Hello my lovely lazies, how are you?!
It’s been a pretty crazy few weeks for me, with one huge event to organise at work, plus the worlds most disorganised house move ever! But I’ve settled in to my brand new little home with more resolutions that the last 5 New Years rolled in to one! Aside from doing daily yoga and meditation, and eating less junk food, I’m also going to be ditching the car and walking the 40 minutes to work everyday day. Watch this space..
I’m now five days into my attempt to avoid supermarkets for lent, and so far so (almost) good. I had a little hick up late on Friday night when I needed to get a few bits and all the shops in my village were shut apart from a large supermarket chain. So I must admit I did cheat a little, but compromised and bought two things that couldn’t wait till the morning when the local shops opened again. Note to self: be better prepared next time!!
So yesterday, whilst enjoying a day out in Falmouth, I popped into my favorite Cornish chain, The Natural Store, to stock up on some bits and bobs (and indulge in a few non essential treats!) Alongside the Falmouth branch there is one in Helston and nearer to me in St Austell, but Falmouth is much bigger and is in fact slit into two stores; one for food stuff and one for home and body.
Coffee, chocolate and wine…the many pleasures I have tried to give up for lent. Unsuccessfully of course. But why is it that giving something up always sounds like a depressing way to deprive yourself of something you like? What if we switched it, and gave up things we couldn’t give two hoots about?
Well, that’s exactly what I’m planning to do this time around. Instead of giving up something for lent that becomes a countdown to the moment it meets my lips again, I’m giving up something I have been trying to do for a while: Supermarkets. Not like I have anything against the big boys, they offer incredible vale on tinned tomatoes and sacks of rice; but when you live somewhere with such a thriving local foody culture, it seems mad not to tap in to some good old Cornish produce. There are markets and farm shops galore around here, and we happen to have one of the most delicious bakeries where I work at the Eden Project.
In fact, even our local independent healthfood shop sells everything I need for my vegan diet; from nuts, seeds and flour, to soy milk, tempeh and (most importantly) dairy-free ice cream!
My biggest worry though, will be reigning in my budget so I can keep on track with my recent realisation that my travelling savings has gone a little bottoms up. But buying in bulk, cooking smart and eating for my height (instead of my greed) will certainly help.
So what do you think? Fancy challenging yourself to live supermarket free for lent? I can guarantee it will be rewarding to switch those pesky trolleys and grumpy checkout ladies, for local producers doing their thing in your community. Plus, it’s much nicer proposition that giving up something you actually like, surely?!
Keep up with me, and some of my wonderful green blogging freinds, on Twitter to see how we get on: #local4lent @local4lent
This week I decided to take an impromptu week off work; to make the most of the unexpected sun we’ve been having in Cornwall, and to have some much needed lie-ins! But before I delved in to the sun, sea and surf of Cornwall, I made a trip back home to Devon to see family for a couple of days. Continue reading Exploring South Devon: Farms, Food, Family & Wine
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