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Step 1: Changing our shopping habits - Fruit, Veg and Meat

  • Writer: Ruth Walsh
    Ruth Walsh
  • Dec 6, 2018
  • 4 min read

Updated: Jul 17, 2019


I have been mainly doing my shopping in Aldi as I live just across the road from one and being a busy working mum, the convenience (and affordability) was difficult to resist. But the amount of single use plastic that was coming into our home was not sitting well with us. We decided to take our first step. Our aim: to refuse / reduce the single use plastics on our fruit, veg and meat items.


Fruit and Veg:


Armed with lunchboxes and bags for life and having googled “farmers market” on a Friday morning, my son and I headed off the Green Door Market in Bluebell, Dublin (I live in North Kildare so this wasn’t too far out of the way). I was hugely impressed with the range of loose organic fruit and veg that was on display. So much so, that I went completely overboard and bought (and spent) way more than I intended. Enticed by vegetables you just don’t see in store - purple broccoli, potatoes, pak choy etc - it probably didn’t help that my daughter is learning a song about making a purple stew in school. Nothing went to waste though. If it wasn’t eaten by the time I was doing the next shop, it was chopped and frozen to make a soup another day :)


In the same location, there is a permanent shop selling all sort of dry food items, sauces, refrigerated items etc. Essentially a “green” grocer. Impressed by the fact that the dry goods were packaged in a compostable plastic like material, I bought a packet of black beans and a pack of black rice. I still have yet to use these as they need to be soaked for 24 hours and I keep forgetting to do this. In the same shop, I also bought some delicious Irish honey from Wicklow.


When I haven’t been able to get over to Bluebell, I have also shopped for loose fruit and veg in Mastersons in Maynooth and Fresh ‘n’ Fruity in Lucan. I am also dying to try out Maynooth Organics.



Meat:


There is a butcher also at the Green Door Market, which I am looking forward to trying out. Their meat is all organic, free range and free from routine use of antibiotics and hormones. At the time, my arms were laden down with bags of fruit and veg and I needed to get home but I will be going back with some empty lunchboxes.

Instead, I went to a local butcher (Fitzpatrick’s in Celbridge). I have had and with mixed success on the plastic front purchased my meat - sausages and mince were put directly into my lunchboxes, burgers too but disappointingly had a circle of plastic on the top and bottom of each one, diced beef was put into a plastic bag, free range chicken breasts were packaged in cellophane and clingfilm although these do appear to come in from an external supplier.


However, despite the mixed success, buying directly from the butcher had the following positives:


1. Much less plastic than had I shopped in a chain store for my meat


2. The meat was much better quality AND much more flavoursome


3. We bought less meat than we usually would and we tried out some meat free meals, such as this delicious chickpea curry


*** UPDATE: During latest visit to Fitzpatricks the butcher who served me put ALL my meat into lunchboxes as requested. No plastic in sight. He was very understanding of what we were trying to do and we had a nice chat for a few minutes about it :) ***


On the subject of MEAT, I was vegetarian for 6 years as a teenager. Having eventually chosen to eat meat again, I struggle with that choice on a regular basis. It is very important for me that while alive the animals were well cared for and had a happy life. In my opinion, we humans are meant to eat some meat, albeit not in the quantities we eat it these days. I suffer from low ferritin levels and due to other health issues, I am meant to eat very little fibre. As a result, meat must remain a component of my meals. Knowing that I can source organic, free range meat makes me feel a lot happier.



Conclusion:


Overall, I would say that this change has been a great success for our family and each week we learn more and reduce more as we work out where to get everything from. Because we are no longer buying our fruit, veg and meat in a supermarket, we are less likely to buy junk food while cruising the aisles and so our meals have become a lot more healthy. The children are trying more fruits and vegetables because they were part of the process of picking them. As a family we are eating less meat than before and the meat we are eating is of a high quality. Financially, apart from my over indulgence on my first outing, I haven't spend any more than usual on my weekly shop. If the fruit and veg ARE working out more expensive, this is probably being offset by the fact that we are no longer picking up things we don't need in the supermarket.


Happy Shopping!!!




Resources:


I am not affiliated in any way with any of the businesses listed on my site. These are just businesses I have come across in my journey and I am providing the links below purely for information only.


The Green Door Market - https://www.thegreendoor.ie






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