In Sweden and Norway you do see a lot of glass jarred vegetables in a way to don't in the UK often thought that was a good system and thing.
Life without Single Use
- Thread starter Chris
- Start date
-
Come along to the amazing Summer Moot (21st July - 2nd August), a festival of bushcrafting and camping in a beautiful woodland PLEASE CLICK HERE for more information.
What about those packing noodles now made of starch ? Those break down cleanly. Could something not be made like the old greaseproof paper from cellulose.
We used to use leaves, in some parts of the world they still do.
We'd just be using processed leaves, iimmc ?
I take my own home made waxed wraps to buy cheese at the deli or butchers. (Both sell cheese) I ask them not to give me the plastic sheet they wrap the cheese in. Both will hand me the cheese in a paper bag. Take your own paper bags and greaseproof paper if you don't have wax wraps, (which are simple to make). Speak up, take action, and ask for what you want, rather than quietly complain to yourself.
Sadly when I buy meat and cheese at the farmers market, it comes prepacked in plastic for hygiene and ease of transport..(in plastic crates) which presents a dilemma. I want to support local small traders and farmers, but I then have to accept plastic packaging. There is no choice in the matter due to health and safty regulations. When I remember the old markets in the sixties, its a bit of a tooth grinder! I don't remember anyone being sick from spoiled food in those days, but maybe, being a smaller person, I just didn't hear about it. My gran bought her daily food from the market, and we were never sick. She only bought tinned goods from the supermarket. Took ages to save up the greenshield stamps!!!!
Sadly when I buy meat and cheese at the farmers market, it comes prepacked in plastic for hygiene and ease of transport..(in plastic crates) which presents a dilemma. I want to support local small traders and farmers, but I then have to accept plastic packaging. There is no choice in the matter due to health and safty regulations. When I remember the old markets in the sixties, its a bit of a tooth grinder! I don't remember anyone being sick from spoiled food in those days, but maybe, being a smaller person, I just didn't hear about it. My gran bought her daily food from the market, and we were never sick. She only bought tinned goods from the supermarket. Took ages to save up the greenshield stamps!!!!
I do almost al my food shopping at the market in town each week or fortnight.
Fruit and veg arrives in reusable plastic or wooden crates, is weighed and sold in brown paper bags or just tipped into my cloth shopping bag.
Fish and shellfish arrive in wooden crates or polystyrene boxes and is sold either in waxed paper or in thin plastic bags, then that is put into a thicker plastic bag unless I take a container. Shucked shellfish is often prepared in advance or to order (i.e. come and ask for 3kg of scallops, come back in 15 minutes to pick up) and sold in plastic tubs, but since it is weighed in the shell I don't see that it would be a problem for me to take in my own re-usable glass jars
I don't see how the meat arrives, but it's also sold wrapped in paper; I put the paper wrapped meat into my coolbag, but most people take the plastic to avoid the blood from leaking onto other items.
Likewise, cheese is weighed out on the paper that it will be wrapped in, then goes into the coolbag (on top of the meat).
Yoghurt is in glass jars that I take back for €0.05 per pot; butter wrapped in paper; eggs in cardboard egg boxes that I take back. Raw milk is still in plastic bottles, but I've seen other people handing in glass bottles when they buy milk, so that looks possible for regular orders.
Really, it is like the market I remember in Sheffield in the 1970s. It's not at all difficult for me to completely avoid single use paper packaging.
From time to time I will go and buy a few things at the supermarket; most fruit and veg is in bulk, sold self-service by weight in paper bags. A good few dry goods are sold from hoppers in the same way: various nuts and dried fruit, brown and white rice, couscous, breakfast cereals and even (in the Vie Claire "organic" mini-market) a few biscuits (less breakable kinds, like fig rolls). Once or twice a month I call in at one of the three butcher's shops in town; again, the meats are weighed on and wrapped in paper.
Fruit and veg arrives in reusable plastic or wooden crates, is weighed and sold in brown paper bags or just tipped into my cloth shopping bag.
Fish and shellfish arrive in wooden crates or polystyrene boxes and is sold either in waxed paper or in thin plastic bags, then that is put into a thicker plastic bag unless I take a container. Shucked shellfish is often prepared in advance or to order (i.e. come and ask for 3kg of scallops, come back in 15 minutes to pick up) and sold in plastic tubs, but since it is weighed in the shell I don't see that it would be a problem for me to take in my own re-usable glass jars
I don't see how the meat arrives, but it's also sold wrapped in paper; I put the paper wrapped meat into my coolbag, but most people take the plastic to avoid the blood from leaking onto other items.
Likewise, cheese is weighed out on the paper that it will be wrapped in, then goes into the coolbag (on top of the meat).
Yoghurt is in glass jars that I take back for €0.05 per pot; butter wrapped in paper; eggs in cardboard egg boxes that I take back. Raw milk is still in plastic bottles, but I've seen other people handing in glass bottles when they buy milk, so that looks possible for regular orders.
