Washable Menstrual Pads
As I promised when I issued the "Ditch The Disposables" challenge, I ordered some washable menstrual pads from the PlushPantswebsite. It used to be owned by a friend of mine, but now is run by a very nice lady from Oxfordshire.PlushPants' main business is selling reusable nappies, of which it has an impressive array. Things have really moved on from terry squares and huge punk safety pins. If you use nappies you might want to have a look.
But they also sell washable menstrual pads, which I was delighted to find come in a range of funky colours and patterns including leopard-print, tartan (no Black Watch, sadly), and coy little moons (geddit?). Just like the disposable type they come in a choice of sizes and absorbency, but in case you're feeling a bit bewildered there is ahandy guide to help you figure out what you need. I also got a nifty little bag to store them in inside your handbag.
When it all got added up they weren't cheap, but they still come to less than I typically spend on sanitary products in a year. These should last a lot longer than that so they'll be a financial saving eventually. But they'll be saving the earth's resources from the get go.
Home-made soup
I have home-made soup for lunch almost every day. A different soup everyday."Ah," I hear you say, "That's because you're super woman. You are somehow endowed with more hours in the day, or more talents, or it's because you don't work full time like I do, or some other reason". No, it's because I cheat.
Home-Made Vegetable Soup
I hate recipes that start "Begin the day before you want to cook the soup", but in this case it's a blessing, not a pain. In the evening, save the leftover cooked vegetables your children won't eat. Instead of scraping them into the rubbish bin or compost bucket (or pig swill bucket if you live in a more enlightened country than Britain), scrape them into a container to be stored in the fridge. If you don't have children, or if you have strange mutant children who actually eat all their vegetables, you will have to make extra vegetables on purpose. Whilst you're at it, save the water you cooked the veg in.
The next day put the vegetables in a pan (or you could do this in the microwave) with milk and stock made with the veg cooking water, to just cover the vegetables. Heat up, then whizz it all to a puree with a hand blender. Add more milk or stock if it is too thick, add seasoning and a dollop of cream, yogurt or creme fraiche if you have it.
I've had some wonderful soup this way. I think my favourite was cauliflower cheese and mashed sweet potato soup. You wouldn't make cauliflower cheese and mashed sweet potatoes just to turn them into soup, but they were a delicious accompaniment to our evening meal, and then a delicious soup for lunch the next day. Roasted red peppers and sweetcorn also worked really well. But even pretty humble veg make wonderful soup. Yesterday I had cabbage, leek and runner bean soup and it beat the hell out of anything that comes in a tin.
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