A new royal start

Mrs_Money_Penny

Happy Birthday. Time for cake 🎂

TallGirl

Happy Birthday hope you have a lovely day 

themadvix

Belated Happy Birthday Jess! I hope you had a lovely day! (Must have totally missed that in your post - sorry!)

MissRikkiC

QueenJess said:

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.

It was that which made me realise quite how bad it was. I think I filled half the bin with a weekly supply of fruit and veg wrapper! I’ve used riverford in the past and said to my OH this week that I’d like to go back to them. I wonder if they still do their referral scheme. 

QueenJess

MissRikkiC said:

QueenJess said:

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.

It was that which made me realise quite how bad it was. I think I filled half the bin with a weekly supply of fruit and veg wrapper! I’ve used riverford in the past and said to my OH this week that I’d like to go back to them. I wonder if they still do their referral scheme. 

Yes they still do. Let me know if you want me to refer you - we both get £15.

edinburgher

I do try and buy the odd organic bit, but it's not overly easy to get fresh organic produce in my neck of the woods. I looked at Riverford, but they don't serve our postcode. I think we have a local community farm type place, so they're worth exploring, no idea if they're organic though.

QueenJess

Gosh - my days are so rushed now and seem to be planned in advance down to the nearest minute with to do lists etc. I guess a get a lot done, but I enjoy doing nothing

Birthday all went well thanks, but I was grumpy on Friday having been to gym until late the night before and then got up really early to change all the beds, do all the washing (didn't want to do washing on my birthday) and then make my own birthday cake.  Kids were mostly behaved... they had their moments!  Anyway, we had a nice day out on Sat, DH cooked me dinner (after the kids had theirs) and on Sun we went for a massive pub lunch.  Felt weird not to make any food for 2 days!  There is now only 1 piece of cake left, so I am planning on making another cake tomorrow (I know... we are going to turn into cake!).  As we have oranges left, I will make a chocolate and orange marble cake.

This morning was another get up early job to hang up the washing I timed to finish early this morning, then get the bread on to prove before getting everyone ready and walked to school/nursery.  Lunch was a bit rushed, but I had leftover macaroni and cheese (as did DS at school) that I made at lunch yesterday and also made a few quick biscuits as DS had the last ones yesterday and baked the bread.  About to rush out in a minute to get DS, get DD, then deliver DS to climbing (Beaver's evening out), then back again to feed DD whatever she fancies and prep some dinner to be made for when DS appears back (DH is picking him up on his way back home from work) which also clashes with DD going to bed.  So I am sure that will be chaos.  Looking forward to a relaxing evening in front of the TV and will relight a free candle I had from Buy Nothing.  Might even break open a puzzle or something as I can't just watch TV, but need something not too taxing as I've spent all day working on tricky stuff at work.

@edinburgher organic stuff can be hard to find depending on the area of the country and sm.  I have to admit that I got sick of sm shopping in a million places and bar baked beans (M&S) and the oats/Weetabix (Aldi) I do mine in Waitrose.  There, I said it!  My only other options are Lidl (doesn't have anything organic), M&S (ur... I'm not that rich plus I doubt it has everything I need) or Sainsburys (very limited organic stuff where I am and I got sick of their poor stock control, being incredibly busy and being out of everything).  At least Waitrose has all the organic stuff there and even my zero waste shop is 90% organic as well.  If you time it right, I can shop with just me and the polite old people

Better run!

themadvix

You had me all excited there, thinking Aldi sold organic weetabix.... then I remembered they are one of the few things that you buy that aren't. Totally with you on M&S org baked beans - they are tasty. And no shame from me for shopping at WR - I feel food is priority for you and me, so that's spending in line with our priorities!

Now you've inspired me to make a chocolate orange marble cake... I have oranges in the freezer.... mmm...

Ed, worth checking the local place out - organic certification is expensive and difficult to get, but I know our local CSA (community supported agriculture) farm is largely organic in terms of practices, so it might be the same with yours.

MissRikkiC

QueenJess said:

MissRikkiC said:

QueenJess said:

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.

It was that which made me realise quite how bad it was. I think I filled half the bin with a weekly supply of fruit and veg wrapper! I’ve used riverford in the past and said to my OH this week that I’d like to go back to them. I wonder if they still do their referral scheme. 

Yes they still do. Let me know if you want me to refer you - we both get £15.

Thanks QJ. I’ll wait until there isn’t potatoes in the boxes on account of having recently bought a large sack and then I’ll drop you a message Ty

themadvix

@MissRikkiC there will always be potatoes in the seasonal boxes but the quick boxes (scroll down a bit) are always potato-free. Hth!