Really, it is like the market I remember in Sheffield in the 1970s. It's not at all difficult for me to completely avoid single use paper packaging.
From time to time I will go and buy a few things at the supermarket; most fruit and veg is in bulk, sold self-service by weight in paper bags. A good few dry goods are sold from hoppers in the same way: various nuts and dried fruit, brown and white rice, couscous, breakfast cereals and even (in the Vie Claire "organic" mini-market) a few biscuits (less breakable kinds, like fig rolls). Once or twice a month I call in at one of the three butcher's shops in town; again, the meats are weighed on and wrapped in paper.
I think it's probably pretty doable with foodstuff, at least on an individual basis. Though, I expect a lot of it ties in with financial status, lifestyle, where you live and so on.
One area where it seems to be more necessary, is the world of medical supplies, preserving sterility etc. I'm not sure what realistic alternatives are available for that type of thing.
Last time I was in France.. many moons (decades) ago, the rural town markets were the best place to buy food. Here in my corner of the world, we have the farmers market once a month from May to September, after that , no more farmers market till next year. We have lost our lovely fish man to retirement, he was always good for a cut price crab or prawns , or a bunch of fresh samphire for free, at the end of the day.
The fresh bread Baker has not come back this year either, and no fresh veg. And the olive, and chilli man hasnt been seen for the last two years. Pretty poor realy, there are more craft stalls than anything else.
Before covid lockdowns ruined the business, I could refil my ecover bottles, now I have to go 20 miles to do that!
butterbur was once used for wrapping butter and cheese.
In answer to the question I think, yes, it is do able. All this stuff just takes a bit of thinking and effort to achieve. Since I am a minimalist and not a big consumer anyway little bits of plastic wrapping etc are just tedious and also I am not an anti plastic crusader. I think its brilliant stuff xxxx
In answer to the question I think, yes, it is do able. All this stuff just takes a bit of thinking and effort to achieve. Since I am a minimalist and not a big consumer anyway little bits of plastic wrapping etc are just tedious and also I am not an anti plastic crusader. I think its brilliant stuff xxxx
Just done my recycling today.
3 glass bottles
Half a blue bag of plastic, mainly because I've bought several punnets of strawberry, which though fairly local, are sadly presented in plastic punnets.
Not worth putting paper out as it barely covered the bottom of the container.
Food waste was a small caddy, as the compost bin is full to bursting, and I can barely get the lid on.
Light plastic film and wrapping was a 3/4 full carrier bag, but it is a month's worth.
Friday I took some jars to a lady who makes jam and chutney. Which I had rescued from a neighbours recycling bin earlier in the week.
That's lot.
I've got a lovely willow basket for my shopping, and I also have a home made cotton bag, made from a scrap of material,(1 metre made four of them.) and glass milk bottles to refill.
Realy wish I could totaly get rid of plastic, but its not easy ! No matter how careful I buy, some things are only available with plastic surrounding them. For instance, a jar of vasalin used to be glass but is now only in plastic. Frustrating.
3 glass bottles
Half a blue bag of plastic, mainly because I've bought several punnets of strawberry, which though fairly local, are sadly presented in plastic punnets.
Not worth putting paper out as it barely covered the bottom of the container.
Food waste was a small caddy, as the compost bin is full to bursting, and I can barely get the lid on.
Light plastic film and wrapping was a 3/4 full carrier bag, but it is a month's worth.
Friday I took some jars to a lady who makes jam and chutney. Which I had rescued from a neighbours recycling bin earlier in the week.
That's lot.
I've got a lovely willow basket for my shopping, and I also have a home made cotton bag, made from a scrap of material,(1 metre made four of them.) and glass milk bottles to refill.
Realy wish I could totaly get rid of plastic, but its not easy ! No matter how careful I buy, some things are only available with plastic surrounding them. For instance, a jar of vasalin used to be glass but is now only in plastic. Frustrating.
The old days...
Does anyone remember the time before supermarkets when red meat was actually brown and aged yet people never got ill with such rotten meat?
The was a documentary on supermarkets or food before them. Apparently it was a supermarket ploy to convince us that aged meat is rotten and red meat with very short shelf life is safe. It was only to shorten the time the meat needs to be stored to make it more efficient, cheaper and more profitable. Now you have to go to specialist places to get properly aged beef for the flavour it imparts. Plastic, single use, sealed containers, to keep the meat safe, is just the mass market consumerist food industry's newest con!
Does anyone remember the time before supermarkets when red meat was actually brown and aged yet people never got ill with such rotten meat?
The was a documentary on supermarkets or food before them. Apparently it was a supermarket ploy to convince us that aged meat is rotten and red meat with very short shelf life is safe. It was only to shorten the time the meat needs to be stored to make it more efficient, cheaper and more profitable. Now you have to go to specialist places to get properly aged beef for the flavour it imparts. Plastic, single use, sealed containers, to keep the meat safe, is just the mass market consumerist food industry's newest con!
