A new royal start

themadvix

Ooh what did you get in your surprise bag?! I’ve not had one of those in a while.

Agree that a) making from scratch, b) mostly vegetarian, c) not buying stuff in packs makes up for a) organic and b) zero waste. Our grocery budget for 2 adults, mostly veggie, but am trying to up the fish and very occasional meat for Mr MV is £350 and I think that’s probably an overestimate.

 Are the Aldi oats also wrapped in paper? 

QueenJess

themadvix said:

Ooh what did you get in your surprise bag?! I’ve not had one of those in a while.

Agree that a) making from scratch, b) mostly vegetarian, c) not buying stuff in packs makes up for a) organic and b) zero waste. Our grocery budget for 2 adults, mostly veggie, but am trying to up the fish and very occasional meat for Mr MV is £350 and I think that’s probably an overestimate.

 Are the Aldi oats also wrapped in paper? 

I don’t know yet - it’s being delivered tomorrow, so I’ll let you know!

Yes, the Aldi oats are in paper. I’ve tried a few different ones and these are hands down the best ones I’ve tried. If I only needed oats I would go out of my way to go there to get them! 

themadvix

That’s really useful to know - I will check them out.

 Enjoy the surprise!

MissRikkiC

I admire your ethical buying for no packaging etc. I was really surprised last week at just how much there is in everything. It made me briefly consider why they do it and what I could about it which balanced cost and saving the planet. Your post got me thinking even more. 

QueenJess

MissRikkiC said:

I admire your ethical buying for no packaging etc. I was really surprised last week at just how much there is in everything. It made me briefly consider why they do it and what I could about it which balanced cost and saving the planet. Your post got me thinking even more. 

The biggest difference to packaging is fruit and veg.  I've been getting Riverford for about 15 years now and so this is normal to me, but when I went on holiday last year the timing of the box didn't work when we got back and I had to go to the sm.  I was horrified by the sheer amount of plastic and packaging for our usual fruit/veg.  It is also irritatingly worse for organic veg in the sm as you can't get anything loose.  One of those weird ethical dilemmas when you have to decide what is more important to you.

@themadvix my surprise bag contained pak choi, some random greens, a pack of coriander and loads of oranges.  Quite random!  Happily I was making a stir fry tonight so most of that will go in there.  I'm sure I can use oranges in baking and can freeze anything I can't use in the next week.  I was happily surprised with the coriander as mine is being very slow to grow from seed.

themadvix

That was a good bag! Normal oranges or blood oranges? (I love the blood oranges!) That’s good about the coriander too. I have a Vietnamese coriander plant as I can’t keep normal coriander alive. It loves outside all summer (it’s a woody herb) and then I take cuttings and keep them on the windowsill. It’s limited for using at the moment (especially as I’ve killed 3 of the cuttings, but the leaves dry well). Would recommend!

QueenJess

themadvix said:

That was a good bag! Normal oranges or blood oranges? (I love the blood oranges!) That’s good about the coriander too. I have a Vietnamese coriander plant as I can’t keep normal coriander alive. It loves outside all summer (it’s a woody herb) and then I take cuttings and keep them on the windowsill. It’s limited for using at the moment (especially as I’ve killed 3 of the cuttings, but the leaves dry well). Would recommend!

Normal oranges, but I don't normally get them so I will think up some fun things to make with them

I'll look out for Vietnamese coriander, but I found a huge pack of normal coriander seeds and thought I should use them up.  They grew to a reasonable size (about 10 cm) and seem to have stopped growing.  Maybe it's just not light enough for them.

redofromstart

Happy Birthday! I hope you have a lovely day.

LadyWithAPlan

Interested reading how organised you are on the food front - I also cook from scratch but rarely bake (am gf) but always love knowing somewhere in the UK there is a tin with always freshly baked biscuits at yours ! 

£140 seems reasonable when you are going organic etc  

edinburgher

Happy birthday @QueenJess - enjoy your 🍰