Food

Our lives have become dominated by convenience culture. With convenience comes PLASTIC! Loads of it. Reducing food-related plastic means shopping in several shops and spending a little time at home making things. Local shops and cafes are the best places to find plastic-free options and you will be investing in the local community. Here are some ideas for reducing the amount of single-use plastic that you use.

Bread - Loose bread rolls and loaves of bread are available in Bayne’s bakers and Woodlea Stables (check opening times) without plastic packaging. If you can find the time, make your own bread and cookies. Some suggested recipes are here.

Bin Bags - Line your food waste bin/caddy with old newspaper. Everything else you put in your kitchen bin should be dry and so a bin bag should not be necessary.

Cereal - Porridge oats are available in cardboard boxes or paper bags from supermarkets. Muesli is available from Happy Earth Place in Dunfermline.

Clingfilm – use beeswax wraps, or simple put on a plate and over with a bowl. Or put your leftovers in a Tupperware box

Crisps - Make your own crisps by thinly cutting potatoes and baking with oil, salt and pepper. Or try roasting sunflower seeds with oil and soy sauce to create a delicious snack. Check online for recipes. Alternatively buy large ‘grab bags’ and divide them up into smaller portions, which uses less plastic

Dried fruit, nuts, seeds, rice and pasta - Dunfermline’s ‘Happy Earth Place’ sells all these items and more. Take along your own clean container or use the paper bags that they supply.

Fish - Can be delivered to your home by John Kerr who will wrap it in paper or put it in your own tubs, from his van all outside your front door.

Frozen food - Some frozen food comes in cardboard, no plastic. Good examples are fish fingers and potato waffles available from supermarkets. Frozen peas, fishcakes and soft fruit can be bought at Buffalo Farm if you take your own tub.

Fresh Fruit and Veg - Loose fruit and veg can be found at Bankhead Farm Shop (just off A985 nr Crombie), RC Ferguson’s on East Port and Mix Fruit in Kingsgate shopping centre - take along your reusable bags. Pillars of Hercules and Bellfield Organics deliver fruit and veg boxes.

Ice cream – Cardboard tubs of ice cream with a cardboard lid (sadly, there is still a plastic film across the top of the ice cream, but that is a single sheet rather than a whole tub and lid) can be bought in Aldi.

Meat - Bryan Beveridge Butchers and Puddledub Butchers in Dobbies Food Hall will sell you meat in your own clean containers.

Milk - Dairies that deliver milk in glass bottles in Dunfermline include McQueen Dairies and Strathenry Dairies.

Pet Food - Pouches of pet food are an avoidable single-use plastic. Single tins of pet food are available in most supermarkets. Boxes of dry pet food are also widely available in cardboard boxes.

Pizza – Make your own, using a basic bread dough for the base, and a tomato sauce, with cheese. Some takeaways deliver their pizza in cardboard boxes.

There are sadly some food products that you cannot get unless they are wrapped or packed in plastic. In these instances you have two choices!

Refuse - For some items there are no plastic-free alternatives, such as fresh strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, unless you grow your own. For these and other tricky items go without them, or try plastic-free alternatives.

Reuse - Sometimes plastic packaging is unavoidable. If there is something that you can’t go without, choose it with packaging that can be reused. For example, some frozen peas are sold in thick plastic bags with a resealing strip - they make great sandwich bags for packed lunches. Wash them and use them again and again.