Wasteless Pantry Bassendean News: 29th Nov 2018

What’s been happening at Wasteless Pantry Bassendean this month:

  • We changed our opening hours slightly so that those who can’t get in until after work still have time to come shopping with us. Our new hours are: Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 11am-5pm
  • We had a stall at the Bassendean Spring Mini Market, with lots of products for people to taste test, including chocolate brownie, regular & gluten-free Christmas cake, apple cranberry nut loaf, and flat bread with hummus. There are recipe cards for all these items in-store.
  • Start collecting your bread bag tags for our new recycling container. The tags are used to raise money to buy wheelchairs for adults and children in South Africa. More information about the program can be found here: http://www.breadtagsforwheelchairs.co.za/
  • New food products we have in stock: apricot logs, sweet chilli lime soya crisps, gluten free cereal, vegan dark chocolate, cacao butter, ground black pepper, lemongrass tea, and carob buttons.
  • New merchandise we have in stock include cold brew and breakfast jar sets which, along with our fermentation kits, are perfect for Christmas gifts!
  • We have added beeswax beads and activated charcoal to our beauty counter, to add to the existing shea butter, clay, essential oils and other base ingredients that we stock.

What’s next:

  • We will have some tastings in-store so that you can check out our products. Come in on Saturday 1st December to try out some chocolate bark (chocolate, cranberries and pistachio – yum!)
  • We are starting to put together gift jars (things like choc chip cookie mix, chocolate brownie mix, seed cracker mix) and gift hampers (waste-free starter kits, hampers for the coffee or tea lover, etc) to help you out with your Christmas shopping. Come in store and check them out!
  • We are in the process of looking into getting package free lip balm, bicarb-free deodorant, and facial soaps! Very exciting!

Know someone who’d like to be kept up to date with what’s happening in-store? Anyone can sign up to the newsletter here or like our Facebook page to be kept up-to-date with the latest news.


Wasteless Pantry Mundaring News: 23rd Nov 2018

Did you know that we were finalists in this years WA Waste Authority Infinity Awards? 

Drum roll, please…

Highly Commended Waste Team of the Year!

We were very happy with this result and were absolutely thrilled for all the other finalists, commended and winners that we got to meet on the night!  So many great people doing great things to avoid, reduce and recover waste in WA right now.

What’s been happening at the store:

  • If you haven’t been in lately, it is worth ducking your head through the door to check out the little revamp we had.  Although the layout is much the same, we’ve made thoroughfare areas just a little roomer where we can and made the whole place a bit brighter. Plus the specialist recycling station was upgraded to make it more user-friendly.
  • Our new beauty counter is all set up for you to start your DIY face & body treat making too!  We now have beeswax beads and activated charcoal to add to the shea butter, clay, essential oils and other base ingredients we have been stocking for a while now.
  • We’re not putting up the Christmas decorations just yet, but we are starting to make preparations.  Below are articles from the archives about being festive without the waste hangover that might be helpful, and we have gift jars ready to go if you have an event coming up that you want something quick and delightful to give.

Win the War on Waste This Christmas

Super Easy & Zero Waste Entertaining

Zero Waste Christmas Cake

Practical Gift Giving Guide

The 12 Wasteless Days of Christmas

  • We have Vegan Dark Chocolate!!!! Belinda says that it “is like being slapped in the face with chocolate” which I think is a good thing 🙂
  • Cacao butter is back! And we have a Gluten Free Cereal that doubles as a Gluten Free Porridge, Teff and Black Sesame Seeds.
  • Some more fantastic news? Onya is working toward creating a circular economy within their business and are now partnering with TerraCycle. So if for some reason your Onya products are no longer functioning as well as they should (which is a VERY rare occurrence) then we are able to return them to Onya to be recycled responsibly. How brilliant is that!
  • If you have any Boomerang Bags stashed at your place, please pop them back in the box at our store or Hills Fresh to keep them circulating where they are needed most.

Coming soon:

  • Scoopable deodorant!! We’ve been trialling this at the new Bassendean store and it has been hugely popular so now we are bringing it to Mundaring.  Plus there is a bicarb free one in the works for those with sensitive skin too!
  • Sealpod has just released a reusable coffee pod for Dolce Gusto machines which we will be stocking shortly.
  • We also have locally made, palm oil free scoopable vegan lip balm as well as facial, shaving, dog & stain remover soaps coming too!

Waste Less, Live More

Amanda & Jeannie


Win the War on Waste This Christmas

What if this Christmas you could help reduce waste?

Wasteless Pantry was recognised by the Waste Authority of WA as Waste Champions for 2017 and Highly Commended as Waste Team of the Year in 2018, but we think we know a fair few champions ourselves.  Our community is full of great people showing the way for their families and friends in how to live a low waste lifestyle.  There is no better time of the year to lead others to this path than at Christmas when so many increase their already wasteful ways.

