Living in a motorhome means that we have little space to store food therefore we have to buy regularly and are careful what we buy. Rather than bulk buy, we tend to buy smaller amounts. It is often the fresh food that can go to waste therefore we buy less of it than we did before and always have tinned in the cupboard for when we can’t get fresh produce.

Our time in the caravan and motorhome has made us aware of how much water we use. In a house, we were careful to turn off the taps but having to fill an aquaroll for the caravan or the water tank of the motorhome has made us all-to-aware of how much water we need and therefore only use a minimum amount.

It annoys us that so much of what we buy in shops is packaged in plastic and it is difficult to avoid it completely but through some consumer choices it can be reduced. Wherever and whenever possible we will choose to buy something in tin or glass because these materials are more easily and effectively recycled. In some cases we refuse to buy something if it is packaged in excessive or unnecessary packaging. This sometimes means that we don’t buy something, e.g. yoghurts or margarine.

We never buy single-use plastic bottles. Instead we carry around a refillable bottle which we fill with tap water whenever we can. Our bottles also have filters that filter out germs and leave the water tasting better; this means that we can also take our bottles out on walks and fill up from streams or lakes without the worry of having to boil or sterilise the water.

Recycling isn’t the solution; we need to tackle the problem of waste before it reaches this stage and reduce the amount that is produced but at least recycling is a positive step to take. The options to recycle are getting better so we try to recycle what we can. That means that if we do have any plastic, tin , glass, paper etc. we always try to find a recycling bin to put it in.

As a family we eat very little meat. Some of us are vegetarian and those that aren’t only eat meat on rare occasions. The production of meat for human consumption has a large impact on climate change (highlighted in the film Cowspiracy). Our small step towards being a more responsible consumer is to reduce meat from our diet. A more drastic step might be to cut it out altogether and even consider cutting out all animal produce.

Overfishing has led to a drastic decline in fish numbers in our oceans and this irresponsible form of fishing does not allow the ecosystems to recover. Fish and shellfish are also seriously being affected by the marine litter than we produce as humans. Microplastics that reach the oceans are being eaten by fish and shellfish and this is working its way up the food chain.

We try to only use what we need, which isn’t a lot when you’re travelling around in a motorhome.