[Mika @ Lund] Eco living from Sweden - May 2020

Hello this is Mika!

Due to the coronavirus we cannot go out so much, but I've been able to keep the windows open during the day as the temperature has risen considerably! Even though I am spending every day at home, I am very happy to be able to spend it in a refreshing atmosphere.

(ルンド駅付近 / Around Lund station)

Even in Sweden, self-restraint continues every day.

My daily life has definitely changed between before and after the self-restraint.

Since many people are working from home and not able to go too far from home, more people are going jogging or taking a walk in order to change their mood.

(ルンド駅付近 / Around Lund station)

In my case, one of the changes in my life was shopping.

Originally in Sweden, there is a tradition of “veckohandla" or "weekly shopping” where you buy all the food and daily necessities that you need for the week during the once a week shopping; and many Swedish people's shopping carts are quite full on weekends because of this.

(veckohandla)

I knew about this tradition, but since I was often working from home, I had never even thought of trying veckohandla because it was my daily routine to shop after I took my child to the nursery.

It was already a pain to think about what to make on a daily-basis; it seemed to be extremely difficult to think about a week's worth of menu, and I thought I'd buy too much because I would be worried that I wouldn't have enough, etc. I did not have a very positive image of "Veckohandla".

However, I decided to try veckohandla in consideration of social distancing!

We used to write on the blackboard the things that we need to buy, so it was actually quite easy to make a list of necessities and ingredients we need to get.

And then there is the list of groceries. To make this list, we had to think about a week's worth of menus, but trying this turned out to be not too difficult. The whole family came up with what they want to eat including everyone's favorite food as well as what they should eat, and we wrote these all down on one sheet of paper.

From there, we will pick up the meal plans of the week based on balanced meals and the ingredients we have on hand. After that, I made a shopping list by checking what we needed to buy.

So how did it go? Veckohandla turned out to be very efficient and great for the environment!

Since I have a shopping list, shopping time is much shorter now.

Since we plan in advance and know what ingredients will be used, we don't buy too much. As a result there will be no more ingredients that need to be thrown away because of expiration dates!

Also, since I check the seasonings and ingredients before I buy, I no longer need to run into a supermarket when I noticed I'm missing something while I am cooking.

I thought it might be boring because the weekly menu was already fixed, but it turned about to be better and popular that we knew what we were going to eat that week!

On the downside, side dishes tend to be always the same. Since we need to use up the ingredients, I tend to make the same side dish or salad because I have a small repertoire for the same ingredients. I hope that I can expand my repertoire by referring to different recipes.

On a different note, from May, taxation on all plastic bags started!

Any use of plastic bags are taxed; meaning small plastic bags that are used for buying vegetables and fruits by measuring are also included. The tax on small plastic bags are 30 öre (about 3 yen). The tax on plastic shopping bags is 3kr (about 30 yen). The actual price of the plastic shopping bags will also be included so in the end it is about 7kr (about 70 yen).

I wanted to make a more full report, but due to the fact that we are trying to make our stay at the supermarket as short as possible, I could not find out the price in detail. I will let you know again!

And I will definitely continue veckohandla.

See you next month!

Mika