Each week, we all have to go out to the grocery store, battle lines and crowds and pick up the food that will feed us over the next few days. The grocery store is an interesting place from a green standpoint. In one way, with the food packaging, pesticide-laden vegetables and fruits and plastic bags it is a very un-green place to go. However, in another way with a growing organic selection and reusable bags it is a very green place to be.
One of the best places that we can green our lives is in the grocery store because it is the one place we go to every week, at least once, and as many as five or six times. So, how do you go green in the grocery store?
The first, and easiest way that you can green your trip to the grocery store is to take reusable bags. Each year, hundreds of billions of plastic bags are thrown away after only a few minutes of use. Canada alone accounts for as much as 75 BILLION plastic bags each year. These plastic bags don’t stay at the landfill. They move with the wind and often end up in the oceans where they are accidently eaten by sea creatures, who then die a slow and agonizing death when their stomachs are full of plastic bags.
The second way is just as easy, but it is more expensive. Buying organic is not only good for the environment because it helps to eliminate pesticide and herbicide use, but it is also good for you as well. Layla and I have been eating organic for almost a year now and have never felt better. Of course, it is more expensive, so just buy what you can afford.
The third way to go green at the grocery store is to be mindful of your packaging. Cookies are a great example of this, as are other treats. Typically, the treats are packaged in a plastic bag, which then has an inner plastic bag that you have to break open, and then the treats are either in a plastic tray or individually wrapped with plastic. One of the best ways you can go green is by buying items that don’t use a lot of packaging. The less packaging, the less waste and the less production to make that packaging.
The fourth way you can go green at the grocery store is with vegetables and bulk items. First, try and buy your spices and other items in bulk. The more you buy in bulk, the less packaging you have. Also, if you can try and use something other than plastic bags to hold your bulk items. The same goes for vegetables and fruits. Instead of using plastic bags, try and use mesh bags that you can reuse. If you do use plastic bags, reuse them as much as you can.
The grocery store is an important part of our lives, so it is important to make our visit to the store as green as possible.
My suggestion is to cut down on those trips to the grocery story. I go no more than twice a month and often buy in bulk, as mentioned above.