MAKE YOUR OWN...
There are plenty of ways to cut down your carbon/plastic footprint. Making your own versions of household essentials is one way - although its a bit labour intensive if you already have a busy life. But if you do want to have a go,
here are some ideas provided by the 'Plastic Free Ross' group.
(and if you have other ideas feel free to send them to Plastic Free Ross)
Make Your Own Tea
Why not have a go at making your own Rose hip tea? Try the recipe below by Maggie Bonham (Author). www.mothererthnews.com
Rose hips are very nutritious berries that are high in vitamin C, A and E. The edible part of a rose hip is the red shell and pink pith that surrounds the seeds. When you open a rose hip, cut off the bottom end and slice open the pod. The seeds are not edible, so scoop them out. But if you're making tea, you can either dry the berries with the seeds or just mash up fresh rose hips and brew, seeds and all.
Ingredients
• 1 tablespoon rose hips, freshly mashed or dry and crumbled.
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon sugar or honey, optional
• 12 oz water
Instructions
• Assemble the rose hips and cinnamon in your tea infuser and place in a teapot or mug.
• Heat the water to 190 degrees F.
• Pour the hot water over the rose hips and cinnamon. Let steep for 3 – 5 minutes.
• Add sugar or honey, if desired.
• Enjoy
Make Your Own Coffee
Did you know that you can make your own coffee from Dandelion Root? Here is a recipe if you want to have a go. You will need a dehydrator (or solar dryer – see below) for this though.
• You will need to dig up about 15 large bunches of dandelion roots.
• Wash the root as best you can.
• Slice the roots into chip-like pieces.
• Arrange the root pieces onto you dehydrator's trays. Allow them to dry for 60 minutes. *
• Now chop the dried dandelion root into small pieces.
• Arrange to root pieces onto an oven tray.
• Roast the dandelion root for 30 minutes at 200 degrees F. The roots need to be brown and dried right through.
• Allow the dandelion root to cool then finely grind, and roast a second time in an oven for 5 minutes on 180 degrees F. Store in an airtight container.
To make a cup of Dandelion Root Coffee put 6 tablespoons of the coffee grinds into 500ml of boiling water and leave to steep for 30 minutes. Strain into a saucepan and reheat to desired temperature. Serve with milk and honey if so desired.
If you do-not want to dig up your own dandelions you can buy a bag of roasted dandelion root 3.99 for 100g in Wyedean Health Foods, just put a heaped teaspoon in cold water and bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 5-6 mins, strain into a cup, then add milk, sugar & honey if desired.
* - You could also put the dandelion roots in an oven on a very low heat over a long period of time – depending on the size of root (4-8 hours) to dehydrate.
Make your own solar dryer:
https://tasteofselfsufficiency.co.uk/2018/08/01/how-to-build-a-solar-dryer/
https://tasteofselfsufficiency/co.uk/2018/08/01/dont-buy-one-mke-your-own-funky-solar-dryer/
Make Your Own Cling Film
Have you ever thought about making your own Beeswax Wrap/Covers? They are so easy to make. The recipe below is from Sarah Yapp, Permaculture Magazine 2018, Issue 96.
You will need:
A piece of cotton, preferably organic (cut to size). You could re-cycle an old cotton shirt
250grams of Bees Wax (you can buy this in Field Fayre)
Flat oven tray
Baking Parchment (cut to size) preferably unbleached
Grater
• Grate the bees wax into a bowl.
• Place a layer of parchment paper onto the baking tray.
• Place first layer of cotton on top of parchment paper.
• Sprinkle a fine layer of grated Bees Wax on top of the material.
• Repeat process until you have 3-5 layers (or until you run out of Bees Wax).
• Place more parchment paper on top of the last layer of cotton (that will have a sprinkling of Bees Wax on top of it).
• Place in a low warmed oven (50-70 degrees C) for 5-10 mins.
• Take out of oven, separate the layers and hang out to dry individually.
• When dry, fold up and store in a drawer.. They are now ready to use.
• Wash the Bees Wax Wraps by hand and don't use soap! Wash them out immediately after use by putting them under running water and hand out to dry. If they crease, warm them in your hands, or put the baking parchment on top and underneath the material and use a warm iron to iron out the creases, or put under running hot tap.
Make your own Hair Conditioner
Make your own conditioner: one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in one cup of water. Make a larger batch and store in a recycled plastic washing up container to keep in bathroom.
Wet your hair, shake the bottle then pour the cider vinegar rinse on to your hair (if you have long hair – just pour onto the length and ends) and massage. Rinse gently using cool water. Towel dry. Your hair will not smell of cider!
Apple cider rinse is well known to improve the health of your hair, scalp and shine. It is also recommended to treat dandruff.
If you have any other hair conditioner (or hair rinse) recipes or recommendations – please share them with us.
Make your own Hair Shampoo
To make your bicarbonate of soda shampoo, mix one tablespoon of (fine) bicarbonate of soda in one cup of water. You can make up a larger batch and store in a recycled plastic washing up container to keep in bathroom.
