The First Blog Post!

Well here it is, the first ever Watford’s Green Grandma Blog post!

I know I’ve already told you a bit about how the blog came about in the bio, but I thought I’d spend a bit of time sharing how I learnt to repurposing and reusing, long before it was fashionable. Along with a word from one of Feeding Our Futures founder Members.

As with so many others, the years when my children were younger were financially challenging. I became quite good at making what we had stretch, nothing went to waste - It’s amazing what you can do when necessity dictates - But I must admit there were times when I really could have done with some helpful ideas and inspiration. I’m hoping that with this blog, I can share with you, some of the tips I’ve found along the way, and the new skills I hope to learn on this journey to reducing Watfords waste.

Obviously the best way of reducing waste is to only buy what we need. But let’s face it, when shopping our tastebuds, special offers and enticing displays make us buy more than we need. I am no exception to this, my eyes and my tastebuds lead the way when it comes to food shopping. I often end up with more than we can eat, before the goods start to pass their best. The logical part of my brain, that should remind me the kids have all grown up and moved out, doesn’t always kick in when my tastebuds are being tantalised 😂

Because of this I now have a good relationship with my freezer. I reuse storage containers, the plastic ones that the takeaway comes in (I only eat takeaway to get the tubs, honest 😉) to put in the extra portion(s) that I inevitably make. Sometimes it’s only a small portion that goes in, not even a whole meals worth, but over the space of a few weeks I generally have enough “odd bits” to make a meal. There have been a few occasions though, when I haven’t labelled things and got a surprise. Like the time when I’ve thought I was defrosting vegetable soup and discovering, too late, that it was apple pie filling, or when I thought I was defrosting 2 tubs of bolognaise only to discover one of them is in fact chilli. Surprisingly the 2 mixed together was really nice. I couldn’t decide whether the concoction should go with rice or pasta so played safe and served it on baked potatoes.

Luckily the founders of Feeding Our Future thought my ditsiness, (which I’m now old enough to blame on my age 😂) is endearing, and have supported me in setting up this blog.

As they say on the American TV shows - before we go, hears a word from our sponsor:-

From Ian Port one of the founder members of Feeding Out Future

'Feeding our Future' is an opportunity for Watford to make a dent in the climate crisis by encouraging the town to reduce its food waste by at least 30%, five percent in excess of the target set by Hertfordshire Waste Aware. Set up in 2021 by Watford Chamber of Commerce, Verde Business Solutions and Think About It Films, Feeding our Future has delivered free talks to residents on food waste reduction and planted a trail of Urban Orchards, backed up by tech, to encourage communities and businesses to make their own contributions to reducing food waste. Feeding our Future hopes to widen its activities in 2023 and is supporting Watford's Green Grandma.’

Thank you Ian. And thank you Feeding Our Future for highlighting the issues and giving us this opportunity to create this blog. Together I know we can make a difference. 🌿