Frugal Ethics.

Hello and thanks for following me.

Ideally I would buy fairtrade, organic, free range, chemical free and cruelty free. Reality is so different these days, especially as the income decreases.

The two I try hard to stick to are cruelty free and free range although with a bit of chemical free thrown is as well. The co-op own brands are superb; cheap and with the bunny logo. Sainsburys and Superdrug are not too bad although they are not totally bunny logo'd up yet. M and S are good but I have to avoid them as the food dept is my biggest downfall. But they are superb in all ranges and surprisingly the cost is reasonable.

To be chemical free and still afford to eat can be a struggle but looking to ideas from my nan's era give great ideas. Would not be without my vat of bicarb of soda these days. I did try the shampoo and conditioner free idea. Not my finest hour as the natural yoghurt curdled in my curls. So have compromised...don't wash my hair, not really but have reduced amount used. Dr Bronner's castile soap is a beauty but boy does it strip coloured hair. Am on a grey refusal trip at the moment. But it makes a great cleaner for everything. And of course good old coconut oil that I first bought to cook with but is now my conditioner and moisturiser (but ssssh lets not tell anyone as every time something gets popular the price increases - I remember when pomegranates were not a luxury).

I was vegetarian and can be most days quite happily but 'poor son' is a right little meat eater. So I try to stick to animals that have had some semblance of the life they are entitled to. We spent a summer in the countryside a few years ago, near dairy and meat farms. That was the closest I have come to being veggie again. Seeing and hearing them made me really connect and the guilt intensified. Goodness knows I want to give up milk but I love the stuff. Chilled skimmed milk is my drink of choice.

A local butcher sells locally produced free range pork at a great price. The bacon is the same size cooked as uncooked. I guess it's not pumped full of water. Also the free range chicken is good. Mostly it's not much dearer than the supermarket, apart from their real super duper low priced stuff that seems to taste of nothing and is purely from intensive farmed animals.

So that is why a lot of my time is taken up with trying to maintain my frugal ethics. I stare enviously at people filling their trolleys in one shop and not stopping themselves from picking up the pretty pork skewer kebabs, that I really like the look off. I pick up the packs of meat and then remember the trucks of tightly packed cattle I packed that week. Did I mention I live near to a cattle market!! I try and picture the fields of free range pigs that get to snuffle in the dirt. Happy pig meat we always called it. Then I put the pack of meat back, sigh and try and figure out when I am next passing the butchers I use. Then go find the quorn range and wonder if I will ever be able to stomach it.

Thanks for reading x