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Zero Waste Week 2016

Hey what? You are used to reading a sewing/upcycling blog and up pops Zero Waste Week? How does that fit?! I care deeply about our environment. One of the reasons I try and sew with preloved fabric is my desire to try and tread lightly, for my creativity not to use up more of the world’s precious resources. Learning more about climate change and our dwindling resources scares and overwhelms me – to be honest most of the time I bury my head in the sand. But I do try and take small steps to make a difference. For example fabric waste (small off cuts) are saved for the charity shop where they can sell them as rags. As a family we try and grow some of our own food, we compost and recycle.

Click here for Zero Waste week

I’m human – conflicted about my desire to do the best for the environment and time management. I love zero waste week, being a zero waste week ambassador holds me accountable to take our waste seriously. In our home our biggest waste is food waste. We have extremely picky eaters (another subject in itself). The week passes in a flash with a concerted effort on my part to cook from scratch. If I make the kids fairy cakes then I avoid the plastic packaging of the shop bought ones. Sadly at the end of the week I often feel exhausted, the efforts are not sustainable in the long term.

This year the theme is “Use it Up” aimed at reducing food waste. Each day there is an emphasis on common wasted foods.  Food waste is important for a variety of reasons including embedded energy (water, transportation, packaging), and the methane produced if food is landfilled.

My pledge is to menu plan using as many homegrown vegetables as I can. It’s been a poor growing year, this week we have corn on the cob, tomatoes and potatoes which disintegrate as soon as I attempt to cook them. Not much to go on!! Over the weekend I did manage to sort and organise the freezer. So in keeping with this years theme for Zero Waste Week “Use it up” I have utilised the freezer contents too!

Transform your Tea Towel into an Apron (2)

Cooking seasonally reduces food costs and adds a variety to your diet. So what are we eating this week?

Monday – frittata with salad, using up cooked sausages, from the freezer, tomatoes and potatoes from the garden (kids sweet and sour chicken and rice)

Tuesday – Spaghetti bolognaise for kids. Lasagna for us, beans, corn on the cob

Wednesday – Homemade pizza

Thursday – Butternut squash and spinach curry (kids fishfingers, chips and spaghetti)

Friday – Tomato sauce with tuna on pasta, corn on the cob

For lunch I am looking forward to soup made with the remainder of last weeks vegetable shopping with dahl from dinner yesterday  – I’m sure its going to be scrummy. I will be making up some staples I regularly buy, in particular granola and fairy cakes.

Do you menu plan? Grow vegetables? Any tips on attempting to extend the growing season in the greenhouse welcome:)

One in nine people go to bed hungry – lets try and reduce our individual food waste, in a sustainable way.

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Roy Shaffer

Monday 12th of September 2016

Zero waste week.. I like the sound of that.

Rachelle Strauss

Tuesday 6th of September 2016

How annoying about the home grown harvest! But it sounds like you're going to do really well and I'm glad meal planning works for you. I hope you find some new lovely meals and enjoy the rest of the week

Julie

Monday 5th of September 2016

Hi Vicky, Thanks for this article. We also have a lot of tomatoes this year, but I need to cook with them as they wont keep long, so tomato soup today and my husband made green tomato chutney. I also am part of a community project that picks local fruit from people that can't use all the fruit, apples, plums, damsons, pears etc. And we give it away on a stall once a week. This has become very successful and we get people (usually with allotments ) that have other veggies to offer. It is extremely rewarding to see the fruit being used and not wasted. A pity our main supermarkets in Britain don't do the same. I will be particularly mindful this week to use up what we have brought and grown. Also, chickens are great for eating up any waste from the kitchen and allotment! And you get eggs without the packaging!

Vicky

Monday 5th of September 2016

I love the idea of the community project:) If only they existed everywhere. Having chickens are currently under debate, would my son view them as a solution to his desire for a pet?!

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