Hell in a handbasket

I would like to be a more ethical shopper. The Guardian gave Morrisons a pretty low rating for their greenness last year, pointing out that they do offer the best array of seasonal vegetables, but didn’t shine much in any other area. They have obviously pulled their socks up a little bit since then; I notice that a lot of their own-brand items have messages on their packaging saying this packaging isn’t recyclable, but because we care, we’re working on it. Make of that what you will. Their website doesn’t contain much easy-to-find information about any sort of ethics policy, but there is a little bit of blurb about responsible local sourcing, which is of course a very good thing.

Waitrose, on the other hand, got the top rating in The Guardian, proving that ethics are a middle class luxury. I can’t afford them all the time, so I pick up my shopping sometimes from Morrisons, and sometimes from Waitrose. They are equidistant from my home, in opposite directions, so it depends whether I fancy a walk into town or not, as well.

Yesterday our Abel & Cole veg box arrived as usual, and because I had requested no nasty bug-ridden grubby organic lettuce, I received a lovely big yellow butternut squash instead. Also some beetroot and carrots, which meant that I needed salad leaves and goats cheese, because this household only eats beetroot in one way: oven roasted beetroot and carrot salad with goats cheese. It’s delicious.

Anyway, yesterday speed and cost considerations won over ethics, although I did try to shop carefully. Here’s the contents of my basket:

• New York Bagels, cinnamon and raisin flavour. Our standard breakfast item.
• Spinach rocket & watercress salad. Pillow packs of salad leaves are way unethical, I know. This one was reduced to 99p, and I did check that they were produced in the UK. I really don’t want to eat organic lettuce with its inevitable fauna, though.
• Morrisons organic brown loaf. This is more like it, I thought. The bread was reduced at the end of the day, and has a honey-sweet taste and a rock-hard crust. I do mean to make my own bread but haven’t worked out the logistics yet.
• Patros feta cheese x 2. The shelf label said this was on a 2-fer-1, but I was charged for both. I didn’t notice until I got home. Now who’s being unethical?
• Morrisons organic milk. I have recently decided to buy organic milk when possible, having read a little about antibiotics and so on. I did once work in the dairy industry, which meant that I had so much information that I had to filter it all out in order to live. Now it’s seeping back.
• Mini pork pies. These are for Pete’s packed lunch. Not organic or healthy or even much like actual pork. I’m not about to start making him pasties, though.
• Galaxy bar. This is made by Mars, whose website requires a version of flash that I can’t be bothered to install. I didn’t really find much about them on Ethical Corp either, so I will continue to eat my post-supermarket treat until I hear otherwise.
• Seabass fillet. This was for Bernard’s tea, grilled with lime and pepper. He enjoyed it. It said on the label that it was farmed in Greece, so there are your food miles right there. However it says on the packaging that all Morrisons fish is sustainably sourced, so that one cancels itself out.

On the whole, I wasn’t very impressed by my shopping basket, but at least I had the organic fruit and veg box to make up for it. Must try harder.