this makes me angry…

Take a look at the shot below. That there, my dear blog land dwellers, is my mail collection from one day. You’ll note it’s mostly parcels sent in expensive overnight bags and courier boxes. What you can’t see is the amount of guff inside the parcels (I don’t wish to expose culprits): elaborately written press releases, products, books, sugary snacks, padding, bubble-wrap, gimmicky invites (sand in a glass bottle?!) and…tinsel. What none of us see is the hidden costs: the labour, the resources, the carbon emissions to produce and cart such guff around the planet.

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All of which gets me really upset.

Admittedly, the above represented a particularly large dumping. Although, most days entail carting at least 2-3 parcels back from the post office (please note: my physical carting of said guff is not the pivot point of my gripe).

Why does it upset me? I’d like to explain why, as a thinly disguised (and polite) message to those who might be thinking of sending me something some time soon.

In flat out terms: the above is a huge waste of resources. Unforgivably so.

Leaving aside the actual manufacturing cost of the product itself, there’s the work that went into the junior PR staffer writing the release (then getting it checked, legalled etc), the packaging, the postman’s time sorting and delivering the packages, the transport costs, the issuing of a notification in my box, the second reminder when I can’t get to the post office for a few days. And so on. All very well if the product is needed and/or useful. But in most cases it’s not. And these costs – specifically to the planet – devastate me.

Generally the sender doesn’t wear these costs. Their client does. And so there’s too little accountability or conscious thought going into the blind sending out of the guff. This is the unforgivable part.

In addition, it’s a huge waste of my resources. Every parcel in that shot above requires either a polite thank you note or a detailed email to the sender explaining I can’t promote the particular product they’ve sent me as it doesn’t fit with my message or ethics. Which in so many cases it doesn’t because:

I actively and vocally promote minimal consumption.

I get doubly upset that this ethos is not respected. Leaving aside the times the product in question is full of cane sugar or laced with toxic chemicals.

I’m going to soften the blow of my spray at this juncture by saying that often a lot of mindful care and

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How Maggie Beer + Poh use their leftovers (4 clever recipes!)

OzHarvest has released its first cookbook of “food rescue” recipes, which perfectly marries two things I’m passionate about: not wasting food, and creating simple meals with leftovers. I’ll be sharing a few of the recipes from the cookbook below, but also know this:

for every book purchased, more than 60 meals will be delivered to those in need.

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Neil Perry’s Orecchiette with potatoes peas & pesto, recipe below

There’s a great incentive to get the cookbook if ever I’ve heard one. You can buy the OzHarvest cookbook from David Jones’ stores nationwide, or from OzHarvest online.

Each year, $7.8 billion of food is thrown out and over four tonnes ends up as landfill (stats via Foodwise). And in any one night, one in ten people go without a decent meal. OzHarvest has been the conduit that links the two, picking up leftover food that would otherwise have been thrown out and delivering it to those who need it. OzHarvest has delivered more than 15 million meals and rescued more than 4,400 tonnes of food from ending up as landfill since 2004.

The cookbook includes 120 recipes dedicated to converting your leftovers into simply great meals for the family devised by 40 super chefs, including Maggie Beer, George Calombaris, Poh Ling Yeow, Peter Gilmore, Bill Granger and Neil Perry.

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Her’s a peek at some of my favourites…

Neil Perry’s Orecchiette with Potatoes Peas & Pesto

Serves 4 (image above)

You can buy pesto or make it in the blender, but I promise that if you pound it by hand it’ll taste so good that you’ll never go back to the old ways. Pesto is perfect for using up wilting bunches of basil, and this recipe also uses last

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