Weekly diary #40: sustainable shopping in Amsterdam!

Hi! Welcome to already my 40th weekly diary! Time flies when you’re having fun. In this weekly diary I share my personal journey towards an eco-positive lifestyle. I hope it can help you in some way. The past week my holiday started, I went to het Rutbeek in Enschede and to Amsterdam! Want to read along? Here’s weekly diary #40.

Thursday

Ah yes, the holiday has really begun today. 2,5 weeks no deadlines or exams. So good! Student life is great! It was going to be 28 degrees Celsius today and so I went to het Rutbeek. That’s a lake in my city where you can swim and relax. It’s more sustainable than a pool. I went with friends and beforehand we went to the supermarket to buy some food. Fortunately I had brought my own food, but I couldn’t resist a can of vanilla coke. I choose cans most of the time when I do buy drinks because they are 100% recyclable. Also, today I brought a chair with me to Het Rutbeek and that was a good idea. I do prefer sitting in the shade, but today that wasn’t possible because my friends wanted to sit in the sun. Sometimes you have to compromise. At night I had handball practice and once I got home I received the good news that I’m accepted to do a minor next year at the HAN Hogeschool in Nijmegen. The minor is called Health and Performance at work and I am really excited and grateful!

Friday

Today the weather was just as lovely as yesterday, but I had to work from noon till 8PM. I did manage to go to the gym quickly beforehand. I have more energy throughout the day when I do that.

Saturday

Another day at work, this time a morning shift from 7AM till noon. At work someone took a great initiative, replacing the disposable cups with reusable ones! I was the only one using those so far, but it’s now the only option. Good news! I walked our dog Darco with mom and then we went into the city center together. Once there, I bought some organic package free groceries again at a local farmer stand. I found all that not all their produce is local, they also have some from the organic wholesale store. But I just have to ask which produce is local and then I know. I bought beets, broccoli and oyster mushrooms. The name is Noaberhoeve Zorgboerderij, I looked it up online at it seems like a great organization. At the Jumbo I bought some vegan mayonnaise and lime-lemon flavored soy-yoghurt. It was a new flavor and so I was really curious. Mom and I also went to some thrift shops for clothing but I didn’t buy anything. I found a great vest but it was made out of 100% polyester so I didn’t buy it, polyester is plastic. We also had lunch at the Broodbode where I had a lovely vegan Popeye smoothie and a vegan hummus sandwich. I do always have to ask if I can have my drink without a straw since they serve those standard and I hate that. Once back home I was quite tired and decided to watch Temptation Island. Then I went to one of my best friends who was celebrating his birthday. I gifted him a kit with which you can flavor your own rum. I packed the gift in plastic. What? Well, all wrappings I personally receive I keep and so I reuse them again. At the birthday we ordered some pizza at New York Pizza, they offer vegan pizza. I never do this myself and it is so expensive! But it was a special occasion! We ordered the wrong pizza, still vegan, but only vegan cheese and tomatoes. A little boring. But we still had a great night!

Sunday

I slept again till 11:30AM. My family and I went for a walk in a big park in Enschede with our dog. Meanwhile the Enschede marathon was also going on and so I had a peak. For dinner mom asked me if I could buy some baguette at the store and my brother wanted some chips. I bought the chips in a plastic bag. That sounds bad, but it’s better than the aluminum bags which are mixed with plastic. Because the two materials are mixed it’s impossible to separate or recycle them afterwards. Such a loss! I also want to try to make my own chips soon to make it entirely waste free. Maybe that’s a solution. I bought organic whole baguette because if you buy it pre-cut it’s packed in plastic and now it is in paper (with a plastic strip still but it’s a little better). For dinner I made myself some baked sweet potatoes as fries. They don’t get as crispy as normal fries so it was okay but not great. My boyfriend does always make it very tasty and so I need to ask him soon. I am not such a good chef yet haha.

