Convenience and and a combo of laziness and tiredness are my downfall, especially in a house with a very active toddler and a menagerie of pets. I don’t bring my coffee cup, so I get a takeaway one. I leave my giant bag of shopping bags in the car as I’m “only going in for one thing” and end up buying another plastic bag for sodding life cos there are no cardboard boxes I can use. That’s even before I get into the land of toddler snacks.

I’m also painfully aware that there are some issues of privilege here. When loose carrots are €1.50 a kg and the bagged ones are on special for 50c, I am lucky enough that I can make a decision on that. It’s not an option for a lot of families, so I recognize that before I start and will try to remain aware of the roadblocks that are put in front of people.

Today’s small shop, which I remembered my bag for!

Loose onions. More expensive than nets, and I had to dig through the basket to get some that weren’t bruised or damaged. Clearly the supermarket uses this a a way to get rid of still-ok-but-not-great onions from otherwise damaged packs. Several were only fit for the compost heap (see, trying already!).

Bananas. There were five, but toddler managed to finish one and start on a second before we even got to the till. This new option is very good news. Lately it’s been impossible to get bananas that weren’t sealed in plastic.

Milk. We get through quite a bit, and my options are either plastic bottle or tetrapak. Both contain plastic. There’s no kind of milk in any of my local supermarkets that doesn’t come in either a tetrapak or plastic bottle. Recyclable at least.

Rice cakes. I could personally live without these, especially as their wrapper is headed straight for general waste, but try explaining climate change to a hangry toddler who is desperate for a “nack, pees”. If anyone knows a brand available in better wrapping, I’m all ears!

I couldn’t find decent bread that wasn’t plastic wrapped, so I blew the dust off my bread maker (it’s almost entirely used for pizza dough lately) and am really pleased that I did.