Wasting Less and trying to be more sustainable

I have for many years practiced economy at home, trying to waste as little as possible.  I was already recycling things and items giving them new life and also incorporating vintage items into my home before it became a big thing. Having grown up with a Nan who was always saving that pretty bag from the shop, brown paper bags, string, anything that could be recycled including butter papers, I suppose it was going to rub off somewhere down the line. All finds were safely stored in a kitchen drawer ready to be pulled out when needed. I still tend to do a lot of saving like this, and also the occasional waxed bread bags from a well known sliced bread loaf is smoothed down and used to wrap up sarnies if going out for the day.  I really want to do a lot more than I am doing however I am very much restricted by space issues to the extent that certain things I cannot move on any further than I have to date.  Am therefore having to go with the flow and accept things as they are.

My collecting started off over 40 years ago as a young married woman I saw many beautiful items to buy brand new but we could not afford them only having just purchased our own home. I therefore resorted to charity shop as I truly found so many gorgeous individual and beautiful things in this way that did not hurt my purse; buying has not stopped really since. Often I am quite happy to buy an older piece as it has so much more character. I continue to practice both to this day where I can.  Restricted on the charity shop buying at the moment, but that is for the time being as what goes around comes around.  I have also inherited many beautiful family pieces as well.

As everything is so blooming expensive I intend to tighten up on the waste issue in my kitchen and put it to even more use. I have been doing this for a few years in any event. I have found though that every so often I need a re-set and need to shake things up a bit as either time runs out or I forget to do stuff that I had intended doing.  That word intention has all sorts of permutations and it will be different from person to person.  Pure intention often gets circumvented by what is going on in real life then it is adapted and becomes a different creature!  Of course, if there are bits of green stuff left over then you could pop this into a compost bin and cook your own compost to save pennies when it comes to plant season.

 

When it comes to vegetable waste, I tend to use a lot of the outer leaves of leeks in any event, and use bits that are not normally recommended to use in my cooking. Leeks are one of my go too veggies and I use them quite frequently. We are at the moment coming to the end of the Leek season here in the UK, but that does not mean that I cannot plot and plan for later in the year and maybe even growing my own.   I also use kale as well as lots of other veggies and shredded outer cabbage leaves as well.  I choose to steam a lot of my veggies as it helps retain so much more flavour and goodness which is part of the process of eating in any event.

There are somethings that I need to introduce/reintroduce into the kitchen some of which I do on a limited budget in any event but there is always room for expansion. I am talking of saving good outer-parts of veggies popping them into a Ziplock bag and then once a week making veg stock or using them up in soups so that you use everything you possibly can do. If making stock you can always heat process for the pantry shelf whether that be by pressure canning or Water-bath canning.  A good stock is a good base for a gravy or soup, lots of other lovely goodies can be added, but for me when I cook it is all about flavour. There is so much more we can do. I am also thinking of dehydrating veggies like this as well long term to make my own dried Bouillon powder as well as add in Marigold and Nasturtium flowers. Also vegetables like Beetroot as Beetroot powder are good for colouring items without any taste.  The housewife of years past especially when most cooking was done on fires or wood stoves was to always have a pot of something on the go like a stew, but also stock so that there was a constant supply of flavour for things such as gravies, stews and soups.  

I also intend to where I can during the summer and autumn season intend to make a load of soups for the Pantry shelf. Seasonal ones and mainstay ones like French Onion Soup.  The seasonal flavours to bring summer scents and flavours into a cold winter day.

Being sustainable also means helping yourself where you can too and having a go at growing stuff yourself.  There are no set rules and each season is different, and you learn as you go along. Even long established gardeners from time to time get it wrong, but the practice helps you find your way around things. Each year you add to your belt, you learn something more you did not know, and often how to deal with any problems. However with salad stuff being so expensive quite a bit of salad stuff has been planted here, cucumber, lettuce, rocket, herbs, Nasturtiums, tomatoes, chillies every little helps as they say. I also have runner beans, courgettes, both yellow and green, I have sown some Sunflowers and a couple of Artichokes (never had them so a big experiment for me). However from what I understand, once the seed has grown into a plant it will come back year after year and so even if I do not like them perhaps someone I know may.

Remember the art of being sustainable also includes the Wild Larder, things like Wild Garlic, Jack by the Hedge, Elderflower blossom for cordial/syrup, wine, and Fizzy Champagne type wine, liqueur, Turkish delight, hand cream etc. There is also May Blossom for making wine and for Brandy Cup and syrup. Always worth putting a few things up that little bit different for the winter months.

I am still as always trying to remove dependence on certain items from the grocery store. I absolutely love cream style cheeses such as Philadelphia, but I know I can make this at home and so I am going to have a little play in the coming days to see what I can come up with.  I particularly like this with warmed Croissants and some of my homemade whole Blackberry jam. Also lovely served with tinned drained peaches as well or homemade Apricot jam. It is often the simplest of things in life that bring the most pleasure - well for me it is.

I predominantly am talking about food and household related items, but I have also been known to find lovely clothing at the Charity shop which not only benefits the charity from which they were bought, but the projects they support but it also keeps fabric and clothes out of Landfill too.  Often I have bought a clothing item and then stripped it down because I liked the fabric.  You can then turn it into patchwork items, or other sewn items to provide for your needs economically.  Large men's shirts (the bigger size the better) can be stripped down to provide fabric for this and on average you will get about 1 metre of fabric out of each shirt.

Whatever I do these days, I try to save the pennies and I do try and eke out what I have as much as I can normally with food, but why not with other items too.  Food for thought I think.

More to implement into my homemaking, cooking, preserving, crafting etc.  Each time I try something it is leading me on a journey and on many occasions leading to a revival of what are termed "old fashioned skills".  Me I don't think they are "old fashioned", I think they are all life skills and something we all should be doing.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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Being sustainable covers many formats, but it does help save waste, saves us pennies and gives us a kinder more natural way of eating and living.  There is a big hue and cry about plastics and with good reason. However those items of this ilk are with many of us in any event.  As they wear out they are being replaced with more sustainable items such as glass containers, or jars.  I am being sensible and practical rather than dumping everything in one fair swoop.  Margarine and butter tubs as well as trays used for mushrooms that sort of thing are all being recycled for starting seeds off as well for as long as they will last.  There is always a use for something somewhere along the line.