Wet hair, shake bottle, pour soda shampoo on to hair, massage and rinse with warm water. Towel dry and use a homemade hair rinse. Soda shampoo does not lather and it takes a few washes for a build up silicone to be removed from the hair.
Make Your Own Soap
It is so easy to make your own liquid soap! And it’s a great activity to involve the kids.
Grate or finely chop a bar of soap. You can grate your soap by hand or use a food processor, which is definitely the fastest option! You should have 4ozs (125gms) of soap flakes. Boil four cups of water to a boil on the stove. Turn off the heat and add your soap flakes.
Stir to melt the soap. Continue stirring until the mixture is fully combined. At this point the mixture will be very ‘liquidy’.
Allow the mixture to cool for at least 15 minutes. Then, stir it again. The soap should be slightly thicker now.
Allow the soap to cool overnight. Stir to check the consistency. If it seems too liquidy, reheat it and add more soap flakes. If it seems too thick, reheat it and add more water. The moisture content varies from one brand of soap to the next, so you'll probably have to do a bit of experimenting to get your recipe just right.
Once you're satisfied with the consistency of your liquid soap, add a few of drops of your favourite essential oil. Please note that the essential oil content should not be more than 30mls if children will be using the soap.
Make your own Deoderant
Make your own – it’s so easy and economical! Mix a tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda with a few drops of tee tree oil (or an essential oil of your choice) and apply with a reusable cotton pad available from Field Fayre, Wye Dean Health Food Stores or online via Hereford Eco-products (@herefordeco).
Make your own Toothpaste
Dip your damp toothbrush into a pot of bicarbonate of soda. Yes - that's it! Other recipes can be found on: https://myplasticfreelife.com/2011/08/searching-for-the-perfect-all-natural-plastic-free-toothpaste-or-powder-or-soap-or/.
Make Your Own Washing Up Liquid
it is very easy to make your own washing up liquid out of soap nuts, again you can buy these in Field Fayre or Wyedean Health Foods in Ross.
• Crush about 100grams of soap nut shells. (Bash them with a rolling pin in a bag).
• Put them in a saucepan with about 8 cups of water and bring to the boil.
• Simmer for around 20 minutes.
• You can either use it straight away or steep it overnight.
• Strain the liquid and compost the remaining soap nuts.
• Poor into a bottle to store.
• You can add a few drop of Eucalyptus Essential Oil (Wyedean Health Foods 4.46) as this is really good for removing grease and oil, but this is optional.
• You only need a small amount of the liquid in a bowl, but it doesn't produce the bubbles like shop bought but your washing up will be cleaned just as effectively.
Make Your Own Dishcloths
It is really easy to make your own dishcloths from old sheets, flannel shirts, or other cotton clothing. If you type in “how to make my own dishcloths” on Youtube, there are many videos on how to do this.
Why not have a go at making your own Rose hip tea? Try the recipe below by Maggie Bonham (Author). www.mothererthnews.com
Rose hips are very nutritious berries that are high in vitamin C, A and E. The edible part of a rose hip is the red shell and pink pith that surrounds the seeds. When you open a rose hip, cut off the bottom end and slice open the pod. The seeds are not edible, so scoop them out. But if you're making tea, you can either dry the berries with the seeds or just mash up fresh rose hips and brew, seeds and all.
Ingredients
• 1 tablespoon rose hips, freshly mashed or dry and crumbled.
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon sugar or honey, optional
• 12 oz water
Instructions
• Assemble the rose hips and cinnamon in your tea infuser and place in a teapot or mug.
• Heat the water to 190 degrees F.
• Pour the hot water over the rose hips and cinnamon. Let steep for 3 – 5 minutes.
• Add sugar or honey, if desired.
• Enjoy
Make Your Own Coffee
Did you know that you can make your own coffee from Dandelion Root? Here is a recipe if you want to have a go. You will need a dehydrator (or solar dryer – see below) for this though.
• You will need to dig up about 15 large bunches of dandelion roots.
• Wash the root as best you can.
• Slice the roots into chip-like pieces.
• Arrange the root pieces onto you dehydrator's trays. Allow them to dry for 60 minutes. *
• Now chop the dried dandelion root into small pieces.
• Arrange to root pieces onto an oven tray.
• Roast the dandelion root for 30 minutes at 200 degrees F. The roots need to be brown and dried right through.
• Allow the dandelion root to cool then finely grind, and roast a second time in an oven for 5 minutes on 180 degrees F. Store in an airtight container.
To make a cup of Dandelion Root Coffee put 6 tablespoons of the coffee grinds into 500ml of boiling water and leave to steep for 30 minutes. Strain into a saucepan and reheat to desired temperature. Serve with milk and honey if so desired.
If you do-not want to dig up your own dandelions you can buy a bag of roasted dandelion root 3.99 for 100g in Wyedean Health Foods, just put a heaped teaspoon in cold water and bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 5-6 mins, strain into a cup, then add milk, sugar & honey if desired.
* - You could also put the dandelion roots in an oven on a very low heat over a long period of time – depending on the size of root (4-8 hours) to dehydrate.
