I'm bringing veggie back

As Justin Timberlake once sung: "I'm bringing veggie back."

Okay okay, he may have said "sexy". Not veggie. But I'm bringing veggie back. It's come to my attention that this blog has got a bit meaty of late so I need to redress the balance.

I've been rather taken up with the horsemeat scandal and the opportunity it's given me to wax lyrical about finding out where your food comes from and supporting local butchers, farmers and farm shops. This is a cause I really believe in and I'm determined to make sure that the meat that comes into our house is as ethical as possible. I don't have a problem with Neil eating meat at all, it's a personal choice, but I do want him to eat meat from animals that have been reared locally and to the highest welfare standards.

But at the end of the day, I'm a vegetarian, so I reckon it's time to start discussing the alternatives to meat. After all, nobody ever found donkey DNA in Quorn.

So for the next few days you're going to be getting some deliberately veggie posts, with recipes, places to shop, things to look out for and the reasoning behind the decision to eat a meat-free diet.

And believe it or not, being vegetarian has actually been just a little bit harder since giving up the supermarkets. That's because we've been going to some brilliant farm shops and buying some top quality meat, but the veggie offerings in these places are not quite so varied. Tesco, on the other hand, has frozen section stocked full of Lynda McCartney sausages, Quorn mince and own brand delights like cauliflower cheese burgers (one of my favourites). So I've been going to wholefood shops and Holland and Barrett for this kind of stuff instead.

Being veggie is great though, and there's no way on earth I'd ever consider going back to eating meat.

I'm still off sick so clearly there's been no shopping this week (apart from Monday's stagger to the pharmacy!). So we're starting to run low on a few bits on pieces.

This week's veg box

Luckily for us, we can still rely on superhero greengrocer Banana Bob to keep us stocked up with fresh produce, which I guess is exactly what I need to help boost my immune system. This is where having a weekly fruit and veg box delivery really does come into it's own, because in terms of convenience I can think of nothing easier than leaving £12 in an agreed place by the doorstep and being left a box of fresh organic goodies in return.

I've spent the morning under a duvet on the sofa, but after hearing an engine running outside I got up and went to retrieve this week's box. 

For our £12 we've got aubergine, broccoli, green beans, carrots, a cucumber, leeks, potatoes, a sweet potato, cherry tomatoes, apples, clementines and bananas.

And if I eat all that lot then I'm sure to be bursting with good health very soon!

Finally, while reading through this piece prior to posting I've just realised that there's a Co-op butter tub in the above shot.

Cue sharp gasp of breath!

But don't worry, I've not let you down. I always wash out and re-use tubs, and in the aftermath of The Great Tupperware Crisis old butter and ice cream tubs are currently the only plastic containers I own. So this butter tub was actually bought months ago, before the challenge (BC) and is currently being used to store a roll of organic butter that I bought from the green grocers last week.

Non-supermarket butter in a supermarket tub

See? Not cheating... honest!

(and yes, I'm aware that the tub is ready for another wash - it's had a few packets of butter stored in it before this one)