Every year millions of unwanted gifts are excessively packaged and wrapped, appreciated for only a moment before they are stored away unused, thrown away, regifted or sold.  Kerbside bins are overflowing with polystyrene, wrapping, packaging, wasted food and plastic bags from buying all this stuff in the first place.  It’s hardly a picture of love and peace toward all mankind.  All that rubbish will end up on someone’s doorstep or in the fish on someone’s plate!

Instead of getting wasted, let’s prepare ourselves for our most enjoyable and sustainable year yet.

Planning

The key to zero waste living, low waste lifestyles, or just taking a little more care about the waste we create is all in the planning.

Think ahead about the type of Christmas you want to have.  Is it important to you to have family traditions?  Spending time with loved ones? Being generous? Feeling relaxed and restful? Having lots of celebrations and fun? Eating great food?  Whatever the inspiration, remembering the overall big picture values you want to strive for will help you decide just how important that $2 plastic toy really is at this time of year.

When you are planning meals, plan to the plate, not to your stomach’s desires.  If you are anything like me then if there is a buffet style meal on offer you want to try a bit of everything!  With this in mind, cater for what will fit on a plate and no more.  If your guest has to have seconds just to try everything on offer there is a good chance you will have lots of leftovers to deal with.  Also, save yourself some effort and turn Christmas lunch leftovers into an easy Christmas dinner.  You don’t have to serve up a repeat of lunch, with minimal creativity you can still offer something that will be delicious using what is already at hand.

Share the load with preparing food and also with distributing out the leftovers.  Make sure everyone brings a sizable container for any leftovers and then you’ve given the gift of a Boxing Day that doesn’t require any cooking 🙂

Serve your favourite Christmas dishes in containers that are beautiful on display and also have lids for putting away any leftovers straight after the meal.  If it doesn’t make it to the fridge quickly and easily, there is a good chance it will get thrown out.  Plus no-one likes dodgy food or having to tackle the clingwrap.

Get your bins ready.  Whilst I would love to hear that you didn’t need a bin at all during the festive season, the reality is that most will.  So with that in mind, make sure your bins are clearly marked for recycling, composting, or even reusing (kids love boxes!).  Know your recycling facilities available too so that you can save as much as possible from landfill.

More ideas to come on this topic….

How are you getting ready for low waste celebrations?

 

Photo Credits:
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash
Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Super Easy & Zero Waste Entertaining

The celebrations of the Christmas and New Year period are all about good food shared with good people.  I’m most fond of meals that are made ahead so I get more time to chat and connect; with less time hanging out in the kitchen on my own.

So here is a tried and true meal plan for anytime you need to whip together a feast!

Starters

Dukkah, olive oil and chunks of crusty bread

[Zero waste tip – BYO containers to Wasteless Pantry for the dukkah and oil as well as taking your bread bag to the bakery for your bread (or make your own)]

Soya crisps, Nordic crackers, corn chips and smashed avocado with a little lemon juice, rice cracker salad or mixed nuts

[Zero waste tip – BYO containers to Wasteless Pantry for the snacks and use a reusable produce bag for the avocado.  Serve all the snacks in wide-mouthed upcycled jars so you just put the lid back on if they don’t get finished and nothing will go stale]

Main

Brown rice salad – super easy to make in about 20 minutes and if you have extra it is great for lunches the next couple of days.  Soak rice overnight if you want to speed up the cooking time.

[Zero waste tip – BYO containers for rice, seeds, currants, oil and soy sauce.  Feel free to substitute what you have e.g. red onion for shallots, any colour capsicum, sultanas for currants, dried garlic for fresh (just halve the quantity suggested)]

Roasted vegetables

[Zero waste tip – roast up any vegetables that you have handy, even if they are a bit limp, or shop with reusable produce bags.  You don’t need to peel potato, sweet potato, carrots or mushrooms, just pop them straight onto the tray.  Try reusable baking liners or oil up your tray instead of using the disposable sheets]

Roasted meat or chicken wings

[Zero waste tip – Pick smaller cuts of meat as these will take less time to cook (and less power to run your oven) and encourage your guests to eat more vegetables since it’s healthier for everyone anyhow.  Take your own container to your butcher to avoid the plastic bag and meat tray]

Dessert

Christmas Cake – it is super easy to make this cake that lasts up to 3 months so you will always have something on hand for unexpected visitors!

Fruit platter or grilled stone fruit sprinkled with cinnamon sugar

[Zero waste tip – eat what is in season, since there is so much local variety this time of the year anyhow! Whatever doesn’t get finished can be made into a fruit salad or smoothies for another day. In my opinion cinnamon sugar goes with everything so BYO container for this from Wasteless Pantry]

Bliss balls

[Zero waste tip – these can be made ahead and frozen in small batches so that you can whip them out as needed.  Also feel free to get creative with the ingredients by swapping in what you love and have on hand – maybe you prefer macadamia nuts or sunflower seeds, or dried apricots, or try adding in maple syrup if you like it sweeter and rolling in coconut or dip in chocolate for a more decadent treat.  The main thing is to use up what you have rather than having bits and bobs going stale in your pantry]

So there you have it, simple and delicious!

