In June 2019 we rented a mountain cabin in Norway for our summer holiday. Unlike our French trip the year before, we decided to go car-less because we wanted to save money and remove the pressure of having to see so many tourist places when you have a car. Our modest accommodation is located four kilometres away from the nearest supermarket, and our two year old daughter was just getting the hang of walking.

Geilo is the capital of Hol, in Viken county. Smacked between Bergen and Oslo, it’s a popular winter destination among Norwegians based on the number of privately-owned winter cabins in this area. Geilo is less busy in the summer and has a relatively cooler temperature compared to summer destinations in Europe. But what do you do in the mountains for 10 days when you don’t have a car?

On the evening of March 13, when the Dutch government imposed a lock down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we were offline enjoying the swimming pool at Hotel Sterrenberg. Our planned activities were cancelled, including a visit to the zoo and museum. Fast forward to July 2020, against wisdom and the government’s advice, we booked a weekend getaway back to Gelderland as a make-up trip. Gelderland is becoming our favourite Dutch province, escaping to the nature of the Veluwe whenever possible. Armed with face masks and two bottles of alcohol gel, we drove to Wolfheze on Thursday morning.

Another weekend, another day to make home-made chicken broth. I try to have frozen broth all the time because I don’t like using broth cubes because of its salt and junk contents.

Depending on the time of month (before and after salary) I buy either “regular” chicken or stewing chicken, what they call “soepkip” in Dutch. The first is used for regular chicken dishes while the latter is an old hen which was retired from laying eggs, and the meat has become too tough for normal cooking. Obviously organic soepkip is cheap, it’s sold between €6-10 for about 1.2 kilos depending on where you buy it. Free-range chicken sells twice or even thrice as much. I always buy frozen, whole organic chicken because they are cheaper than pre-cut ones. The downside is I have to make several dishes at once.

bought new shoes, a pair of derby called Farley from the brand Bertie. When my favourite pair finally gave up on me after 7 years, I waited a bit before buying a new one. I wanted the same colour and the same quality.

was walking to the supermarket this morning when I started thinking about this article. If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen several posts where I declared that I don’t frequent the supermarket anymore, but I still do my groceries there once in a while. After all, you can only buy so much from a farm or a specialized shop. Cooking oil, rice and such essentials are still easier to find in the supermarket. It’s pointless to burn fossil fuel while buying sustainable products from different locations.