Bake your way to plastic free
Do you like baking?
Well like it or loathe it, if you’re trying to reduce your single use plastic, it’s a great way to help.
I’ve always loved baking, so for me it’s a fun way to lower my single use plastic waste. Especially when it comes to lunch boxes and picnics.
Instead of individually wrpaped biscuit or cake bars, we have yum,my home baked treats! Loaf cakes cut and freeze really well, as do buns, for easy to grab treats without the plastic and with the ingredients that you choose.
Cookies and biscuits freeze nicely to make morning pack ups quick anmd easy – grab one and go!
Yes it does mean being a bit more organised, but where there’s a will there’s a way and once in a routine, it gets easier and easier. home baking will probably save you money too.
The children in my home enjoy helping with this plastic free swap and licking the spoon is an added bonus!
The ultimate aim of baking at home, is not just to be plastic free, but to be as low waste or zero waste as possible. So if you have a local refill shop, pop along for your flour, sugar and chocolate chips to really make your home baked treats guilt free (in waste terms at least!)
Baking is a great way to use up food that is going out of date – banana loaf is a frequent one for us as we often have bananas that have turned. another popular one is pear cake, just like at school, pears on the bottom, chocolate sponge poured over the top. Pears only get eaten fresh here when they are firm!
My previous blog on oat milk explains how to use up oat pulp in baking Zero waste baking with homemade oat milk. , and when you get adventurous there’s bread too!
This month I have been roasting chick peas to replace my crisps (can’t tempt the children, but I love them!). So to make this more zero waste I experimented with baking with the chickpea water. You replace eggs with the water. So perfect if you are vegan. And it works a treat! The brownies were a huge hit, even after they knew about the chickpea water, so they must have tasted really good!
Why not give it a go yourself – there are loads of recipes out there, and let me know how you get on!