Day 1 - Planet Organic and Broad Beans

Day 1
I started the day well, using my own aluminum bottles for work and in by bag. I was working all day today, so it was easy not to go buy anything. I had my own lunch prepared a few days ago, so no need to buy anything out. I must say that where I am avoiding buying plastic and especially disposable plastic, I am still using my plastic food containers. These containers are BPA free by Sistema and in my opinion I don't see why I shouldn't continue to use them now that I have them. I understand some plastic tubs have harmful BPA chemicals, but these don't, and i'm unlikely to be throwing these away anytime soon - however I will not buy anymore, so that is the biggest point really.

Okay so whilst on my lunch break I found a place called Planet Organic in Muswell Hill which are in partnership with a company called Unpackaged. So i went here after work, as they are open until 9pm even on a Sunday! So in the shop they actually have grains, pulses, cereals, pastas, dried fruit etc and you can just take a container, weigh it out and pay at
 the till. No packaging required. This is great for me, because I was beginning to worry about where i'd get cereal and pasta! And I eat a lot of both so it was important. I also bought these paper sandwich bags in there, which may also help me when getting some fruit/ veg from supermarkets as i could put it in there instead of the plastic bags they still supply in most shops. They also had a refill station for the Ecover products, which included fabric conditioner, laundry detergent and washing up liquid etc. I did buy some veg from here, and they supplied paper bags, however they had a lot of things wrapped in plastic and if they weren't then the price was extortionate. Some of the things I could not buy here included meat, cheese, some veg, pasta in packets, crisps, biscuits etc.

 I also found the Ecoleaf toilet rolls I wanted, they are made from recycled paper AND the outside packaging is not plastic, it is compostable, so win/win! Very pleased! No bamboo toothbrushes or alternative to toothpaste though.

 Luckily, I saw a green grocer/ corner shop just around the corner from Planet Organic, that had a very good selection of fruit and veg, with paper bags too and cheaper prices. So I bought quite a few things I needed. Annoyingly I had to buy two things today that were wrapped in plastic and ordinarily these aren't things I would ever buy - cucumber (ew!) and lettuce (i'm not really fussed on lettuce!). But i'm looking after a couple of guinea pigs for a friend, and I was out of veggies to feed them (and these were two things she said to feed them, so I had to buy them). Now, I only have the piggies until Friday, and I'm hopeful that i'll be able to find these unpackaged at a farm shop I know, so hopefully that's doable! I feel cheated that neither a grocer or a eco cautious shop would not have unwrapped cucumbers and lettuce - it's annoying! I did find broad beans though, this was a very big surprise for me to find in such a small shop, so i'm happy I found some! I always wait until they are available in the supermarkets usually, so it was a bonus buy! Very pleased!



 That was my day, and tomorrow I'll be going to a farm shop, trying to figure out toothpaste still and sorting out milk as everywhere I go it's all in plastic!

Thanks for reading!