Belinda Moore

I’ve been attempting my Buy Sustainably Challenge challenge for nearly three months now.  It’s taken me ages to get around to an update.

I’ve been interested in the ethics of food/groceries for a few years now, but this challenge and other info I’ve been reading has had me thinking a bit more about what we eat.

Right now, I order once most months from an Organics supplier about 300km away.  The (recycled) boxes are delivered on a truck’s return trip back to their local farm.  The produce is occasionally local, but mostly from interstate.  A lot of the pantry items are imported.  The whole local vs organic argument has me wondering if I am buying sustainably by using this supplier?

I am also part of an organic co-op where the product comes from the Brisbane markets, around 2000km away, and before that is mostly from interstate (the items I buy, like apples).  I also buy in bulk with friends for grocery items such as Mountain Bread, nuts, dried fruit, flour, grains, etc.  Our orders come via mail or rail from far away.  I buy our tins and jars in bulk too (by the carton) and these come direct to me via road transport.  Most of the ingredients are Australian, some are organic.

Once or twice a month I get to local markets to buy local produce - fruit, vegetables and seafood.  I also buy local honey and most of our dairy products are local too.  I love to buy produce from roadside stalls whenever I see it (avocados and cucumbers this month).

We grow some of our own food too.  We have our own rainwater and springwater, grow pumpkins, sweet potatoes, some potatoes, chokos, macadamia nuts, wild and bush food (berries and other fruit), eggs and meat (roosters), vegies and salad items.  Our garden is more productive at some times than others.  We’ve just doubled the size of it this past weekend, though, so hoping our winter crops are plentiful!  We plan one more garden area, which will approximately double the size again…

We make our own jams, jellies, cordials, most baked goods, yoghurt, soft cheese (sometimes), bulk-cooked meals for the freezer, etc.  We eat no meat except for local wild-caught fish and our own roosters.

I don’t do a ‘weekly shop’ at the supermarket.  I have a good stockpile of my bulk-bought items, the fresh stuff comes from many other sources.  After menu planning each Sunday I write a short list of supermarket items which I pick up at the local independent grocery store when I’m in town.  Around twice a year I do a big shop at a larger supermarket 30 minutes away for a few items I can’t get locally.  Staying out of the supermarkets saves us a lot of time and money.

With regard to ‘other’ groceries…  I buy recycled toilet paper and very occasionally paper towel.  We mostly use hankies, but I do also buy tissues.  We don’t normally use soap, shampoo, etc from the supermarket but rather from the markets or health store.  For cleaning I use Enjo, vinegar, bicarb and one bulk bottle of Orange Power spray every couple of years (I refill the spray bottles from that 4L bottle).  I make laundry liquid, reusing the same bottles over and over.  Our pets’ needs we buy from the produce store, in bulk.

I know that growing and making our own food is the best option.  I could base more of our meals on what we have here.  It does get a bit boring though!  I think that focusing more on local, and less on organic would make our shopping choices more sustainable.  Local and organic is of course my preference (after homegrown organic)!  Maybe I need to do a locavore challenge?

Another area I could improve would to be no prepared tins of legumes etc to reduce food miles and rubbish (we recycle, but using less tins would be better).  And to preserve more when we have it.  I have a preserving kit and loads of jars, but haven’t used it recently as we don’t have the bumper crops here we did at our old place (yet!).  Hopefully, when my 100+ fruit trees are more mature, we’ll have more than enough to eat and preserve.

I’d love to hear Comments about how others are shopping for food.

In other areas of spending, I think we’re doing okay.  On holidays we bought only a few new things and tried to strike a balance between relaxing our standards for holidays, and sticking to the challenge.

We’ve op-shopped for some of the clothing items the children need for winter.  Other items we’ve bought (or will buy) new, and some I’m sewing.

Our car needed to either be replaced or repaired.  We decided to extend its life by another few years and repair it (with a reconditioned engine).  To reach this decision we had several conversations about sustainability.

With regard to entertainment, hobbies, gifts, etc I feel that we’re doing okay.  Not every choice we’re making is the best for our planet, but we’re compromising, learning new ways and discussing our options as a family.

The Buy Sustainably Challenge is promoting a lot more discussion in our home about our consumption options and choices.  This might in fact be the most valuable aspect of the challenge!