Updates 22/08

I thought I'd start sharing odd updates now and then to let you know how I'm going in all my attempts to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

It has been a stressful week unfortunately due to my cat getting sick and needing a vet visit. She is on antibiotics and should be fine this time next week but she is getting plenty of cuddle time from us.

I have made great progress since deciding to cut the grocery bill. I have set myself a realistic target for my weekly grocery expenses and have kept to that target in the past couple of weeks. The major difference has been switching to lower cost meals which has been very effective.

I also had a big win at home last week! My boyfriend has agreed to try one vegetarian meal a fortnight. Trust me, if you knew my boyfriend you would know how much of a step forward this is. I hope to eventually have one vegetarian a week to help cut our grocery bill and to reduce our meat intake. I also want to ensure we are eating fish at least once a week too therefore limiting our red meat intake even further.

Photo credit

I have been trying to determine the best way to shop in bulk in order to reduce packaging when the bulk store is so far away. I was very torn with myself between the packaging versus the long distance travel to the bulk food store. In the end I decided to email the lovely couple at rubbishfree.co.nz who are just incredible and they were nice enough to respond to my dilemma. Matthew was able to point out for me that it is important to look at the full distribution impact as the items you buy at your local store may have travelled from overseas and there may have been a large number of production steps which result in waste all the way along that production cycle. He also suggested that if I buy in large bulk every 6 months than the impact of my travel would be even lower. This has definitely given me something to think about and I a currently writing out a list of all the items I could stock up on at the bulk foods store in order to limit my trips there. I hope to visit every 3 months until I get to a comfortable familiarity with the process and then expand to 6 monthly visits.