Make your own solar dryer:
https://tasteofselfsufficiency.co.uk/2018/08/01/how-to-build-a-solar-dryer/
https://tasteofselfsufficiency/co.uk/2018/08/01/dont-buy-one-mke-your-own-funky-solar-dryer/
Make Your Own Cling Film
Have you ever thought about making your own Beeswax Wrap/Covers? They are so easy to make. The recipe below is from Sarah Yapp, Permaculture Magazine 2018, Issue 96.
You will need:
A piece of cotton, preferably organic (cut to size). You could re-cycle an old cotton shirt
250grams of Bees Wax (you can buy this in Field Fayre)
Flat oven tray
Baking Parchment (cut to size) preferably unbleached
Grater
• Grate the bees wax into a bowl.
• Place a layer of parchment paper onto the baking tray.
• Place first layer of cotton on top of parchment paper.
• Sprinkle a fine layer of grated Bees Wax on top of the material.
• Repeat process until you have 3-5 layers (or until you run out of Bees Wax).
• Place more parchment paper on top of the last layer of cotton (that will have a sprinkling of Bees Wax on top of it).
• Place in a low warmed oven (50-70 degrees C) for 5-10 mins.
• Take out of oven, separate the layers and hang out to dry individually.
• When dry, fold up and store in a drawer.. They are now ready to use.
• Wash the Bees Wax Wraps by hand and don't use soap! Wash them out immediately after use by putting them under running water and hand out to dry. If they crease, warm them in your hands, or put the baking parchment on top and underneath the material and use a warm iron to iron out the creases, or put under running hot tap.
Make your own Hair Conditioner
Make your own conditioner: one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in one cup of water. Make a larger batch and store in a recycled plastic washing up container to keep in bathroom.
Wet your hair, shake the bottle then pour the cider vinegar rinse on to your hair (if you have long hair – just pour onto the length and ends) and massage. Rinse gently using cool water. Towel dry. Your hair will not smell of cider!
Apple cider rinse is well known to improve the health of your hair, scalp and shine. It is also recommended to treat dandruff.
If you have any other hair conditioner (or hair rinse) recipes or recommendations – please share them with us.
Make your own Hair Shampoo
To make your bicarbonate of soda shampoo, mix one tablespoon of (fine) bicarbonate of soda in one cup of water. You can make up a larger batch and store in a recycled plastic washing up container to keep in bathroom.
Wet hair, shake bottle, pour soda shampoo on to hair, massage and rinse with warm water. Towel dry and use a homemade hair rinse. Soda shampoo does not lather and it takes a few washes for a build up silicone to be removed from the hair.
Make Your Own Soap
It is so easy to make your own liquid soap! And it’s a great activity to involve the kids.
Grate or finely chop a bar of soap. You can grate your soap by hand or use a food processor, which is definitely the fastest option! You should have 4ozs (125gms) of soap flakes. Boil four cups of water to a boil on the stove. Turn off the heat and add your soap flakes.
Stir to melt the soap. Continue stirring until the mixture is fully combined. At this point the mixture will be very ‘liquidy’.
Allow the mixture to cool for at least 15 minutes. Then, stir it again. The soap should be slightly thicker now.
Allow the soap to cool overnight. Stir to check the consistency. If it seems too liquidy, reheat it and add more soap flakes. If it seems too thick, reheat it and add more water. The moisture content varies from one brand of soap to the next, so you'll probably have to do a bit of experimenting to get your recipe just right.
Once you're satisfied with the consistency of your liquid soap, add a few of drops of your favourite essential oil. Please note that the essential oil content should not be more than 30mls if children will be using the soap.
Make your own Deoderant
Make your own – it’s so easy and economical! Mix a tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda with a few drops of tee tree oil (or an essential oil of your choice) and apply with a reusable cotton pad available from Field Fayre, Wye Dean Health Food Stores or online via Hereford Eco-products (@herefordeco).
Make your own Toothpaste
Dip your damp toothbrush into a pot of bicarbonate of soda. Yes - that's it! Other recipes can be found on: https://myplasticfreelife.com/2011/08/searching-for-the-perfect-all-natural-plastic-free-toothpaste-or-powder-or-soap-or/.
Make Your Own Washing Up Liquid
it is very easy to make your own washing up liquid out of soap nuts, again you can buy these in Field Fayre or Wyedean Health Foods in Ross.
• Crush about 100grams of soap nut shells. (Bash them with a rolling pin in a bag).
• Put them in a saucepan with about 8 cups of water and bring to the boil.
• Simmer for around 20 minutes.
• You can either use it straight away or steep it overnight.
• Strain the liquid and compost the remaining soap nuts.
• Poor into a bottle to store.
• You can add a few drop of Eucalyptus Essential Oil (Wyedean Health Foods 4.46) as this is really good for removing grease and oil, but this is optional.
• You only need a small amount of the liquid in a bowl, but it doesn't produce the bubbles like shop bought but your washing up will be cleaned just as effectively.
Make Your Own Dishcloths
It is really easy to make your own dishcloths from old sheets, flannel shirts, or other cotton clothing. If you type in “how to make my own dishcloths” on Youtube, there are many videos on how to do this.