It’s the end of my six weeks now, and I finish it with mixed feelings. On the one hand I’ve begun to really appreciate the importance of food and the embedded carbon footprint that comes with it. These last few weeks have certainly reinforced all that I learnt about food during my carbon conversations. But it’s been hard as well, breaking old habits and having to make more of an effort to feed myself. Continue reading →

Think I’m getting the hang of this now.  I’ve been trying to keep what I eat as ‘normal’ as possible (and that’s ‘normal’ as in what I normally eat, not ‘normal’ as in not weird!), as I don’t want this to be like going on a horrid diet – something to be endured until the 6 weeks are up.  It’s funny how you really miss some things, not because you love them and nothing else will do, but simply because it’s just habit.  Breakfast for me was always a handful of some high fibre type cereal, a handful of muesli, and a sprinkling of chopped nuts, dried fruit or seeds.  And although, most of it was organic or fair trade, there was lots of processing, packaging and transportation.  Now it’s oats and dried apple, or sliced plums or raspberries, and local nuts when I can get them (which is not very often).  So pretty much the same concept, but with a much lower carbon footprint, and to be honest, I think I’ll stick to it after the 6 weeks are up.  I’m finding that thinking in terms of ‘what can I eat’ rather than ‘what can’t I eat’ is really helping. Continue reading →

So after my last entry about the hardships of eating local, I thought I’d share some of the benefits that I’ve got out of this. Last Sunday I went to the local market and saw this really odd-shaped thing, green with tentacles sticking out of it like some weird Dr Who creature. Continue reading →

I’m really looking forward to hearing from you again, Rod, after that moving first post! (By the way, cucumber is quite nice in stir-fry, if you don’t cook it too long…..I don’t suppose anyone will believe that!) Continue reading →

Don’t beat yourself up about it Rod – it’s great that you’re even having a go!  If it makes you feel better, I had a shocker of a day at work on Monday, and got home at 8.30 to find my ‘eat local’ tea was still in the freezer (cauliflower cheese).  So I’m afraid I lapsed and ended up having chocolate cake and whisky instead…..and enjoyed every crumb and drop! Continue reading →

Making a big change in your life can be very hard as you can struggle to make the transition. If you’re not careful you can become disheartened if you don’t live up to the lofty goals that you’ve set yourself. This is the boat I’m in. It all sounded so easy on paper, but putting it into practice is another ballgame. Continue reading →

me at the farmers' market

Oh bother! I was so looking forward to trying Penny’s recipe for oat biscuits, but I have now discovered why my joint problems have come back with a vengeance over the last three weeks! Oats! I never used to eat them, as I was told they had gluten in, but then I heard that the amount of gluten is very small and should be okay, so I was having wonderful oat and fresh fruit porridge every morning. The last few days I’ve stopped, and already my joints are much better. Still, it is a great excuse to eat crispy fried potatoes….. Continue reading →

Had some fab tips from Penny (see her latest blog), so back to making proper bread again – hooray!  Not that soda bread isn’t yum, but it’s nice to have a change.  And sometimes simple and familiar is the most satisfying – let’s hear it for cheese on toast!  Missing mustard though.

Been making some really nice salads to take into work – beetroot, mange tout, broad beans, tomatoes, courgette, cabbage (shredded and fried to make it crispy…we never said that eating local was healthier!), potatoes and sliced picked egg – all home grown – with just some olive oil and salt.  And yes, I did make the apple flapjacks, and yes, they have solved the biscuits at work problem.  But I’ll definitely be trying Penny’s digestive recipe for a bit of variety.  They were passing round the Thornton’s triple chocolate cookies last week, and boy they were hard to resist! Continue reading →

I think we’re nearly there on locating local food but it has taken a lot of time and effort. I have reflected that this is very much the way my mother shopped in the 1950s! As Rod and Carolyn commented, it would be hard to do this if you were working full-time, unless you planned very well in advance (and it helps to have an allotment like Carolyn). Well here goes with what I’ve discovered in the last 3 weeks. Continue reading →

In the last week I’ve managed to eat less meat, mainly by eating chickpeas, which of course are imported. (This is an instance where it’s better to eat imported dried goods rather than local meat.) I’ve now chosen two of my five non-local items: chickpeas and quinoa – I’m now trying to decide between haricot beans and lentils! Continue reading →

Rod, I sympathise!  Being at work when all the shops that might potentially sell local food are closed is a bit of a pain.  And I’ve been away a couple of weekends in a row too, so couldn’t even explore then!  Without lovely Bev getting me a supply of porridge oats, rapeseed oil, flour and butter from Cambridge Farmers’ Outlet, I’d be sunk!  I do have a well stocked allotment though, and 3 ex-bat chooks in my garden, so it could be a lot worse.  Continue reading →

Sweetcorn from the garden

It is such a delight to have sweetcorn straight from the garden – it is so much sweeter than when you buy it. Today was also the first time I ate imported food: I was so fed up with just potatoes and porridge oats for my carbohydrate (as I am gluten-intolerant) that I had quinoa with mixed veg (beans, carrots, onions, tomatoes). (I’ve learned that it can be better to have imported dried foods, which come by container ship, than local meat, from the greenhouse gas point of view.) Continue reading →

I’ve just started this week after being away on holiday. So I’ve got the double whammy on being back to work and trying to sort out the food that I’m going to eat. Breakfast is okay as I’m found local porridge oats as the other have, so if society collapses tomorrow at least I’ll get a good start to the day. Trying to sort out the rest of the food for the week is proving a bit of a headache though. I live next to a big supermarket (where every little helps!), so normally if I’ve  forgotten something, it’s so easy to be able pop in next door and get some food to eat. But generally it’s not locally grown, which rules it out now. For the next few weeks I have to plan ahead as much of the local food I’ve planned to buy will be from the Sunday farmers market that Bev goes to. Trying to get other stuff during the week whilst you’re working can be tricky.

It’s amazing how convenient life is with the supermarkets. Not being able to visit them to get stuff on demand makes things a lot more difficult. I’ve almost run out of potatoes and carrots now as I under-estimated how much I’d need and I want to make some soup tomorrow. I may have to improvise as I want to use up the other veg I’ve bought. Hmmm, where are those recipe books that have been gathering dust in the kitchen…

Buying rabbit from Angie

I’m enjoying apples from Geoff Barker’s farm in Over – I often buy fruit from their stall in the Sunday market – the last two years I’ve bought a bushel box of Cox’s apples in the autumn and kept them in our cold back hallway; they lasted us until April, getting wrinklier and sweeter week by week – that way I don’t need to buy apples from cold store, which uses electricity. Continue reading →