Archive for the ‘Sustainable Food’ Category

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10 reasons why we like grow your own food..

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

Grow Your Own Food

If you are up for trying your hand at a little Grow Your Own this year, we have just added a whole new category to the website which includes Raised Bed Kits, Patio Raised Beds, Tomato Planters, Strawberry Planters, Potato Planters and Grow Bag Covers – a whole plethora of goodies to ensure that even those of us with the smallest of outdoor spaces can reap a crop of home-grown veggies and herbs this year.

Here’s our Top 10 reasons why we like growing our own food!

  1. Saves money – a packet of £1 seeds goes a long way compared to shop bought herbs and veg.
  2. Helps bring our carbon footprint down. Food grown at home doesn’t travel anywhere.  Compare this to food flown in from all around the planet and driven round the country in lorries.  Home-grown wins hands down.
  3. We don’t add any nasty chemical or pesticides so we know exactly what has gone into the food we grow at home.
  4. Lots of shop-bought veg and herbs come wrapped in plastic packaging. You can avoid more of this landfill fodder by growing your own.
  5. Growing stuff chills us out!  There’s nothing nicer or more relaxing than spending a couple of hours tending to plants.  Garden work brings those stress levels right down.
  6. Its good exercise – digging, lifting, moving, sweeping – even in small outdoor vegetable spaces or working with planters you can burn off lots of calories.
  7. You can be adventurous.  Take the humble tomato.  There are around 7500 different varities grown so you can experiment and try out something you would never be able to buy at the supermarket.  It’s exciting to see what the results will be.
  8. It’s a brilliant lesson for kids.  Getting them involved shows them the food on the plate doesn’t just come from a shop shelf and that actually it’s from the ground and we need to look after the land.  We’ve also managed to turn a couple of fussy eaters on to more vegetables by getting them to pick their own.
  9. It’s super healthy. Freshly picked vegetables are packed full of nutrients.  Transfer veg straight from the garden to kitchen to plate and you benefit from all those freshly picked healthy vitamins.
  10. Sharing is caring.  Growing your own means you can share your home-grown crop with friends, family and work colleagues.

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Posted in Allotments, Carbon Footprint, ECOutlet Products, Green Living, Grow Your Own, Organic Food, Sustainable Food | No Comments »

Wheatgrass juicer + Seed sprouter = Healthy 2010

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

Wheatgrass Sprouter and Juicer

Wheatgrass juice anyone? If youre detoxing in 2010 or just looking to be a little healthier then this one might be for you – the Easy Health Seed Sprouter, one of the latest additions to the shop here at ECOutlet.

This manual seed sprouter is used to grow wheatgrass and sprouts on windowsills, kitchen tops or anywhere with indirect light.  It packs in two trays for growing barley and wheatgrass and two separate sprouting trays divided into four segments so you can grow up to eight different varieties of sprouts including alfalfa, mung bean, beetroot, cabbage, fennel or sunflower.

We like the idea of helping people to grow more of their own produce at home – you know exactly what goes into it and it helps to avoid all the packaging and transport miles associated with supermarket purchases.  It’s generally cheaper too – for the cost of a shot of wheatgrass juice in your local juice bar you can grow enough sprouts and wheatgrass to last a week with this device.

Sprouted seeds are highly nutritious and can be eaten with salads, sandwiches or as an accompaniment to other meals whilst wheatgrass has been praised for its numerous health benefits due to a seriously high chlorophyll content.  Chlorophyll oxygenates the blood and organ tissue, impedes the growth of harmful bacteria in the digestive tract, neutralises toxins and helps purify the liver.  Regular intake of wheatgrass is said to improve blood sugar disorders and digestion and reduces blood pressure.

Wheatgrass juice is generally taken in small shots but not all juicers are suitable for making it.  The Easy Health Manual Wheatgrass Juicer is however perfect for the task as it cold presses the wheatgrass which helps preserves all the natural nutrients.  It does’nt just do wheatgrass, if you’re tastes are more traditional you can still get healthy with some homemade orange, lemon, grapefruit, carrot or apple drinks.

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Posted in ECOutlet Products, Green Living, Grow Your Own, Organic Food, Sustainable Food | No Comments »

Meat Free Mondays…..

Saturday, January 16th, 2010

Eat less meat film
A while back, here at ECOutlet we made a little film called Eat Less Meat. Regular blog visitors might have spotted it before but if you’re new to our site, I’ve posted up the film once more at the end of this post so you can check it out.
It’s a funny, gentle reminder that Eating Less Meat is not only good for your health but also helps to combat your overall carbon emissions (and it won a Green Award too!).

One of my predictions for the coming year is that going meat-free at least one day a week will become a hop topic for many people. The Governments advisory committee on sustainability, the Sustainable Development Commission recently released a report which highlights a diet with less meat as one of the main ways the general public can combat climate change. And as we commence the run up to the next general election, we’ll also be hearing lots more from all the major political parties on the issue as they promote their own sustainable food policies.

If you’re looking for new ways to reduce your carbon footprint in 2010, cutting down on meat could be one of the answers. For inspiration check out your local charity shops for veggie cookbooks and websites like Meat Free Mondays offer up handy recipes and restaurant recommendations for anyone keen to dip their toes into a veggie lifestyle.