Always got to go for the mankiest looking joint/steak I can find. Ideally looks like something that was pulled out of a swamp, dried and smells like stilton. That bright red stuff is dreadful.
Unfortunately as people have more and more distance placed between them and the animal in the field, the understanding gets less and less. I’d wager that a large percentage of the population isn’t even aware that you can age meat for months without it becoming inedible.
This thread makes me realise how much things have changed over my lifetime. My earliest memories date from when I lived in a village store of which my mother was the manageress. It being wartime, many things were rationed. Nothing was pre-wrapped and goods were usually put straight into shoppers' bags or baskets. Paper bags were sometimes used but bacon, cheese or similar were wrapped in paper.
I remember plastic bags coming into use much later in the 1950's but it was the coming of the supermarket later in the decade that began the trend for things ready-wrapped in plastic There were no best before or use by dates in those days.
It was not acceptable to pick one's own vegetables or other loose items in shops or from market stalls. The shopkeeper or market stall holder picked out the required items and weighed them. I remember a school friend's mother forgetting she was no longer on the Malta station but back in Portsmouth getting sworn at by a stall holder when she started picking out her own tomatoes as was the Mediterranean custom.
Last week I bought a rack of lamb from our local butcher. He put it on a plastic tray which he then enveloped in shrink wrap plastic film before putting it in a plastic bag: and he prides himself on being an old fashioned butcher.
I remember plastic bags coming into use much later in the 1950's but it was the coming of the supermarket later in the decade that began the trend for things ready-wrapped in plastic There were no best before or use by dates in those days.
It was not acceptable to pick one's own vegetables or other loose items in shops or from market stalls. The shopkeeper or market stall holder picked out the required items and weighed them. I remember a school friend's mother forgetting she was no longer on the Malta station but back in Portsmouth getting sworn at by a stall holder when she started picking out her own tomatoes as was the Mediterranean custom.
Last week I bought a rack of lamb from our local butcher. He put it on a plastic tray which he then enveloped in shrink wrap plastic film before putting it in a plastic bag: and he prides himself on being an old fashioned butcher.
Going round Brixton market in the early 80s it was all paper bags or veg tipped straight into the shopping basket. All sorts of exotics such as plantains and yams too, but my mother wasn't having any of that! I also recall a mobile butcher in North Devon as late as '93 who had tiny fillet steaks but nearly two inches thick and dark as a dark thing, which I'm pretty sure he wrapped in paper. Oh, and the butcher in Woking who still had sawdust on his floor, which fascinated me as a child.
Suppose that makes me old, but it wasn't that long ago that we could manage without all this packaging, and evidently we didn't all die from it.
Suppose that makes me old, but it wasn't that long ago that we could manage without all this packaging, and evidently we didn't all die from it.
Butcher's shops all had sawdust on the floors when I was little, and they had carcasses hanging up right beside where people queued too.
We knew what meat actually was, you could smell it, every shop had it's own distinctive smell. Butcher, baker, greengrocer, chemist, sweetie shop....now it's all wrapped in plastic.
We knew what meat actually was, you could smell it, every shop had it's own distinctive smell. Butcher, baker, greengrocer, chemist, sweetie shop....now it's all wrapped in plastic.
I put things in zip lock bags. When they are empty, i turn them inside out, wash them thoroughly and use them again. They can last a long time. Only get binned when the zip fails.
I remember the butcher's shop with sawdust on the floor and carcasses hanging up. The smell, though, was of pine.
I still see half carcasses being carried from the wagon to the butcher's shop now, as I walk past early in the morning, but they go straight into the cold room at the back.
This is the sort of thing that could very easily be fixed, same as netted oranges.
Dewhurst’s always had hanging meat on display under a huge head of a longhorn bull. + sawdust + a wooden chopping block that costs thousands from an interior design studio now.
Burgon’s Grocers packed flour, (pudding) rice, oatmeal, sultanas etc in various sizes of thick sugarpaper bag. Some were dark blue and some were maroon and had weights (in lb. and oz.) printed on them but obviously not contents. It always smelled of coffee from a huge grinder with a glass hopper. That went into sugarpaper bags too.
Burgon’s Grocers packed flour, (pudding) rice, oatmeal, sultanas etc in various sizes of thick sugarpaper bag. Some were dark blue and some were maroon and had weights (in lb. and oz.) printed on them but obviously not contents. It always smelled of coffee from a huge grinder with a glass hopper. That went into sugarpaper bags too.
I didnt know that. I thought you dried it or it went rancid. Theres no distance though I could still kill a cow with my teeth. x
It made me laugh in the 80s when I found out that the group who owned Dewhurst the Butchers also owned Holland and Barret. That's capitalism kids
xSimilar threads
