Monday, 19 December 2022

Put A Lid On It!

Here's an encouraging piece of news from Sainsbury's. You may have spotted that since 2019 they've been removing single-use plastic lids from their own brand ranges, so the top is just a piece of foil. sour cream, créme fraiche, cottage cheese, yogurt etc. And this Christmas, they're adding own-brand brandy butter to their topless treats.
That's OK if your large family [or small family with large appetite] will consume the lot at one meal...but what if [like me] you buy a big pot of créme fraiche to dollop on puddings or soups etc throughout the festive season?
I've been banging on about Moopops Lids since Liz told me about them 18 months ago. They are strong, washable, silicone lids and I use mine all the time [website here] These are excellent at keeping your pots covered and fresh. I was actually debating buying another pack...
But now Sainsbury's have announced that in March they will be selling their own such lids at £1.25 each. So I am waiting for them instead.
They say that the removal of the s/use lids will save 71 million pieces of plastic entering landfill each year [220 tonnes of plastic] and these changes to their festive range will keep over half a million lids out of landfill this Christmas.
You may have also have noticed that the supermarket has changed its slogan too - for years "Our values make us different" was their mantra. I quite liked that one, for all sorts of reasons. Then they brought in "live well for less" But in the last couple of years they have gone over to "Helping everyone eat better". Again, a phrase with layers of meaning. Everybody eating better encompasses
  • better nutrition, better quality food
  • better sustainability in production [and packaging]
  • better deals for the producers [FairTrade etc]
  • better value for the customer
Better for the consumer, the producer, the planet. [and I would imagine their shareholders too!] Stephen Fry* has been doing the voiceovers for their ads, so he's probably happy about this development.

*He lives in Norfolk. I know people who have seen him shopping in Swaffham Waitrose and Dereham Tesco - but I've never spotted him in the big Norwich Sainsbury's store. Perhaps he shops with Sainsbury's Online, and the other two outings were just 'top-ups'.

18 comments:

  1. I wish all those small yogurt containers still came with lids because I used to use them all the time as food storage containers! I reuse all the so-called single use containers, especially for sending food home with people!

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    Replies
    1. They are useful, in the kitchen and in he garden

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  2. I use squares of beeswax wraps that I cut up from the larger sizes to cover most things.

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  3. Those reusable lids will be very useful
    Alison in Wales x

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  4. Oooh you cynic, I bet he shops at Sainsbugs ALL the time!! ;-)

    A brilliant idea about the lids though, if things don't come with a lid I just use a small plate on top in the fridge and try and use that item up as quickly as I can.

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    Replies
    1. My problem with plate "lids" is that I'm always knocking them off

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  5. Some of our containers have the foil underneath unrecyclable plastic lids. It would be helpful to have them without lids, although transporting from the store might need more care! I like the idea of permanent reusable lids. The only lids I've seen for sale are small ones sold for opened cans of cat or dog food.

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  6. These are all good moves so well done to Sainsbury's. If they could just take all their veg out of packaging, that would also really help!!!

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  7. I understand why stores are getting rid of the container lids, but I miss them as I also reuse them for storage and food giveaways. I've not found replacements here. I'd definitely buy them.

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    Replies
    1. Same here. The lack of proper lids makes the pots difficult to store in the fridge once opened and useless when empty! Hence in this house more pots are thrown away (chucked in the recycling bin) than before!
      I have found some inexpensive small plastic containers in Morrisons that are the perfect size for the contents of most of these pots. They are sturdy, oblong in shape and stack well in the fridge. I invested in some of those and no longer find myself cursing the opened pots with their annoying flimsy, floppy
      tops!

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    2. I shall check out the Morrisons boxes. Thank you

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    3. The size I bought come in packs of four for £2, under their own brand label of "Nutmeg".

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