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A young family are challenged to cut their carbon footprint and save money. Can they be convinced that being green doesn鈥檛 have to cost the earth and can still be convenient?

This week, Chris Bavin and Melanie Sykes help a time-stretched family with a new baby. Steve and Saskia live in Shrewsbury with their five-month-old daughter Cece and Saskia鈥檚 six-year-old daughter Edi. They are a family who would love to be greener but just can鈥檛 find the time to do it. Having a young family has prompted them both to start thinking about the planet and whether they can become more climate conscious, but a busy work and home life has meant that it鈥檚 convenience and not the planet that is taking priority. Can they be convinced that being greener doesn鈥檛 have to cost the earth or turn their lives upside down?

Before Chris and Melanie can help Saskia and Steve go greener, they raid their home, seeking out their biggest not-so-eco spends and secretly setting up a pop-up shop with their stuff. They want to show them where they think they could be greener and save some money along the way. To track their progress, Melanie and Chris reveal the family鈥檚 carbon footprint. Steve and Saskia are relieved to hear that they aren鈥檛 doing too badly, but this is short lived when they find out what we should all be aiming for. Determined to lower their carbon footprint, they get to work.

When the family are out, we go in and turn their home greener, swapping cleaning products they know and trust for eco-friendly alternatives and stripping their bathroom of single-use plastics. We even challenge them to give reusable nappies a go. Nothing is out of bounds: we even swap their favourite cheeses for vegan alternatives. And we don鈥檛 stop inside - Saskia鈥檚 beloved car is swapped for an electric one.

Saskia thinks that vegan cooking will take more time and make more mess, so Jordan Banjo takes on the challenge. Together, they rustle up a katsu-style cauliflower that any meat eater would enjoy. Chris takes Steve to their local fruit and veg market to give him a crash course in how to buy seasonally, locally, sustainably and cheaply. Saskia is not a fan of plant-based milk, but Melanie wants them to do a blind taste test to see if they can tell which is which. Jo Page visits an Asda trial store that opened last year that is piloting ways to help customers shop more sustainably. And the great British public put a vegan version of a family favourite to the test: fishless fish fingers. Which plant-based fingers take top spot for our testers?

57 minutes

Music Played

  • Jake Bugg

    Lightning Bolt

  • George Ezra

    Paradise

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Chris Bavin
Presenter Jordan Banjo
Presenter Joanna Page
Presenter Melanie Sykes
Executive Producer Jo Scarratt-Jones
Series Producer Fiona Gay
Director Stephanie Wessell
Production Company RDF Television West

Broadcasts