Wow, it’s February. I know I say this every year, but time has seriously flown. Most of the last few weeks has been spent catching up with people post Christmas, lots of big meals with friends and family, and not much time spent in my kitchen. There has been a few new additions and some new toys to play with, which is always fun.

First off the rank is this awesome strainer that I got as a present. My sink usually has dishes in it, so I can’t really place a colander down in it, so I’m always trying to juggle the colander in one hand, and a heavy pot in the other and drain my rice, pasta or whatever other item I’m cooking. This new strainer sits over the top of the sink and I don’t need to hold on to it! Genius!

It was pretty hot on the weekend, so I made myself some ice tea using one of the flavours in this T2 fruit tea pack. It was a citrus blend, and quite refreshing. I avoided adding any extra sugar, so it wasn’t very sweet, but still quite nice.

Staying on the drink theme, and also as part of my Shopping Small mission for the month, I got some Summer Snow apple juice. Summer Snow apple juice is pressed locally at an orchard in Officer (just near Pakenham). The family run orchard originally grew apples to supply to the markets but in the late 90’s they crop was hit by a huge hailstorm and none of it could be sold as fresh fruit. To try and salvage the produce, the family decided to juice the apples and as a result, Summer Snow juices was born. These days the juice business has become the primary focus and the juice they produce is spectacular.

I also made these fake meatballs which I saw on Tara’s Vegetaraian blog. The original recipe calls for eggplant and cannellini beans, but I didn’t have any cannellini beans so I substituted for kidney beans. They were still pretty delicious, but a little bit messy to fry. I was planning to make my own pasta, but I got lazy and instead used some angel hair pasta I had in the pantry.

This post is part of the In My Kitchen series hosted my Maureen from the Orgasmic Chef. Head over to her blog to see what is going on in other people's kitchens!

That’s about all from my kitchen this month! What’s been happening in your kitchen?

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!

I have made a resolution. Not a new year’s resolution, just a February resolution. For the next month I will be shopping small.  What does this mean I hear you ask? It means that I will not buy anything from a Coles or a Woolworths. Why? For a variety of reasons…

Transport activities hurt the planet significantly. Whether it be transporting food across the country, or across the world, there are significant costs both financially and environmentally. Most of the foods in a major supermarket are bought en masse due to the buying power they command, so there is little chance that they are produced locally and instead have travelled long distances to arrive on the shelves. As an alternative, if produce can be bought locally, it means that is has had a much shorter distance to travel, reducing transport costs and lessening the environmental impact.

I also believe it is important to support our local farmers and producers. The stories of Coles and Woolworths using staple items like bread and milk as loss leaders have been around for a long time. By selling milk for $1 a litre, the supermarkets have squeezed out any margins the dairy producers would have made and forcing many of them to leave the industry due to unsustainable circumstances. I am guilty of purchasing this cheap milk on most occasions purely due to the impact on my wallet, but when I think about the bigger picture, I feel it is my responsibility to do what I can to ensure that we do not kill the dairy industry in Australia. Of course this situation applies to many of the food industries, whether it be the bakers, the fruiterers, or for the non vegetarians, the butchers and the fishmongers.

Often buying from the smaller retailers means that you may have to pay slightly higher prices, but it also means that you go into a specific shop to buy a specific item. There have been so many instances when I have gone into Coles to buy one item, let’s say some cheese, and in the process walked based half a dozen displays with things on special. In the end, I bought not only the cheese but also some chocolate, some biscuits, maybe a tub of ice cream, some toothpaste and probably a punnet of strawberries. Yes, they were on special, but were they necessary? Probably not. On the contrary, if I was to go to a deli to buy cheese, none of the other items would be around to distract me, so potentially I would be saving, or rather not spending money on items I didn’t need.

Of course there are some items that are difficult to buy from anywhere other than a supermarket. Basic staples like flour or sugar, or cleaning items like garbage bags. For these items, I have decided to shop at IGA. IGA supermarkets operate as independent franchises and thus support the local community, which aligns with part of the reason I am trying to avoid Coles and Woolworths. I will try and limit the amount I buy at IGA, but I know that some things will be unavoidable.

Shopping small will involve a significant amount of planning. Small businesses are often not open for extended hours, so I will need to plan out my meals for the week and make sure I do a bulk load of shopping on the weekends. This will probably be advantageous is many regards too. It should mean that food doesn’t go to waste, and that I don’t come home and have no idea what to make for dinner! I also plan to pre make lunches for the week, which is always handy, and means I will be eating relatively healthy.

I will be documenting my shopping small adventures weekly on this blog, so tune in to see what works and what doesn’t! And if you’re extra keen, follow my hashtag on Instagram, #ShoppingSmallWithMoni!

Have you ever tried Shopping Small? How did you find the experience?