Downshifting for a School

Resourceful	Adopt a double-sided photocopying policy and use the backside of waste paper for the facsimile
Paper Conscious	Be a greener school; conserve paper by ruling off your last piece of work and starting a new subject
Free	Brainstorm a list of fantastic, free activities and encourage your parents/guardians to take you on a few
Organic	Cultivate a square foot of garden and grow a few vegetables and soft fruits
Fun	Design and make your own board game
Recognition	Get on the right, green track - sign your school up for an Eco-School Award
Compost	Elect a weekly monitor to collect break and lunchtime organic waste and put it in a compost
Seek	Go out on an adult supervised hedgerow forage and cook your finds
Paper-free	Save paper, postage and time by emailing parents/guardians with school information
Awareness	Visit a landfill site and a recycling centre with your parents, guardians or school and encourage them to do the right thing!

Printing Instructions: Please use the clean side of a sheet of scrap paper!

Be mindful of every sheet you print out and put the list up where lots of other people will be inspired by your actions!

Thank you!

Tracey did a piece on the BBC recently looking at a few of the simple ways we can spend less money on food - here's the top ten tips she put together for the show!

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I would like to reprint the food tips list!

Ditch the pre-packed options and cook from fresh.	There's no doubt about it, you 'can' buy very cheap ready-meals these days, but the nutritional value, the overall quality and the taste cannot be compared to doing it from fresh! If you're short of time, double up the ingredients and freeze half for another meal and be sure to use up leftovers in creative new dishes for the next day; soup offers a great way of getting started with this.
Buy your staples in larger packs.	Pasta, rice and porridge oats are perfect examples and you'll also cut down your shopping trips too. If it's just too much to store in your cupboard, split your bulk buys with a friend or neighbour.
Buy plain packets of cereals and add your own extras.	Bananas, raisins, cranberries, blueberries and more are all easy to store and served with a spoonful of honey, they make breakfast time funky enough to entice children off of other sugary options.
Buy cheaper and tougher cuts of meat and slow cook them.	Slow cookers start from around £20.00 and are a great investment. All the fat will run off and the meat retains it size and is deliciously tender and juicy. You can also use this to make mouthwatering dishes that cook through the day while you're at work, giving you a ready meal when you get home!
Grow perpetual lettuce.	Don't worry if you don't have a garden, just grow them in pots on your windowsill. Simply pluck off the leaves from the outside of the plant (making sure to leave at least 6 in the centre) and it will continue to grow and grow. 8 varied pots of lettuces will feed the family delicious salad every day, throughout the whole summer.
Cultivate a few herbs too, like basil, chives, thyme, rosemary, mint, sage and coriander.	Much better value than buying little packs or dried and you don't need to be green-fingered as they are super-easy to grow. You don't need a garden either for the smaller ones, you can grow them on the windowsill and they'll add great flavour to your home-cooked dishes.
Learn how to make your own dough and you'll never go hungry again.	It's much easier than you think and the basic recipe will allow you to make loaves, rolls, pizza bases, even flatbreads like the ones you use for fajitas. Needless to say, they're better value too and have no unnecessary preservatives or additives. (I teach a class on beginners breadmaking at www.TheMagdalenProject.org.uk)
On that thought, if you are already a bread maker, buy larger sacks of flour from your local baker.	It's far more economical this way! A 16kg sack is about the size of a pillow and not that much of a nuisance to store in the kitchen and you'll do far less shopping trips which will save you money there too. See if you have a flour mill nearby, then you'll be able to add a 'real' local touch!
Buy loose produce, not pre-packed.	Research has shown that in the UK, £10 in every £75 of regular groceries is taken up by packaging, which is an astonishing waste of money! Check out your local farm and community shops and buy seasonal fruit and vegetables without the plastic wrap!
Have a go at making biscuits, cakes or flapjacks and bake them with your children.	It's much cheaper and really great fun to do, especially if you make it a Sunday afternoon treat. Then store the goodies in airtight containers and use them in the household lunch-boxes.