Recycling, buying locally-sourced food and vintage clothing, checking air miles and carbon footprints - our ever-growing obsessions with saving money and preserving the planet is beginning to affect the way many of us shop, travel and eat every day. After decades of plenty, we now face the credit crunch and climate change but the good news is that we don't have to look far back in our history for a handy lesson in making seismic lifestyle changes. Our grannies can show us the way. They wasted almost nothing, bought locally, recycled, grew their own veg and 'dug for victory' and, with the aid of Patricia Nicol's colourful, comparative history, so can we.