Great British fast food, zero waste style!
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Picture the scene.
Mr Green and I are out doing our errands, it’s been really busy, even in our quiet small town (lots of septuagenarians haggling in the charity shops), it’s raining and everyone is miserable, kids are mooching around bored at the end of the school holiday and suddenly there is a growl.
I turn to look behind me and see…
Nothing.
Hmmm, did I mishear?
I continue wading through the racks of ‘must have bargains’ and hear the growl again.
Then I realise it’s Mr Green’s stomach.
To be honest, I’ve got a bit of a gnawing pain too. We check things out and realise it’s 1:30. Yikes – that’s late. Lunch is usually around 12:30 at Chez Green.
Anyway, this is probably a good time to tell you something about Mr Green. It’s a pretty apt name for him because he does, quote literally have ‘green moments’ when his blood sugar levels dip so violently that he’s not much good for anything, bar a Jolly Green Giant impersonation.
We still have to drive 15 minutes to get home and I know it won’t be a pretty sight.
But there, wafting in the air is a beautiful and enticing scent from across the road.
Yes, it’s the great British Chippy!
Who can resist?
Surrendering to his whims, Mr Green went in and got the hugest portion of sausage and chips you have ever seen. (It was one of those funny toilet-humour sausages if you’re as immature as I am.)
All wrapped up in three sheets of greaseproof paper without so much as a polystyrene package or a plastic carrier bag in sight.
There were even wooden forks!
Who said that convenience, fast food and zero waste can’t go hand in hand?!
What about you? Does your nearest takeaway serve zero waste food or have they resorted to plastic and polystyrene?
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Our local chippy also use greaseproof and paper.
They do have carriers but i always take one of my own bags and a towel (extra insulation)if I’m fetching it for us to eat at home.
@maisie dalziel: Same here! Layers of paper that I shred and compost or recycle and I get them to pop it all in cloth bag for me. We have a chippy night once a week as we have one evening where life gets in the way of cooking!
I miss chippies!
I love chips from the chippy, but am very pickie about them. I like the golden-brown, soft almost soggy on the inside with crispy bits type chips.
The chipy that I like best does just use paper but it’s not the closest to us, but the chips are so good it’s worth the journey!
So THAT’s what that noise is!
The British Chippys look wonderful. I love that they were NO WASTE!
Aren’t British Fish and Chips served this way as well?
AH- to be where you are. I have always longed to be a Brit…
Very much enjoyed this post!
We had chips from the Chippy today and all was well apart from the plastic bag that DH brought them home in 🙁 I did tell him off 🙂 We also have nearly a whole portion that weren’t used, and they’ve been put into a plastic box to either be reheated tomorrow or perhaps put into the freezer for a later date – bot decided yet 🙂
@maisie dalziel: A towel is a brilliant idea, Maisie – I learned that one through error and a pair of very hot legs LOL!
@Di: Can’t you get them over there, Di? Could you make them?
@Poppy: You have to tell me about your secret chippy; poppy and we’ll make a visit. Where is it?
@Tammy Brackett: Good to see you Tammy; I thought fish and chips were something you could get in any country. You’ll all have to come over for a takeaway LOL!
@Poppy: Ahhhh, shame about the bag; at least you can reuse or recycle it.
I didn’t know you could keep chips and reuse them. How do you do that and how do you freeze and reheat them successfully – don’t they go soggy?
The chippy in Mitcheldean
Ah, that’s where we go, Poppy. Now, you must tell me if you would like a late lunch tomorrow – I could bring some over for you?
don’t worry, you’re not the only one, I always snigger in a Carry On humour manner when I enter a chippy and see the sausages – even though chippy battered sausages are one of my favourite guilty pleasures !
Our nearest one does give you plastic carriers but they don’t mind if you refuse them. Its just five minutes away so I get home before they go cold ( its lovely cuddling up to the warm parcel in cold weather ! ) but in years gone by I have used insulated cool bags as a device to keep chippy-run food warm – works very well !
I think freezing leftover chipshop chips would be a bad idea, but they can be reheated up a bit later in the oven or a dry frying pan over gentle heat. Not as good as first time round though !
Bishops Cleeve chippy wraps in greaseproof paper and then they put it in a big paper bag for you to take out. However, curry sauce does come in a polystyrene tub with a plastic lid.
@Mrs Green: @greenlady:
Freezing the chips would have been a bit of an experiment, but they didn’t last that long. They were reheated successfully in the oven the following day 🙂
@greenlady: Hi greenlady, glad to see I’m not the only childish one here LOL! I love cuddling a parcel of chips on a cold journey home too 🙂 They dry frying pan idea sounds good.
@Kris: Ah yes, curry sauce. I wonder if you could take your own container and they would ladle it in for you?
@Poppy: Glad to hear your chips were saved Poppy; I really must try it, we end up sharing leftovers with the birds.