A note about sustainability from mum

So we are now three weeks into our adventure without plastic and a part of me never wants to go back but another part of me is craving the day I can buy ice cream and frozen peas!

I wanted to discuss food shopping and dietary restrictions. I used to be vegetarian but I'm not any longer. I'm allergic to lots of different things including some very key ingredients to Northern European cookery like potatoes! When your diet is restricted by allergy, intolerance, illness, finances, religion or choice, you are already limited on your food shopping choices. The more restricted your dietary needs, the more difficult giving up plastic will be. The more perishable and less frequently purchased foods are shrink wrapped in the stuff to prolong their shelf life.

For me that means that my allergies prevent me from eating tomatoes, potatoes and barley. My plastic free life prevents me from eating peas, lettuce, crackers and cream. If I were unlucky enough to be coeliac, I'd probably have to stop eating a lot more and if I were vegan I'd struggle immensely.

And if we go forward a bit and extend plastic-free to clothes and shoes, I think my children would be barefoot and without a waterproof coat once they grow out of what they're wearing now. I simply can't afford waxed jackets and leather boots for growing children.

In a month, you can delay buying new shoes or plimsoles but we can't do that forever. Schools expect portfolios and plastic sleeves for presenting work and they expect my children clothed and shod! Work expects me to be the same. Somehow we need to find modern affordable alternatives to plastic.