Posted in Carbon Footprint, ECOutlet, ECOutlet Films, Green Awards, Green Living, Green Media, Sustainable Food | No Comments »

What’s in your bin? Reducing Food Waste….

Monday, August 17th, 2009

Food Waste

Earlier last week, Boris Johnson joined forces with several celebrity chefs to urge Londoners to use leftovers from meals for tasty recipes rather than letting this perfectly good food go to waste.  An important message as in the UK alone 6.7 million tones of food is thrown away every year and wasting this food costs the average family around £420 per year.  If we all stopped wasting food that could be eaten, the CO2 impact would also be the same as taking 1 out of every 5 cars off the road!

If you’re looking for inspiration on reusing leftovers, the Recycle for London website has all the celebrity chef recipes for cooked food which we often end up chucking out like bread, meat, fish, rice and potatoes.  In our home, leftover risotto balls are a tasty regualr at meal times and I’m very intrigued to have a go at Hugh Fearnley-Whitingstalls Roast Potato Gnocchi next time we go a little overboard on the Sunday roasties.

To reduce the amount of leftovers at meal times a few simple steps such as planning meals, shopping in advance and keeping meal portions to the correct sizes will all help. We also have a few products on the website which can help keep food fresh for longer and out of the bin.
The Ethylene Gas Guardian (£3.99) absorbs the gas given off by fruit and veg which in turn helps to keep them fresh for longer.  The Count On It food freshness labels (£1.99) are designed to tell you at a glance if food is still fresh and safe to eat helping you to get the most out of it whilst the Eco Cooler (£69) uses natural cooling properties to store fruit and veg at the optimum temperatures keeping them fresh for longer.

To pick up a few more tips on keeping food out of the bin check the Lovefoodhatewaste website and for some more tasty recipes like these simple banana bread ones (great for blackened bananas!) take a look at MyDish, a new website which some people might have spotted on last weeks Dragons Den.

Posted in ECOutlet Products, Eco Tips, Sustainable Food | No Comments »

Mushroom growing report…

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

Grow Your Own Mushrooms

As part of our ongoing quest to grow as much of our own produce as possible in a garden-less London flat I recently adventured past the herb/tomato/salad stage and tried out a mushroom growing kit – oyster mushrooms – not the magic ones!
It had actually been sat in the pantry for the past couple of months until the other week when I went at it with the knife as per the instructions!  Not expecting much to happen, it was a pleasant surprise to see a bumper crop spring up within a few days and a delicious breakfast of oyster mushrooms on toast followed….very yummy!

It’s gone a little quiet since then though on the mushroom front – a second crop was promised in the instructions but nothing so far which is a little disappointing and expensive given the £10 cost.  Having read up a little today it looks as though I may have cut the mushrooms a little late – which dries out the substrate apparently.  I did a little googling and was surprised to come across this article mentioning some findings by Which? magazine.  Their testers had varying degrees of success, most reporting low yields similar to mine and the editor concluding the kits were a lot more expensive than buying mushrooms from the shops.

Ho hum… so perhaps not everything is suited for growing at home but I think it’s important to report the bad and the good.  On a brighter note our herbs have all got off to a good start this year and I’m being adventurous in other ways trying out some red pepper and pea seeds which have just sprouted seedlings in the last few days.  It’s still not too late to have a go yourself and if you need any help check out the Paper Potter which is the perfect little tool to get going with!

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Eco Cooler and E.G.G. – Helping reduce food waste…

Thursday, February 19th, 2009

Eco Cooler and EGG helping reduce food wastage

In the UK we throw away an estimated 6.7 million tonnes of household food waste every year which accounts for around a third of all the food we buy.  Approximately half of this domestic food waste is edible food which translates into a financial cost of £250 to £400 a year for every household.

By adapting a number of simple measures such as planning when to shop for food and only making necessary purchases, food wastage can be reduced considerably.  Food storage is also an important factor and proper storage eliminates premature aging of fruit and vegetables which in turn reduces the amount of wasted food.

Queue two new products just added to the ECOutlet store, the Eco Cooler and E.G.G……

The Eco Cooler is an innovative hand made terracotta fruit bowl and root vegetable store with natural cooling properties.  Water poured in the bottom plate is absorbed by the terracotta.  As the water evaporates it cools helping to create the ideal cool, damp, dark environment to store potatoes, onions, garlic, swede and other root vegetables inside.  Fruit like to be slightly chilled but stored in the open air and light, so Eco Cooler also has a bowl on top which cools fruit just a couple of degrees.

The E.G.G. Ethylene Gas Guardian is a little egg shaped device which absorbs the ethylene gas given off by ripening produce in the fridge.  Although harmless to people, much of the fresh produce in fridges is sensitive to even small levels of ethylene and it’s presence can accelerate the decaying process.  By keeping an EGG on duty in your fridge, a very low presence of ethylene is assured allowing you to enjoy crisp, fresh produce for longer whilst saving money at the same time.