Customise to appetites and guests as needed.

Photo credits

Photo by Kate Remmer on Unsplash

Photo by Best Recipe Team

Photo by Monika Grabkowska on Unsplash

Photo by +Simple on Unsplash


Zero Waste Christmas Cake

The winning recipe from this years Wasteless Pantry Bake Off….

Old-fashioned Christmas Cake

Ingredients:

510g          sultanas

265g          raisins

155g          currants

150g          pitted dates (chopped)

100g          glace cherries (chopped)

75g   dried cranberries

75g   dried pineapple

50g   mixed peel

185ml brandy (can substitute orange juice for alcohol free)

2 tsp          finely grated orange rind

250g          softened butter (can substitute canola oil for dairy free version)

200g brown sugar

4       eggs (can substitute 4 tsp flaxseed meal and 4 Tbsp water for egg free version)

300g          plain flour (can substitute gluten free plain flour)

2 tsp mixed spice

 

* Blanched almonds & cherries to decorate

* 2 tbsp brandy to drizzle optional

 

Method:

Combine fruit and brandy in large bowl, cover with a lid and set aside for 2 days to macerate.

Grease a 22cm cake pan and line base with a reusable tray liner or grease a spring form cake pan.

Beat butter & sugar until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well until combined. Stir butter & fruit mixtures together. Add flour & mixed spice. Spoon into pan and tap lightly on benchtop to release any air bubbles, arrange almonds and cherries on top.

Bake at 150C covered with a bigger cake tin for 2 hours 30 mins to 3 hours. Drizzle hot cake with extra brandy. Cool thoroughly before turning out.

[Store in an airtight dark container for up to 3 months].

 


Practical Gift Giving Guide

The Lost Art of Not Giving Crap Presents

Do your Christmases and birthdays revolve around getting and giving plastic, over packaged trinkets and novelty gifts that are enjoyed for less than one hour and then become awkwardly pushed aside, dust collecting reminders of rushed decision making and consumerist manipulation?

Or maybe you’ve been regifted one of these little treasures?

I ask these questions not in judgement, but in awe of how easy it is to get caught up in the hype of the festive season and leave all reason behind.  As much as I love waste less living, reducing waste, talking rubbish and being thrifty and creative, this time of year I feel the pull of buying stuff.  Who doesn’t love showing how much they care by doing nice things for others?  The thing is, doing nice things for others is not the same as buying something, just to give something.  Thinking through the life of the purchase requires a little more in-depth enquiry.

Will this person find this novelty gift funny for years to come? Yes, great get it! No, then maybe just recap what you saw the next time you catch up.

Will this person have space for this gift in their home long term? Yes, fantastic! No, then is there something else consumable that might be more appreciated?

Does this item fit with who this person would like to be?  Yes, fantastic! No, show your support by not making them agonise over wanting to be grateful vs. becoming the person they want to be.

I get that picking out the right gift for someone is hard!  But I also wonder if sometimes we forget to ask, does this person even want a gift from me?  Would they rather my company, a hand with something or just a smile?

So I titled this blog post “Practical Gift Giving Guide” and whilst I think the most practical gift is often nothing at all, here are some other ideas that might relieve the need to give something good:

  • Handmade tea blends: How about pulling together your own blend of herbs and petals that would be most soothing for the person in mind?  Think a combination of lemongrass, peppermint, hibiscus, ginger & cinnamon for an uplifting blend or chamomile, lavender, rose petal, rosemary for a fragrant calming blend.
  • Fragrant bath bags: Much like an oversized tea bag for your bath.  Again, choose your own blend of loose herbal teas plus some Epsom salts and bicarb to relieve tension and soften skin.  Pop it all into a little refillable bag (like our soap nut bags) and you are good to go again and again.
  • Homemade soaps: Palm oil free soaps can be hard to come by, so stocking up for a friend who cares about this topic may be just the treat they were after.

