Plastic Free Challenge: Highs and Lows

My 4 week plastic free challenge has now been going 2 weeks. Personally, I can’t believe I’m still going with it. Me. The person who struggles to pick which undies to wear because it is a colour commitment for a whole 24 hours.

Not gonna lie – I did nearly quit when I put tomato chutney on my pasta instead of pasta sauce. It took far too many bites for me to work out why it was sweet and had heaps of sultanas in it instead of olives.

For those who have just joined, the rules of the challenge are pretty simple. Zero plastic packaging. Zero. As a refresher the rules and products I will be trialling are here.

At the half-way mark I thought I would give an update on what’s going well, what’s not going well and stuff I have really panicked about.

What’s going well?

• Fresh fruit and vegetables have been really easy to shop. No need to put them in a plastic bag, especially when you need to wash them or peel them anyway.
• I found some chocolate. Whilst Dairy Milk comes in a metallised plastic fil. Lindt is in foil and cardboard.
• It’s forced me to use up ingredients from the pantry. Normally when I go shopping I just buy what I think I need. I sometimes end up with 3 different types of muesli or several different pasta shapes.
• Turns out most items at the bottle shop are ok. Wine, beer, cider etc are all in! Unless you drink from a goon bag cask.
• Coffee still tastes like coffee in a Keep Cup. If you don’t like the idea of drinking out of a reusable plastic cup, there are glass and ceramic alternatives.
• Less rubbish. Far less. I don’t even compost but my overall rubbish, I would say has halved.
• Buying food mostly in cans and jars means that I now have biceps the size of coconuts
• I’m not eating any biscuits or chips – all of them have some form of plastic packaging.
• Pizza is in! One of the only take away options. Luckily it is also my favourite.

What’s not going well….

• I’ve been bleeding money. I went to one of those bulk unpackaged food stores and purchased approx 2 serves of not-even-organic muesli for a whopping $15.60!!!! Hipster smashed avo would be cheaper.
• I miss meat. Beef. Chicken, Pork. Bacon. Bacon. Bacon…..ahhhh! I haven’t been able to find any meat that doesn’t have some type of plastic wrap. I also haven’t found anyone that is willing to just wrap meat in paper or put it in my own container. I think I am now anaemic.
• For many products this plastic free challenge is forcing me to go to organic and vegan.
• I can’t justify the bubbly refreshingness that is soda water. I normally buy Woolworths 1.25 bottles of soda water at a whopping 72c per litre. In glass, the cheapest soda water is $3.38/L and in cans is $4.99/L (i.e. super expensive), especially when you can easily go through 1L per day. Tap water is virtually free.
• Remembering to take everything I need each day. Cutlery, reusable drink bottle, bag and keep cup.
• See ‘chutney incident’ outlined above.

What has caused me sheer panic?

• I ran out of deodorant on day 3. I searched every suitcase, toiletries bag, pantry for more and I finally found a half used one in a handbag, which should last me the month. Although there are alternatives, I didn’t really have time to find them or make deodorant out of bicarb soda, lemon oil and good vibes.
• Feminine hygiene. Everything is wrapped in plastic. Again there are moon cups, homemade re-usable pads and I was thinking about period underwear but I think this one may be a cheat for me if my stocks in the bathroom run out. .
• Garbage disposal. Even though I am creating less rubbish, I don’t know how to get rid of it. There are only non recyclable plastic bags on the market. Paper gets soggy. I am currently using a bucket that is washed between uses.  

Does anyone have any hints or tips, especially for how I might be able to eat meat? Apart from eating Spam or canned corned beef? Hmmmmm what to do? How do you think I’m going so far? Would you try a moon cup? Let me know in the comments below or on Facebook or Instagram.