Double digits on the calendar! Time flies when you’re having fun, doesn’t it? Throughout the past week and a half, I have delved deep into conscious consumption, cultural differences and community engagement, challenging myself – and you too, I hope – to rethink habits, reduce waste, and amplify my impact on the surrounding world, no matter how big or small. Today, I want to take a moment to pause and reflect on the experience so far.
February has always been that month where the whole winter’s worth of grogginess, lack of motivation, and straight-up weariness catch up on me. Blame it on the weather, vitamin D deficiency, or the Aquarius season – whatever it is, it’s always a bit of a struggle. For that reason it is fair to say that Fair February (see what I did there 🙈) has swooped in as a guiding light, offering structure and motivation to power through the dreariness.
Out of the 31 challenges on the list, I’ve tackled 19 so far, each with its own degree of success and effort. Some, like setting up my compost and preparing vegan meals for the week, were surprisingly smooth once I set my mind to them. Limiting showers to five minutes, that’s proven to be a tricky one: either my hair takes too long or I just space out for a bit lol. Switching to a leave-in conditioner seems to be one possible workaround, playing a five-minute song in the background as my timer also helps.
The bathroom, my eco-fellas, is currently the environmental headache of my house. Plastic is having a party in there. My game plan? Making sustainable swaps as I use up lotions, shampoos, and all the other personal care products.
Observation time: Mindless activities, we all fall into that trap every now and then. I could see them coming from a mile away when designing this project. Grabbing a piece of paper for a reminder? Easily replaced with a digital note (and I am less likely to lose that one). Adding items to the online cart while idly browsing? Time to differentiate between needs and shopping out of boredom (electric neck massager, anyone? definitely not a necessity… yet). It is about rewiring automatic responses and integrating greener habits into the most routine aspects of our lives.
Outside of this little project, this week has been a lot. By Friday, I was ready to spend a day just staring at the wall, feeling empty physically, mentally, and emotionally. Recognising when to step back is crucial. Understanding what’s draining your energy is equally vital. Putting on your own oxygen mask before assisting others isn’t just a plane safety rule—it’s a life rule. So, here’s to learning the art of letting go. Letting go of what we can’t control and focusing on what’s within our power to change. Onward we go! 🌟
Friday, February 9th
Friday brought me out into the world for the entire day, kicking off with a 9 am work meeting. Mornings are not exactly my forte – I am a night owl through and through – so you betcha it took a fair amount of coffee to transform me into a functional human at that early hour.
As for the rest of the day, there isn’t a whole lot to report on, except for the dinner part. I went to De Sering, this time for their vegan seven-course meal (check out this entry about my volunteering experience there). As the menu changes every week, you never know what is coming your way but it is a guaranteed treat!
This time around, too, I was amazed by the creativity of the chefs. Here is what they came up with:
- Celeriac with a horseradish emulsion, beetroot creme, buckwheat, dulse oil and grapefruit vinaigrette
- Red braised daikon, spicy scallion & cucumber salad with lime zest
- Smoked mushrooms, brussel sprouts in quince gastrique, quince compote, cauliflower creme, kale chips, shiitake beurre blanc and baked yeast powder
- Potato terrine, chocolate and black garlic aioli, pickled mustard seeds and beurre nantais (my favourite)
- Chicory ice cream, hay ganache, roasted nuts, espresso martini foam
- Mustard chocolate
Other challenges that I tackled today were no waste at all (seems to be easy when my days are super packed ☠️), unplugging devices that are not in use, five-minute shower, five-minute shower (not a hair day yay), collecting rainwater for my plants (enough for a couple of pots) and taking stairs instead of lift in the office. The rain in the morning stopped me from biking to work but I got lots of cycling in later that day.
To sum up, this is the day’s progress:
| SUCCESS | FAIL |
|---|---|
| Vegan food | Blogging |
| NO WASTE AT ALL 🎉 | Bike to work |
| Unplug devices that are not in use | |
| Five-minute shower | |
| Collect rainwater to water plants | |
| Use stairs instead of elevator |
Saturday, February 10th
On Saturday, I embarked on the new challenge of this month: for one week, I should only cook with stuff from Too Good To Go, an app that allows its users to rescue surplus and short-dated food that is either near or just past its best-before date as well as unsold or leftover goods from bakeries, restaurants and so on. Still sticking to a vegan diet as much as possible, I aim to source all my groceries with this app, hoping that it is mostly seasonal and local fresh produce.
If you have never heard about this service before, TGTG was founded in 2015 in Denmark to address environmental, social, and economic concerns associated with food waste. Environmentally, food waste contributes to 10% of greenhouse gas emissions, surpassing the entire aviation industry. Socially, with 2.8 billion tons of food wasted annually, 828 million people suffer from hunger daily. Economically, the cost of food waste amounts to $1.2 trillion each year. As of August 2022, TGTG reported that 164,000 businesses and 62 million users have collectively saved 155 million bags of food. By March 2023, the company claimed to have rescued over 200 million meals.
On Friday, I checked the app for any veggie bags available for pick-up over the weekend. I have been using the app for a few years but mostly for ready-to-eat meals, bread and pastries so it was a big surprise to see so many grocery shops offering a variety of bags. After going through everything from chain supermarkets to small Middle Eastern grocers, I ended up reserving two – one for €4.99 and the other for €5.99.
Upon arriving to collect my first order, I was in for an enormous surprise—quite literally. I was handed a box filled to the brim, as seen in the left picture, containing a delightful assortment of veggies, fruits, herbs, and even pastries. For just a fiver, I scored cherry tomatoes, pumpkin, aubergine, bok choy, bell peppers, beetroot, regular and sweet potatoes, cucumber, winter carrot, parsley, green salad, lemons, oranges, mandarins, honey pomelo, plums, apples, strawberries, bananas, avocado, and, drum roll, please—a bamboo toothbrush! 🙌 Most items were still fresh enough to be stored in the fridge for a couple of days, though the strawberries unfortunately had some mold. Talk about an absolute steal!!
My second order came from a shop that combines a deli and a grocery store, so I was anticipating a diverse mix of items. To my surprise, it turned out to be two portions of chickpea salad, sautéed aubergines, and baklava. While it may have been a bit underwhelming, considering the abundance from the first place, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Putting the freshly acquired goods to good use, I made a simple cream soup with carrots, pumpkin, and sweet potatoes—a wholesome lunch to last me for the next couple of days. For dinner, I fixed a stir-fry of bok soy, aubergine, shiitake and ginger (the ones I picked up from the market last weekend).
Considering this generous supply of food, it seems unlikely that I’ll need a top-up in the next few days. However, if the need arises, I’ll skip the supermarket and opt for another veggie bag on TGTG. Stay tuned for an update on this week-long challenge next Saturday! 🍲
Other challenges that I tackled today were compost, unplugging devices that are not in use, five-minute shower (currently using this song as my timer).
To sum up, this is today’s progress:
| SUCCESS | FAIL |
|---|---|
| Vegan food | No single-use plastic (wraps/packaging) |
| Five-minute shower | Wasteless cooking (composted scraps) |
| Unplug devices that are not in use | |
| Compost (coffee + peels) | |
| Five-minute shower | |
| Identifying eco-swaps around the house |
Fair February 
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