I heard on the radio this morning that the children’s word of the year is “plastic”. Radio 2 run a 500-word story competition for children and the word appeared 3,359 times in the 134,790 stories submitted. Plastic is a hot topic at the moment and I am so grateful that it is.

I’ve been trying to reduce our waste for awhile now and this month I’m going to join Mamalina and Plastic-Free Me and take part in the #plasticfreeparent challenge. The first week is about tackling the plastic used at meal times.

The challenge wants to tackle plastic wrapped veg, lunches on the go and cling film.

Cling Film

I think I can firmly tick off cling film as I don’t own any.

Last week I went to a local shop and made beeswax wraps. They were so easy to make. Yesterday I used one of them to cover up leftover homemade pie before putting it in the fridge.

Plastic wrapped veg

I do my weekly shop on a Friday so I haven’t done the shop yet. I will meal plan foods that I know I can buy loose. I struggle with things like chestnut mushrooms which always come plastic wrapped. Rocket always comes in a bag too. I have tried growing some but there are little holes all over it, I don’t know what’s been eating it!

I’m going to do my weekly shop in the supermarket but give some of the fruit and veg a miss until I can make it to the farm shop on Saturday. Hopefully I’ve have better luck there.

Next week we should be able to eat our first courgette grown from seed! I am so excited. We may also have some radishes ready if we’re lucky. I’m going to give the rocket a go, it might not be too bad.

Lunches on-the-go

I always take a packed lunch to work. It’s mostly due to budgeting, lunch soon adds up if I keep buying from the shop! But also, I can eat really yummy nourishing food if I make my own. We switch between couscous salads, sandwiches, hummus and dippers, and falafel wraps. I use plastic Tupperware as I have it. I’m not going to throw it away for no reason. I use them for cold food and they do the job. You could use Tupperware you have already, a steel container, or even wrap your sandwich in a beeswax wrap.

I always carry a reusable bottle of water with me wherever we go. I don’t really drink coffee or tea out and about but I have a thermos flask cup for if we do. I sometimes take it into work so that I have some tea for the day without having to use teabags at work.

Are you taking part in the #plasticfreeparent challenge? What small changes have you made?