Healthy & Sustainable Habits for 2025
A belated Happy New Year! We have refrained from jumping in too quickly with the 'New Year - New You' vibe because it can be a lot, can't it? And January, it's long! However, it is coming to an end and with it come slightly longer days and flowers peeking through the ground. We thought the time was right to introduce some of the habits we are hoping to adopt this year.
Save the lone banana…
First up, a simple one, don’t let the lone banana go to waste. Pick up that odd banana that’s become detached from the bunch. This was something that @thetaleofateaspoon mentioned a while ago and we have had good feedback – so if you are not doing this yet, it’s a quick and easy sustainable swap.
Single bananas often get separated from a bunch by shoppers discarding them, or during transportation and apparently they are the most wasted item of all fruits and vegetables. Interestingly a recent study by researchers from the Universities of Bath and Frankfurt placed a sign above a basket of single bananas in a German supermarket. It showed a picture of a banana with a sad face and the message read “We are sad singles and want to be bought as well.” Incredibly, the number of lonely bananas sold per hour increased by 58 percent – so come on – give a lonely banana a good home this year!
Use your freezer… !
Freezers are fairly common place these days but often they aren't used with much thought. A bag of peas, a frozen pizza, a pot or two of ice cream and something that got frozen but not labelled and now it just gets ignored… sound familiar? However you can get into some really good habits to support your sustainability journey by using your freezer wisely.
When you’re grabbing the milk from the fridge to make your afternoon brew take a moment to check your fruit and veg drawer. If there is anything starting to look a little worse for wear then in the time it takes the kettle to boil, wash it and if necessary roughly chop it before putting it in a container and popping it in the freezer, ideally labelled with the date. Job done and wastage saved. You can then use the veg for soups and stews and fruit for smoothies or coulis – to drizzle on your ice cream!
When cooking – don’t throw stalks and leaves away – instead pop in the freezer to add extra goodness and flavour to stocks at a later date.
If you want to get really geeky check out The Full Freezer who will freeze anything if it stands still long enough!
Avoid the supermarkets...
Ok so this may be easier said than done; at times, we all need to swing by the supermarket for provisions. But if you have a spare hour one afternoon, take the time to research your local grocer, baker, milk machine, farm shop... and see how many of those things you go pass on a regular basis.
Is it possible that you pass one of these on the school run? Your commute? Or on the way home from a dog walk? Could you make popping in, even just once a week, part of your routine? Shopping locally helps keeps these smaller businesses afloat and they are usually closer in the chain to the farmer or producer. That's great both because you'd hope the farmer is getting a better share of the profit and it also means your veg should be more nutrient rich and more recently harvested. It's worth doing your homework as not all small and local is born equally, but do your homework now for easy shopping in the future. Small steps make for big results.
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If you aren't able to fit more green grocer or farm shop visits into your routine, you could always sign up for a Veg Box scheme. There are plenty to choose from. Some bigger players like the Riverford will likely give you more variety (they have growers in France for example) or you could opt for hyper local, market gardens like Vallis Farm if you're from Frome (we have a slight bias, Vicky works there) or a whole host of others dotted around Somerset. It's a really great way to learn more about seasonal eating.
Talking of Veg Box schemes why not also look into the availability of Meat Boxes straight from local farmers or consider milk delivered the traditional way, to your front door.
Top up your totes…
Many of us have tote bags or supermarket ‘bags for life’ hanging around – but are they in the right place at the right time? Keep some in the car, some in your handbag and one or two hanging by the front door and importantly once used and the shopping unpacked, put them back ready for next time!
And with this is mind, if you’ve not already ditched disposable coffee cups and water bottles could this be the year? You may even save a few pennies as most coffee shops offer a discount if you take your own cup.
Meal Planning and Batch Cooking…
Take half an hour on a Sunday to meal plan for the week and only buy what you need when you need it - this saves food from going to waste and can make a considerable difference to your weekly spend – helping planet and pocket!
When you cook, if appropriate, double up on portions and freeze for another day – this reduces that midweek dash to the supermarket to pick up an ultra-processed ready meal! If making a batch, make sure you put aside portions before you serve. Invariably someone will want a little bit more and all of a sudden you have a silly amount left, which may get wasted. Look out for our Meal Planning Blog coming soon-ish.
So hopefully there’s some food for thought and even if you only adopt one or two of these habits, it’s a step towards a healthier and more sustainable year.
If you have any thoughts and ideas for habits we can all easily adopt this year - we would love to hear them – please comment and share.
Coming soon... another in our Meet the Maker series, a Waste Not Want Not: Valentines Day, and, as mentioned, Meal Planning with Sustainability in Mind.