We have a lidl...

Exciting times in Wallingford – the opening of our new, sparkling Lidl on Friday has had the local population flocking to see what the new supermarket has to offer.

Due to a lot of snow on Friday the local fruit and veg stall was absent from the market place so, alternative plastic-free fruit and veg supplies needed to be sought, and where better to explore than the new Lidl? So perhaps taking a family trip to explore the excitement of Lidl on its first opening Saturday just be for lunch is grounds for being committed, but hey, they have little kid-size trollies! The kids had to share a trolley, which probably made them the bane of everyone there, but at least they were learning to share the trolley….

So, back to the important question - how much is Lidl committed to plastic packaging?

Weeeeellllll, it’s pretty much the same as the Waitrose/Sainsbury offerings – lots of meat sealed in plastic trays with unrecyclable wraps, fruit and veg in plastic bags, etc etc. But all is not lost - there are a few plastic free options, such as the loose cashew nuts and almonds you can scoop up (frantic crowds meant I couldn’t get close enough to see what you can scoop them into), lots of loose bread (unfortunately the paper bags have plastic windows, but then, you don’t have to bag up your bread), and porridge oats come in paper bags like flour. We were also able to get a few loose apples, but still needed to pop to Waitrose later on to get a few other bits of loose veg. However, some plus points for heading over there for the cheaper than Waitrose staples rather than a longer drive over to Didcot.

Meanwhile, we’ve been having some exciting trips to our local butchers! Mr Harrison made the first trip armed with plastic tubs to get some beef mince and ham. The butcher was more than happy to plonk these on the scales and load up with meat with not a plastic bag or wrap in sight.

Our local butchers

They also do cheese which normally would be handed over wrapped in clingfilm. To avoid this, I’d recently picked up some Bee’s Wax wrap from our local hardware store, Champions, which is a plastic free alternative to clingfilm.

Cheese all nicely wrapped up in something not plastic

Meat in tubs, not throwaway plastic trays

Taking it in to the butchers, had a lovely conversation about how he’d used to wrap things back in the day using wax paper as he wrapped up my cheese.

Granted it’s a tad more expensive than the supermarkets, but perhaps we should be eating less meat anyway and tucking in to a few more vegi-only meals. But what about the children – they surely needs lots and lots of meat? I was thinking the same thing, but it’s not unheard of for kids to be brought up vegan, and there is some NHS advice out there on how to keep kids topped up with what they need on a vegetarian diet.

There would be riots in our house if we banned sausages and spag bol, but I’m sure the kids aren’t going to notice if they get served a vegi chilli or risotto a few more nights of the week then meaty dishes, will they?