Monday

Today I went to family in Haarlem by train. Since I can travel by train for free because I’m a student I decided to do that. I was also going to sleep in Haarlem but I managed to pack all my stuff in one backpack (and that made me very proud). Once in Haarlem I went to the beach with grandma and grandpa. It’s a very ugly part of the beach because there are factories there which make steel, in Wijk aan Zee. It even scared me a little bit, the pollution is so visible and ugly! I would like to live near an ocean myself. Doing beach clean-ups and long walks. It has something calming. But I wouldn’t want to be living here where the air is so polluted. Grandpa and grandma had dinner prepared but it wasn’t vegan. We went to the Albert Heijn to buy some vegan food for me. I ended up buying a lot of plastic but that always happens when you’re bound to the supermarket. Better luck next time. After the dinner we brought our cousin to his apartment in Delft (he was also in Haarlem today). I travelled quite a lot today, luckily I did the biggest part by train. The kilometers by car are okay sometimes. It’s not like I do it everyday (I don’t even have a drivers license).

Tuesday

I woke up early because I had some big plans for today. Since I am in Haarlem I am going shopping in Amsterdam (it’s very close by). I had a route planned out so I didn’t feel all lost like I normally do in Amsterdam. I first wanted to go to the Kaufhaus. It’s a secondhand shop but when I got there I found out that it didn’t exist anymore. Off to the next one. Marbles Vintage and Design, another shop for secondhand clothing. I bought a pants (for 20 euros), skirt (for 18 euros) and a top (for 12 euros). Of two items I know they’re 100% cotton but the top had no label but it feels like cotton. I am glad I avoided buying anything plastic! After that shopping spree I went to Delicious Food for some package free groceries. I bought some organic corn (to pop for making popcorn) and oats. I also bought another Humble Brush. And I had forgotten my reusable bottle and so I also bought a drink, in glass. I went to this shop because package free groceries aren’t offered in Enschede right now. I’m going to continue using it as a reusable bottle so that I don’t use it once, that would be a shame. And hop, onto the next shop, De Vegabond! That’s a lunchroom where you can eat but they also sell vegan food. I bought vegan brie, shrimps, salmon, an omelette mix, jackfruit and cream cheese. All 100% vegan, hmmm. It cost me 35,18 euros. Sometimes you have to treat yourself. I am so curious to try these things! Since the things I bought had to stay cool I decided to visit only one more store, Zipper. Another secondhand clothing shop. I bought a hat, glasses and a fanny bag there. The hat and glasses were dead-stock and not really secondhand. Dead stock is stuff secondhand stores buy from ‘regular’ stores who didn’t sell these items and want to get rid of. They’re essentially saved from the trash. I am most happy with my fanny bag because I had been wanting one for a while now. It looked a tiny bit like leather but I did buy it since secondhand leather is okay to me sometimes. I don’t want animals to die for my clothing but this way I’m essentially using trash again. It didn’t have a tag on it and since I can’t be sure I bought it. I would never wear secondhand animal products if it’s really visible (like secondhand fur or something). I don’t want to make it seem normal. But this isn’t obvious. I was back in Haarlem at 14:00 PM, quite early. Once home I unfortunately found out that the vegan shrimps I bought at the Vegabond had mole on it, bummer. I will contact them by e-mail, I don’t feel like going back to Amsterdam again. Inside the store I should have had a better look but I guess I was too enthusiastic. I threw the shrimp will mole on it away but I will try to eat the ones which are still fine. Then I went to pick up my uncle and aunt from Schiphol Airport with grandpa and grandma. It was a mess since they had changed the routing at Schiphol, pffff. After dinner with all of us I went back to Enschede with my grandma and grandpa by car (since they were already going by car to Enschede anyway).

Wednesday

Today is a party! Our sweet dog Darco has turned 3 today! Time flies, I remember when he was a little puppy still (even though he is still my little baby today haha). And so it’s time for a little dog-mom-spam! Below you see my favorite pictures of Darco (I like the picture with the hearts most hihi). In one of these old pictures I have red hair still, wow.

My favorite song of this week:

Angel By the Wings

Sia

Liefs,
Romee