Shopping Small - Week 1

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I am one week down in my Shopping Small experiment and it has been a success so far, probably because I haven’t had to do much shopping at all! Much of this week as been spent eating leftovers from my Mum, or eating out. I did do a big cook up on Sunday night, which was technically still in January, but to get into the spirit I shopped small!

There were quite a few groceries I needed, so I ended up going to an IGA. I also went to a local green grocer to get some fruit and vegetables. I actually found a discounted bag of mixed vegetables which is always a good way to get a range of vegetables which stretch you out of your comfort zone. Sometimes the quality is a little less than perfect, but if you use them up within a few days they are fine.

So what did I end up buying from my first Shopping Small trip?


2L of milk – This is probably the purchase I am least happy about. I wanted to buy ethical, ‘close to the source’ milk, but instead ended up with the IGA generic branded milk. There was a limited variety to choose from, and also the price difference between the options was huge. This milk cost me $2.10, and the most expensive milk cost almost $7 for 2L. Whilst I want to do the right thing, I think finances have to play a part too.

Fantastic instant noodles - Again, a pretty generic option. And again, I had a very limited choice. I did buy the noodles in a bulk pack, with the least amount of packaging though.

Sundried tomatoes and olives. I bought the Always Fresh brand which are an Australian company, and are well priced and taste great. The packaging was in glass which I will either reuse or recycle.

I bought some Danish feta from the deli. I made sure to buy the local Australian variant too.

Also from IGA I bought some watermelon and a red onion. (Yes, I was making my watermelon and feta salad!) IGA support local farmers, so I didn’t feel too bad buying fresh produce from them.

From the green grocer I bought the mixed bag of vegetables I mentioned earlier. There was three eggplants, a red onion, a white onion, a capsicum and a tray of 4 corns. The corns were the only item that was a bit questionable, but still nothing too bad. I used one of them together with the capsicum that day in a noodle stir fry I made, and it was perfect. I also bought a small amount of beans from the green grocer for the noodles too.

All in all it was a successful week. I really didn’t miss the big supermarkets at all. One week down, three more to go! This week I want to try and make my own bread, and also do a little bit more meal planning!

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