Small changes make a world of difference

Move over ‘hygge’; it’s time for ‘live lagom’. I’ve been chosen to participate in the Live Lagom project in Norwich, led by sustainability charity Hubbub and IKEA, to help create an active community of ‘lagomers’, and to learn and share ways to be sustainable at home. It’s a Swedish philosophy that means ‘just the right amount’. I’ll be looking at ways that our family of 3 (plus 1 grumpy cat) can #LiveLAGOM in our 3-bed terraced house.

Our kitchen is without doubt the place we spend the most time. It’s not because I love slaving over a hot stove; HELL no, it’s so that myself and daughter can sample the culinary masterpieces of our in-house chef (aka shoulder-to-cry-on/daddy). When he’s not designing something cool, Neil (@typographic) can almost certainly be found at the stove, throwing together some delicious street food-inspired dish.

Whether it’s energy, food or packaging; the kitchen is where our family uses the most and where we can definitely be doing more to reduce waste and re-use. With a bit of careful planning and by making small changes, I think we can significantly reduce our household waste in 2018 and live more lagom. 

While consumer campaigns such as WRAP’s Love Food Hate Waste are certainly having an impact, there’s still a long way to go – with annual food waste in the UK at a shocking 10.3million tonnes. If we all stopped binning food that could have been eaten, the environmental benefit would be equivalent to taking one in four cars off the road (www.lovefoodhatewaste.com)

There’s no denying that the key to wasting less is to be more organised. We’ve learnt that regular stock takes are essential so that you’re not re-buying food you already have. Keeping an up-to-date list inside each store cupboard helps to stay on track. When you use something up, you can add it straight onto a shopping list (we painted a wall in chalkboard paint).  

We’ll be doing our Store Cupboard Challenge #storecupboardchallenge (see previous blogposts) again in January, helped along with our new Vardesatta pressure cooker, which reduces cooking time by up to 50 percent and saves energy. This means we will be cooking and eating from our cupboards, and fridge/freezer only – no top-up shops allowed. It requires an imaginative cook and lots of planning! You’d be amazed by how much money per month you can save if you cut back on ‘top-up’ shops. Perhaps fellow lagomers would like to join us? 

I can’t wait to see what delicious low energy meals Neil comes up with using our pressure cooker. We’ve also purchased a selection of Fortrolig oven-safe glass containers, which make it easy to store, heat up and serve leftovers now that we’ve said au-revoir to the microwave. And handy re-sealable Istad bags (made of renewable, recyclable bioplastic derived from sugarcane) for batch cooking. I dread to think how many basil plants I’ve killed over the years by neglecting to water them. So the welcome addition of self watering Sotcitron plant pots means we can grow our own fresh herbs – no green fingers required.