For years I’ve been conscious about the decisions I’ve made and impact they have on the environment, namely buying meat, and in recent years I’ve become more aware of all of my shopping habits. Animal welfare is of huge importance to me and I applaud anyone who leads a vegan lifestyle, but that isn’t a diet that suits me so I do what I can to make better choices.
We rarely eat meat in the week and when we do have it, it’s a real treat because buying ethically reared, organic meat is not cheap. We’re extremely lucky to have a farm in our village that rears their animals in the fields around us and sell their produce to anyone who wants to buy it. I understand that may be upsetting for some people to see these animals on a daily basis and then see the lorry take them away to the abattoir (which is only three miles away from our farm, so less stress for the animals), but meat is not faceless. Everyone who buys meat should know how that steak or piece of lamb ended up on their plate and would they eat it if they knew how it had been raised?
Plastic. I mean it is just EVERYWHERE. It’s impossible, in my opinion, to lead a plastic-free life, but here are a few things that I’ve done to try and make a difference;
- Smol washing capsules – all the plastic provided in recyclable, less chemicals, delivered through your letterbox (in a recyclable plastic box) as often as you would like and you can get a free trial – really impressed with them so far and they sell dishwasher tablets.
- Single Use Plastic – it’s totally unavoidable, so I do what I can to limit my use; for example if I’m getting some loose onions from the supermarket, I never use those plastic bags on the roll. It infuriates me seeing people use these and it’s not their fault – it’s the supermarkets. Bring back the paper bags! Where possible, I visit the greengrocer for my fruit and vegetables, and anything that is sat in a plastic tub they tip out into a brown paper bag, but I know that having a greengrocer is a luxury and another idea would be to grow anything you use regularly, like salad.
- Question everything – I have a running commentary in my head of whether I can make better decision when making purchases. The next time you’re putting your shopping away, look at that pile of not-recyclable plastic and think whether next time you can cut down on the amount.
- Teabags – did you know that there is plastic in teabags? Until about a year ago, I had no idea and since I found out I’ve stopped buying Yorkshire Tea and Twinning, and now use Teapigs and Clippers, which I can happily throw on the compost heap.
- Make your own lunch – this is so simple and saves you money, but really makes a difference and I have to say, I prefer my own homemade food especially when I know exactly what has gone into it.
When I’m looking at buying some new beauty products, I always check to see if the brand is ethical and doesn’t have a sister company abroad that they use to test their products on animals. The amount of times that I find out a brand isn’t cruelty free is astonishing, but I’m also aware of how expensive it can be to buy skincare that isn’t tested on animals, so here’s a list of products I use that which are cruelty free;
- Lucy Bee – I use the coconut oil, creamed coconut and coconut sugar all of the time. You make think this strange but I don’t use the oil to cook with this, I use the oil to take off my make-up, add some salt and use it as a face scrub, add a teaspoon to the bath to give an extra level of luxury (and by that I mean a cheats way to moisturise my skin) and it works pretty well as a deodorant. This is such an ethical brand who care about how coconuts are collected and LB don’t use animals and pay fair wages.
- The Ordinary – now that I’m over 30 I need to use more than the average day cream to keep the wrinkles at bay, and this brand offer a great range of items that actually work, at incredibly affordable prices. I highly recommend their Hyaluronic Acid.
- Aldi – did you know that all of their own brand products are cruelty free? This also includes their caviar cream, which is an absolute steal.
- Korres – I use their body wash and every time I use it, I feel as though I’m at the spa. Yes, it isn’t the cheapest but it contains natural ingredients that don’t strip your skin, so I think it’s worth paying a little bit more and you really don’t need much.
When I see stats like this, it makes me realise that we can all do our bit and if we can do this every week, imagine the difference we can make.
A x
Abi in the Garden 