As a Big Fan of washable wipes (for the baby’s nappy changes and for all three kids when face wipes are needed) and someone who can never find a sensible place to put the big ugly boxes of tissues (somewhere where the kids can reach but where they don’t clutter up the place to badly), someone who hates spending money on unecessary disposable things when there is a reusable alternative I can’t believe I’ve had snotty nosed offspring for this long without remembering the hankerchiefs of my childhood we all used to carry.

Thankfully my running out of tissues and the kids enduring never ending runny/blocked noses made me search for hankchiefs on eBay and we are now the happy owners of some pretty Irish linen hankies which came in their original packaging but were marketed as being 1970′s!.

They are so much softer on the children’s noses than paper tissues, they don’t turn into a soggy mess after a few blows and as I have the washing machine on at least once a day I can always ensure we will carry one up our sleeves every day (can’t promise to iron them like my mum used to though) and we’ll not be spending £1.70 on an unsightly tree-wasting box of tissues anymore.

(Before I wrote this post I found this blog post from another like-minded blogger. It made me laugh
Using a Handkerchief Makes Me Feel All Funny)

Hi Ackers,

A. bought home an interesting article in the Guardian the other day. It contained 20 tips on how to cut food waste, I thought it was really helpful, although most of them we do already, but it sounded to me like something that would be good on your blog. They also point you to this site which is great:

http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/

As a direct result of reading the article I made a lovely batch of strawberry jam after going to the fruit farm at the weekend.

Anyway, thought it might be of interest to you.

Xx

1. Avoid the supermarket
2. Ignore 2 for 1 offers (just a way for supermarkets to get rid of excess food near it’s sell by date)
3. Shop daily for perishables
4. bulk buy non-perishables
5. Be storage savvy (a lot more on this on the site above)
6. Meal-plan for the week
7. Cook! That is not just following a recipe but being able to create dishes from what you have in the fridge
8. Buy quality not quantity
9. Freecycle/become a ‘freegan’ – I think this is something to do with getting food from supermarket bins that has damaged packaging but is perfectly fine otherwise
10. Reacquaint yourself with your freezer – apparently freezers are more efficient when full Good housekeeping.com has good tips on using the freezer
11. Don’t be afraid of an empty fridge – this was a revelation to me, I always get twitchy with an empty fridge incase I can’t feed my family, but now I like it not so full so that I can see exactly what I’ve got and I know how I’m going to use it.
12. Grow your own herbs and salad
13. Buy vegetables whole
14. Know how much a portion is so you don’t overcook
15. Bulk-cook meals – then freeze the rest
16. Learn how to use leftovers – My mum was saying that they’d have roast on Sunday, cold cuts on Monday, hotpot on Tuesday maybe a pie and then always fish on Friday. There is nothing wrong with having the same meal on the same day of the week…we’re too used to being impulsive with food etc..
17. Look to previous generations – during the war years and up until the 60’s food was precious, a weeks meals were planned down to the last carrot. Dishes such as shepherd’s pie and bread and butter pudding use up leftover food
18. Take sell-by dates with a pinch of salt
19. Rediscover packed lunches
20. Equip yourself – introduce yourself to the stockpot, freezer bag and salad washer

Thank you Rach!!