Some food waste is of course unavoidable but rather than sending it to landfill these can be recycled with a Bokashi Home Composting Bin.  Every time there are scraps of fruit and vegetable peelings to be disposed off, place them in the Bokashi Bin along with a sprinkling of bokashi bran.  When the bucket is full, leave for two weeks and then either dig the resultant Bokashi in the garden or add to the compost heap.  As the Bokashi is ‘composting’ in the bucket, a nutrient rich liquor is also produced which can be used as a plant feed for the garden.

Posted in ECOutlet Products, Eco Tips, Sustainable Food, Waste Reduction | No Comments »

Hugh’s Big Land Share Idea…..

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

Land Share

Are you a grower? A landowner? Maybe a landspotter or a facilitator?…Me I’m a grower or a would-be grower anyway….If you missed it on Ch4 this week, this is the new initiative by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall to link land-starved residents across the country who want to grow their own vegetables to spaces where they can grow them.

In Islington where I’m based the waiting list for an allotment space was five or six years the last time I checked so when I heard about this plan on Thursday evening it was very exciting indeed.  The TV programme featured one lady who had taken over a section of her neighbour’s garden to grow veg in.  In return for around 20% of her crop, the neighbour was more than happy for her to use the land.  The idea of Landshare is to repeat this successful synergy of needs on a grand scale launching a food revolution across the country.

Maybe you have a back garden lying idle or you know of some derelict land nearby which might be appropriate or perhaps like me you’re just dying to get your hands dirty giving grow your own a try.  Scheduled to launch in early 2009, you can register your interest on the Landshare website now.  The more of us who register, the greater the chances of this project succeeding and if there is anyone based in Islington who’s reading this and owns a weed-ridden overgrown garden I know of at least one person who would be happy to clear it out for you!!

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Rising Food Prices – Grow Your Own can help….

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

Homegrown Chilli Plants

Last week the BBC reported on the increase in food prices which have now gone up by an average 8.3% since January.  Meat and fish saw the biggest jumps, up 22.9% whilst fruit and vegetables were up 14.7%.

Meanwhile my little experiment at ‘growing your own’ has almost come to an end for another year.  It’s been a relative success, five chilli plants were grown from seed and are still producing fruit for mealtimes.  We’ve not bought any herbs (basil, mint, oregano or thyme) from the shops since May now and the tomatoes are just about ready for picking.  The only disappointment or failure this year has been the salad which didn’t seem to favour the wetter conditions the summer brought with it.

It’s fair to say the savings made in our weekly shopping bill wouldn’t be described as massive but nor were they insubstantial.  If food prices continue to increase in the same vein next year then more and more of us may well consider the Grow Your Own option as a means of tackling the rising costs of a weekly shop.

For those lucky to have an outdoor patch or anyone thinking about giving Grow Your Own a try due to the increase in food prices, the Gardeners Calendar and the Royal Horticultural Society’s website are two very good starting points with advice available on starting a vegetable plot and monthly tips on what to sow.

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Unpackaged…..

Monday, July 7th, 2008

ECOutlet visit to Unpackaged

Friday night I had a domestic emergency, piles of washing up to do and not a drop of Ecover washing up liquid to be found.  Shamefully for someone who should be better prepared I have to admit I resorted to a trip to the corner shop and one of those leading detergent brands.  Lesson learned though and I quickly vowed never to let it happen again.

Not wanting to hang around with my new resolution I hopped on the bike on Saturday and headed down to Unpackaged in Islington, London with my refill bottles in tow.  The idea behind this innovative store is to remove as much packaging as possible from the whole business of buying groceries.  You bring along your own refill containers, in my case this time a couple of empty Ecover bottles and another empty bottle for olive oil which you then simply refill from a large bulk container.  The result is less waste going to landfill and it’s cheaper too so everyone’s a winner!

I was very impressed with the product range on offer which included lots of organic wholefoods (rice, pasta, beans etc) as well as the whole Ecover range in refillable containers.  It’s also one of the nicest shops around to visit with great attention to detail and it comes as no surprise to learn when you see the place that Unpackaged was voted runner up in the Jupiter Big Idea category at this years Observer Ethical Awards. Such a good idea and full credit to Catherine the owner who has done such a great job in making it all happen.

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National Vegetarian Week 2008…

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

National Vegetarian Week 2008

Anyone who checks out our eco events calendar on ECOutlet may have already noted that this week marks National Vegetarian Week 2008, an annual awareness-raising campaign promoting inspirational vegetarian food and the benefits of a meat-free diet.

Going veggie is now easier than ever with lots of meat-free alternatives in the shops for nervous newbies and most restaurants offering tasty imaginative options beyond the bog-standard veggie Lasagne or Mousaka. The NVW website has a few ‘meat-free made easy’ recipe ideas for anyone planning on giving the veggie option a try this week or my top tip is the BBC Food website which always comes up trumps when I’m looking for interesting meal ideas.

Abstaining from meat, even for a few days is not only good for your health but is better for the planet too. Check out my previous blog last year on the link between greenhouse gases and global meat production or have a look at this award winning video on youtube which highlights the problem!

Posted in ECOutlet Films, Green Events, Sustainable Food | No Comments »

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