  • Individual chocolate bars and rocky road: If you popped into Wasteless Pantry last week you would have had the opportunity to try out Christmas Bark (white chocolate topped with cranberries and pistachios).  It took me less than 15 minutes to make, was delicious and the combinations are endless!  Just melt chocolate buttons or bits of your choice and top with your friend’s favourite flavours.  Maybe they love dark chocolate topped with pepitas, hemp seeds, goji berries and slivered almonds; or perhaps white chocolate topped with trail mix and chia seeds? Delicious!
  • Reusable items: If you have a friend that is preparing for next years Plastic Free July or saw the War on Waste and wants to get themselves equip to waste less, how about supporting them.  Think BYO coffee cups, reusable shopping bags in pretty designs, produce bags, reusable baking liners, metal straws or stainless steel drink bottles.  It can be a bit of an investment to get yourself kitted out to start with so this type of thing is greatly appreciated.
  • Recipe jars: For that friend who loves the idea of cooking from scratch but finds it tedious to gather the ingredients, show your love by doing it for them (or get us to, we won’t tell on you!) and popping a recipe on the back of the container to make cooking a breeze.

Just a sample of ideas to get you started and you can always pop into Wasteless Pantry to have a chat if you have a very tricky friend to find something for.

You never know what inspiration you might find.

Photo credits:

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Photo by Lesly Juarez on Unsplash

Photo by Yoori Koo on Unsplash


The 12 Wasteless Days of Christmas

Eco Christmas – Green Christmas – Earth Friendly Celebrating – Zero Waste Gifts

Do those words strike fear?  Do they conjure ideas of deprivation and judgement?  Do they sound like an impossible ideal?

We are here to inspire you and encourage a little less waste, without compromising the joy and jubilation of the season.

We’ve already been hinting at giving less but more thoughtful gifts.  What other ideas are there?

Most of these ideas are nothing new.  It’s just about remembering how nice it used to be to enjoy quality rather than focussing on the quantity.

12 Ideas for a Zero Waste Christmas 

  1. Give up buying gift wrap – there are so many more beautiful ways to present your presents.  What about making reusable gift bags?  Not a seamstress? Then how about using a op shop pillow case with a ribbon to close.  Or look into furoshiki and simply use a square piece of beautiful scrap fabric that can be reused and repurposed endlessly.  If you have kids, then use one of their many paintings or drawings 🙂
  2. Reuse last years Christmas cards as gift tags or to craft your own new design of Christmas cards.  Instead of buying more this year, how about sending a e-card.  There are many very funny and cute ones out there that will be great to enjoy as the receiver without then having something to throw away.
  3. Consider what reusables you have available to avoid disposable items.  Such as cloth serviettes, stainless steel straws, glass bottles for water, metal cutlery and plates.  If you are worried about the clean up after then set up a washing station where everyone can take care of their own mess.  Most people would love to be involved and help out, so let them!
  4. If you are giving gifts then consider a secret santa/kris kringle.  Everyone gets a name or gender to buy for with a price range.  You only have one gift to give and you get one in return and you will be able to afford better quality gifts.  It is easy and far less stressful.
  5. Consider giving gift vouchers for your time rather than for a product or store.  Time is the most precious commodity these days.  Your friends and family will surely love to know that they will get to do something lovely with you throughout the year.
  6. Keep an eye on your portion sizes and only cater as much as a person will reasonably eat.  We all the know the parties where there was so much food that the host was still eating the same meals a week later.  To guide you, think about what a person can fit on a plate.  If you have so much of everything that there would be more plates filled than people to eat them, scale back.  Everyone will thank you as many eat out of guilt of the effort you have gone to that has been left untouched.
  7. Make something.  If you are artistic, create something.  If you are crafty, fashion something.  If you are a cook, bake something.  If you are uninspired, check out pinterest or grab a Gift Jar from us 😛
  8. Reuse last years Christmas decorations or get out into the natural world for inspiration and supplies.  There are beautiful things that can be done with nuts, vines, popcorn strings, cinnamon sticks, branches, fabric, a bit a glitter and some glue.
  9. Suggest your guests bring a resealable container and divvy out any leftovers.  This can be your gift to them and their gift to you.
  10. When sourcing produce for your deliciously planned menu, think about what is in season and locally available.  We are very lucky to have a wealth of fresh foods harvested locally – think mulberries, stone fruits, berries, cherries as well as local seafood & meats.
  11. Get to know your local wineries, breweries & distilleries for locally produced celebratory drinks!  If you ask nicely you may be able to take back your bottles after, or even fill up a reusable growler of beer to take home.
  12. How about doing your bit for local charity shops (and those less fortunate as well) by stocking them with all your goodies that go unused?  I’m sure that everyone has at least one or two items in their home that are in good quality but never see the light of day.  Op shops love your items and so will those that frequent them.  If your kids are into Santa and not yet ready to part with their toys for goodwill purposes, then tell them that Santa doesn’t bring presents if he thinks you have too much stuff.
  13. Just because we love to exceed your expectations – here is a bonus idea!  Give the gift of an experience rather than another thing that will need to be cleaned up and cared for.  Vouchers or a promise to go hot air ballooning, tickets to the local pool, the zoo, the movies or a trip to the beach are all gifts that will be appreciated for more than one day of the year!

What other ideas do you have up your sleeve?  Share them below and have a very happy festive season!!