers to encourage over buying. So what we are doing isn't rocket science, it isn't even new. We've just gotten lazy.
So hopefully if everybody does what they can then one day we will be doing it without even thinking.
My main bugbears are plastics, and wasting food. I recycle what I can and take brown paper bags to the supermarket to put my fruit and veg into, and loose bakery items can be put into them too. However, on so many occasions I am unable to purchase loose products. I have now taken to unwrapping them, once I'm through the checkout of course, and leave the supermarket to deal with the issue. Yes, I do get a few funny looks, but hey who cares I'm saying the planet. LOL. I know this doesn't get rid of the problem but if more people did it them maybe all supermarkets would start to take the issue more seriously. I know some supermarkets are starting down that road and good for them, let's hope more follow suit, and as quickly as possible.
Next on my list is food waste. This is often made more difficult as I cannot buy smaller amounts of produce. Ok if the extra can be frozen but sometimes this just isn't possible. I know I am sometimes at fault by overbuying, or by not eating what we had planned as we go out to eat, or just don't get around to eating what I've bought. Good meal planning is the definitely answer to this but even sometimes this can fall apart and there are leftovers. I am good at turning leftover veg into soups, adding to casseroles and stews. Lettuce browning at the edges, not so good, squiggly tomatoes the same. I know you all find these things lurking at the bottom of the vegetable drawer in the fridge from time to time.
I recently read about turning potato, carrot and sweet potato peeking into crisps or even indian bahjis! I do plan to give this a go soon. How bad could it be? Watch this space.
This week I was reading through Delia's Summer Cookbook for some ideas when I came across this recipe for pineapple juice. This is made by fermenting the pineapple peelings. Not sounding very appealing? I reserved judgement until I'd tried it. After all fermented foods are very in at the moment from a health point of view.
All that is involved is covering pineapple peelings in 850gms of water. Cover and leave at room temperature for 3-4 days until it starts to bubble. Strain, add sugar to taste and top up with soda water.
I added ice, resisted the temptation to add a slug of vodka, and tasted. To my surprise it wasn't too bad at all. In fact it was quite pleasant and I'm sure the vodka wouldn't have detracted from this LOL. That's for the next time! I've put the pineapple top into water to see if it will grow. So although I still have the post fermentation skin to dispose of I have at least gained a lot from the initial purchase which by the way was a 66p buy in Aldi.
So on with the fight, one step at a time, little by little. I sometimes think how little rubbish my parents and grandparents had. Pre plastic wrap, glass bottles and no huge fridges or freezers to encourage over buying. So what we are doing isn't rocket science, it isn't even new. We've just gotten lazy.
So hopefully if everybody does what they can then one day we will be doing it without even thinking.
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