Vegan Living & Ethical Buying

Hi,

I'm not sure if there is a thread which covers this already but I am a vegan who tries to consume as ethically as possible and wondered if there is anyone else out there trying to do the same thing in as much of a money saving way as possible!??

I have recently had an increase in income and have therefore decided that from this day forward I will no longer purchase anything from any organisation that doesn't produce their goods ethically. It means that I will no longer use supermarkets; will either buy fresh products from a local organic box scheme or local organic producers; toiletries, household products and dry/tinned goods will be from a wholesale cooperative or a local health food shop.

Tomorrow I will look at a greener energy provider- I can't afford solar panels at the moment but I can look at renewable electricity suppliers. I already bank with an ethical bank and am basing all my choices on ratings via the ethical consumer website.

I know that this isn't going to be easy, not using any mainstream shops is going to take a lot of planning but I think its worth doing and hope that I'm not alone!! :rotfl:
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Comments

  • melanzana
    melanzana Posts: 3,953
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    I wish you luck on your journey.

    I hope someone likeminded will give you some pointers.

    I'm sorry, but great as your plan sounds, it would just be far too difficult for me to achieve, I don't have the energy or the willingness for the fight! But having said that, I admire you for trying and planning for it.

    I am sure there are vegan/sustainable websites out there with forums that might help. Have you googled them yet?
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698
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    I'm not "one of your lot" :)

    But I thought I'd mention this bunch - there might be one somewhere near to you.

    In short: A local business/venue is the collection point and you place an order for lots of local businesses. They all deliver to the collection point and you collect it from there within a few hours' slot ... with people socialising and swapping notes on organic string for fixing worn sandals.

    :)

    https://thefoodassembly.com/en

    It's like a local farmers' market where you collect.
  • Thanks melanzanza & pasturesnew :D

    A lot of the stuff that I buy currently is from online retailers but some of them have questionable ethics so it makes it harder...:(

    I have found a food assembly type organisation locally so am awaiting some info on them too :D I like the idea of that so hopefully that will work out - I know that it will be a case of trial and error at first but I'm pretty confident that i'll be in the swing of it within a couple of months

    I am sorting my spare room this week so that I can get a bulk order from the wholesalers and have some storage room for it :rotfl:
  • I have made the switch to a 100% renewable energy supplier and joined a local organic farmshare scheme which I will be using from next week :D

    I am going to do an inventory of all my products and look for the most ethical alternative for when I need to replace them - thankfully it won't take too long as I have tried to live ethically for quite some time ;) I have started the shopping list for my main shop and its going to be huge!!:eek: I'm hopefully going to be able to hold off on ordering it until late December which means I will have to meal plan accordingly- by then I hope to have all the info I need :D
  • jimjames
    jimjames Posts: 17,515
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    A lot of the stuff that I buy currently is from online retailers but some of them have questionable ethics so it makes it harder...:(

    Just a thought, in terms of impact are you considering the whole lifecycle? Individual online deliveries might actually be more wasteful that supermarkets for example where 1 lorry deliveries thousands of items.

    It's a very difficult one to assess, I try to buy local and grow our own produce as well as walking anywhere I can rather than using the car but sometimes the less obvious solutions are more efficient.

    In terms of banks, I'm not sure any are particularly ethical. I'd prefer to take the money off them and then use it as I see fit rather than have a bank paying me nothing because they say they have some policy. P2P might be one way of bypassing banks completely if you're looking for a return.
    Remember the saying: if it looks too good to be true it almost certainly is.
  • jimjames wrote: »
    Just a thought, in terms of impact are you considering the whole lifecycle? Individual online deliveries might actually be more wasteful that supermarkets for example where 1 lorry deliveries thousands of items.

    It's a very difficult one to assess, I try to buy local and grow our own produce as well as walking anywhere I can rather than using the car but sometimes the less obvious solutions are more efficient..

    Thanks jimjames -fortunately the cooperative wholesalers I will use again from now on (had to stop when I left my last job as couldn't manage the initial outlay) actually delivers to local health food shops so I am just part of that route, no more miles involved than if I were to go to a supermarket :D

    I live in a rural area so no chance of being able to go car free as public transport is beyond appalling here but with the wholesaler delivering and the farmshare hub being on the route home from work I am hoping to keep petrol consumption down as far as possible.

    I am going to grow a few of my own things - salad leaves, tomatoes, globe artichokes, courgettes, raspberries, herbs and apples as I do most years but I don't expect that I will have too much time to devote to it next year so cannot commit to too much ;)

    Re-homed some fruit & veg yesterday from a friend who is unexpectedly going away for a week - papayas, avocadoes, kale, fine green beans and broccoli spears :T very impressed and with what I already have it will see me through until my first farmshare box :D

    Pretty impressed with what I've achieved so far but the real achievement will be keeping all this up when it becomes inconvenient- resisting the temptation to just pop into a supermarket for something like sugar when I run out won't necessarily be easy!!
  • I really admire your ethical stance. My motivation for financial stability is to be able to live like this. Definitely following this post!
    (PS Vegan MSE-ers ftw!)
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  • ahw23
    ahw23 Posts: 38 Forumite
    Hello! We're not vegan (although we try to limit our consumption of animal-products to sustainable levels), but we share many of your aims and have a similar feeling of having turned a corner after which we don't have to compromise so much. One company I would really recommend is Hodmedods, who are promoting British-grown organic pulses. Most packaging of 5kg and under is compostable and prices are very decent when bought in bulk. We love their British quinoa! Facebook groups you might like to explore for other ideas include some of the Zero Waste ones, as there are a lot of people on there who also agonize about the morality of things like celotape.

    As for growing, I came to the conclusion that the greatest improvements in food miles, packaging, cost and flavour for the minimum effort would come from becoming nearly self-sufficient in fruit, including as much as possible of the hungry gap, so we are hoping to plant our new garden with a variety of things including apple and pear varieties chosen for keeping qualities.
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  • Hello squirrelgirl,
    I'm not vegan, but am trying to live more ethically and find a lot of the arguments for veganism very compelling so I will be following this thread with interest. Good luck with your journey.
    PasturesNew, thank you for the link to the food assembly. Our local one meets at one of my favourite pubs, so I've signed up and am looking forward to being able to get lots of local goodies as well as getting top tips on organic string ;-)
  • savvy
    savvy Posts: 31,128
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    Hello fellow vegan ;) Unsure where you are and what's in your area, but there are some freeganism groups around the UK that take surplus products from market traders that are heading to landfill for no purpose than the traders can't sell it and have to pay to dispose of it. They have pop up cafes where they feed the homeless etc, as much as poss and operate non profit pop up shops where you pay what you feel for the goods. One was doing the rounds and dropped off 4 pallets of Portobello mushrooms, 2 large fennels, loads of lemons and lambs lettuce to me for £5.

    This is our local one - Curb who also run a regular clothes swap too.

    Check out The Real Food Project
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