My second week of #PlasticFreeJuly

Coming away camping for a fortnight has added different pressures to my Plastic Free July challenge. I am still pleased with my reduction in plastic usage, but being in unknown towns makes finding plastic free options that much more difficult.

I am delighted with the performance of my homemade toothpaste. Firstly the jar hasn't leaked at all which was a slight worry in a washbag! My teeth still feel just as clean as with commercial toothpaste and their extreme sensitivity didn't immediately return which I was also concerned about. Instead my bleeding gums problem has completely stopped so I have concluded that it was caused by something in the commercial toothpaste - perhaps it being too strong for me? Now, not only can I save plastic and money by not buying that, it looks like I can dispense with sporadic Corsadyl purchases too. That's even more plastic and cash saved!

I made myself a batch of Lentil and Onion Spread before departing home and have the makings of another batch with me. This made for easy lunches on crackers or bread. However now being without an oven means I can't bake any more crackers. I should have brought my metal-pan slow cooker to bake bread! But didn't so today's loaf had to be a plastic-wrapped purchase. I assuaged my conscience a little by buying from a local bakery though and it is a particularly delicious loaf.

We're actually in Harlech now (my touristy posts will take a few days to catch up!) and I found boiled sweets that were Not individually plastic wrapped and weighed out into a paper bag. Yay for Harlech Sweet Shop! I was disappointed last week by the Black Country Living Museum displaying loose sweets in jars, but then actually selling individually plastic wrapped ones already weighed into paper bags so I couldn't see that what I had bought was different.

I was cheered up by a message from BeeBeeWraps, one of the artisans I featured in July's Top Five Etsy Finds. She offered to send a pack of her plastic free food wraps for me to try out and review so I am looking forward to receiving them when I get home.

Otherwise cheese, meat and fish are proving to be the trickiest to find plastic free and so far I have failed on all these and oats too. I bought the huge bag of oats from the Coop so reduced plastic wrap and their apples and tomatoes were at least in cardboard trays (then wrapped in plastic). We were in Shifnal at this point and I was disappointed to have missed the greengrocers by only five minutes - until I peered through the window and spotted plastic a-plenty there too. Oh well!

Fingers crossed for a better third week ...