Category Archives: Green ideas

5 DIY Halloween Costumes Made from Waste

I know, I know, Halloween isn’t for a few weeks yet; but I need to get planning. My cousin is getting married on the 31st to a full blown Gothic/Halloween theme, and I need to decide on a costume pronto.

And though I want to make my own to save money and waste (I avoid fancy dress as often as I can, and won’t wear it again…), I do have to admit my upcycling limits. So I have spent more hours than I care to imagine searching for DIY Halloween costume ideas which are cheap, quick and easy to make. Here are my favorite ideas so far, which can be easily “halloween-ified” with some blood or fangs: Continue reading 5 DIY Halloween Costumes Made from Waste

Your Green Life: The Friendly Fig

I always say that living sustainably doesnt have to involve becoming an eco-warrior overnight; growing your own food, making your own clothes and living in an eco (or tree) house. It simply means making a conscious effort to live a little greener, doing as much or as little as you can. Whether its making a switch to natural cleaning products, having a little less meat and buying less stuff, or going completely plastic free and vegan. It doesn’t have to be a stressful process, it should be easy and fun!

So, to demonstrate the varied and fun ways you can live a greener life, I wanted to interview a few inspiring people who have done just that. And so “your Green Life” is born; quizing people on what green living means to them, their insider advice on doing it the lazy way and, more importantly, what inspires them to keep it up!

First up is the lovely Bianca Scartabello from the fabulous lifestyle blog, The Friendly Fig Continue reading Your Green Life: The Friendly Fig

How to Make Your Own Natural Eyeshadow

This weekend I’ve been very excited to team up with the beautiful Nikki Fotheringham from the fabulous Toronto based green Living website Green Moxie! Go to GreenMoxie.com to check out my “Five Fabulously Free Things made with Juice Pulp” post – as well as a tonne of other awesome green living articles. And just look at this amazing natural make-up recipe she’s shared with us lucky lazy lovelies! Continue reading How to Make Your Own Natural Eyeshadow

Friday night in with a Cauliflower

Happy Friday lazy green people!

Now, this might sound a little odd; but I think the cauliflower might just have replaced my Friday night treat of Indian takeaway and a bag of crisps (not necessarily consumed together I might add…). previously, I’ve associated this classic vegetable  with the staple roast dinner dish: cauliflower cheese. But since going vegan, I have long lost hope of recreating a dairy free version, as Vegan cheeses and cheese sauces generally don’t float my boat!

But when, this week, a friend offered me a cauliflower that she wasn’t going to eat (a perfect example of zero waste sharing!), I decided to make a nice big curry with it in advance of a Friday night in. This way I could save money on takeaway AND the plastic they are often delivered in. Continue reading Friday night in with a Cauliflower

The Surprising Talents of Fruit Stones

It’s over half through Zero Waste Week already, and I’m slowly learning my lesson that the key is in the planning! Having gotten back from a lazy holiday away, to an impending week of daily blogging; I knew from the onset the easy task of doing “one more thing” to reduce my waste might actually be harder than it first sounded. But I have been eternally grateful to the impressive inspiration oozing from everyone involved in the week, and it has spurred me on to get off my butt and get waste fighting!

But after several days of feeling smug that not one part of my fruit or veg was being thrown away, I hit a wall. Well, more accurately, I hit a stone…a plum stone. I obviously didn’t want to throw it away, but I was smart enough to realise that it would do more damage than good if I tried to stick it in my juicer! Had I finally found the one piece of food I couldn’t eat?! Continue reading The Surprising Talents of Fruit Stones

How Eden Does Neutral Waste

So, its day three of Zero Waste Week and so far so good with my pledge to do “one more thing” and go zero food waste with my fruit and veg scraps. It helps that I have a more than average appetite, and generally polish off every last scrap of food in my kitchen anyway! Over the last two days I have been using up ALL of my fruit and veg; either by juicing it (then using the juice pulp) or by thinking outside the box with my left over peelings. The theme I’m spotting is creativity and curiosity with food; all of which takes little time or effort!

But before I go further, I thought I would check in with the experts and see how they tackle waste. I have mentioned before that I work at a pretty amazing environmental and educational charity – the Eden Project – whose stunning captive Rainforest and Mediterranean biomes attract millions of visitors to Cornwall every year. But Eden doesn’t just encourage people to think about the impact we have on our planet, and how we can collectively protect and conserve its resources. They also put their money where their mouth is operate as zero waste as they can. Continue reading How Eden Does Neutral Waste

Cut down food waste and “Peel” healthy

Wow! What a fantastic start to Zero Waste Week yesterday. Twitter was jam packed with pledges, ideas and advice for going zero waste; with plenty of activity from the other fabulous Blog Ambassadors to inspire us all! If you haven’t gotten involved yet, there’s still time to join in!

My first day of juicing and pulping felt rather easy (despite my disorganisation!) and I didn’t waste one smidge of my food all day. But being as lazy as I am, I can’t stick at a juice diet for long; so I’m back on the solids today, in time to tackle pesky peelings! As much as I have attempted to avoid food waste in the past, peelings are always the one thing I guiltily throw away almost daily; despite the huge amount of fruit and veg I go through on my vegan diet. Continue reading Cut down food waste and “Peel” healthy

Recipes and Uses For Juicing Pulp

Zero Waste Week is finally here, and I’m feeling excited and overwhelmed in equal measures!  I have been looking forward to the week’s challenge of doing “one more thing” in a bid to reduce my household waste (and hopefully kick a few of my lazy habits of throwing things away too easily). But less than 2 days ago I was relaxing and sunning myself by a pool in the South of France, successfully switching off from the rest of the world and intentionally avoiding any forms of writing or thinking. Now I’m very unprepared and have no idea how I intend to approach my waste reduction; let alone what I will write for my daily blogs! That really is lazy procrastination at its best!

But as my pledge for Zero Waste week is to use up ALL of my fruit and veg – doing my bit to reduce the estimated 15 million tonnes of UK food that’s thrown away annually – I thought there is no better way to kick off the week than a deliciously lazy recipe!! Continue reading Recipes and Uses For Juicing Pulp