Precycle!

There are many definitions of the term Precycle. Some say it is about choosing carefully what you buy so that you use the least amount of packaging and materials. Others say it is about only buying those products that you can recycle easily.

Both these ideas are bound into a system of furnishing the things we need for our everyday existence by purchasing them from the supermarkets. It would suppose that you bought bulk materials in recyclable or compostable packages.

So long as this remains in the psyche then we will always find ourselves tied to manufacturers and marketing and E-numbers and chemicals that make a product sit on a shelf. But why should we buy chemicals whose only purpose is to make it easier for the supermarket to sell us the product in the first place?

Rather than go to the supermarket to buy a product, why not make what you need from raw materials without any packaging other than what you decide to keep it in and with no chemicals except for what you need to make it? That is, to do away with recycling by making the product in the first place. In actual fact, no one is knocking recycling. It is important, but so expensive in energy terms.

Precycle - a way of life

Actually, it's nothing new, our grandparents lived like this all their lives, we've just forgotten.
For example, would it surprise you that you could make a carpet cleaner for pennies that cost pounds in the shops? That you can make your own bacon, good bacon at that - far better than you can buy - for almost the price of cheap pork? Would you like to be able to make sauces at a penny a bottle or bread for a third of the price per slice? Would it surprise you that the majority of the powder in the automatic washing powder is simply washing soda, and that this product washes better and whiter for a fraction of the cost?

Amongst all the fear and financial turmoil the world is experiencing, Precycling points a finger towards a way of living that prioritises making rather than consuming. My new book, Precycle!, is a trip around the supermarket showing you that what is packaged for our convenience is all too frequently too expensive, too polluting and ineffectual, and how you can make at home what you find on the shelves.

The very best bacon in the world has hardly any salt in it

There is no reason for you ever to buy bacon because it is so simple to create a meat that is far superior to the shop bought product, and for less money. The bacon you buy is anything up to 8% salt - usually around 3%. But salt doesn't penetrate fatty meat, so you can devise a way of getting it directly to the meat, where you need it.

All you have to do is get the butcher to slice whatever pork meat you like as though it was bacon. Then the fun starts.

Spread these slices on a tray. Weigh out the amount of salt: for a kilo of bacon, 15g or 3 level teaspoons gives a great cure and is only half the salt of the commercial stuff. Healthy bacon!

Measure equal amounts of salt and sugar. Mix it up and sprinkle it only on the meat - not the fat. Cover and store in the fridge overnight.

In the morning cook your bacon in the normal way and prepare yourself for a real shock! It's gorgeous!

Paul Peacock is the author of Precycle! which is available at £7.95 from www.goodlifepress.co.uk. Paul is also the editor of Home Farmer magazine (www.homefarmer.co.uk), a monthly magazine for anyone after a slice of ‘the good life', whether they live in the heart of the city or deep in the country.