2020: The Year I Became A #PlantParent

Happy New Year! I hope everybody is keeping well and coping with the new UK lockdown announcement. To say 2020 was a ride of a year would be an understatement, and sadly 2021 still continues to carry many of the same burdens, albeit with more progress (and therefore hope) behind us.

2020 was the year that more of us spent more time indoors, in our homes, than ever before. Aside from baking sourdough and banana bread, lots of us looked to self or home improvements to keep us busy, whether that's learning a new skill or redecorating a room. Of course, my lockdown was spent with a toddler, the kind who likes to be with her mama at all times, so whilst it wasn't the MOST productive way to spend a year we probably did a lot more than I give myself credit for! One thing I did repeatedly was to try and tidy and improve the appearance of our house and garden (this is always very much a two-steps-forward, one-step-back situation if you live with a toddler) and I noticed I really missed being able to pop to the shops and garden centres easily to pick things up to brighten up our home. Even when we weren't locked down, it still felt like more of a mission and more of a risk to venture out to the shops - and almost everywhere else. (Have you remembered your mask? Hand sanitiser? What are the rules on meeting people in any given moment? Are you standing 2 metres away? How on earth do you keep a toddler 2 metres away and stop them touching everything?!)

Plastic Free Kitchen

Today's #setmeplasticfree prompt is "kitchen" - possibly the worst room in the house for single use plastic. With a kitchen I think it's really important not to fall into the trap of buying extra, unnecessary things just because they're eco (Little Mindful Life made a great point about reusable straws - far better than single use, yes, but how many of us were using straws much in the first place?!) Repurposing what we already have is better for the environment than single use anything  - some examples include:

💚 Reusing old tupperware or even takeaway containers rather than using cling film.
💚 Microfibre reusable cloths rather than anti bac wipes (we use 11 billion each year, they're responsible for 93% of blockages in UK sewers, and the vast majority contain non-biodegradable plastic. If you cannot bear to wash a cloth, switch to plastic free kitchen roll and anti bac spray)
💚 I bought some reusable silicone lids for covering bowls as an alternative to cling film (there's always a half eaten bowl of baby oats in our fridge)
💚 Cooking from scratch more inevitably means less packaging, even though the supermarkets still have huge issues with unnecessary packaging. Where possible, veg boxes, pick your owns and veg markets are a good way to consume less plastic.

As for us - our biggest consumption of single use plastic by FAR is the fruit and veg we buy at the supermarket. However, we're lucky enough to have a garden big enough to grow vegetables in, and everything is thriving following the changeable weather we've had - hopefully harvesting our own will make a big impact on reducing the amount of veg wrapped in plastic that we need to buy in the shops.

What are your favourite kitchen eco swaps?