Simple Guide to Plastic-Free Grocery Shopping
Walk into a grocery store and nearly everything is packaged in plastic. In the best stores the produce section is nearly plastic-free and in the worst ones even their bananas are wrapped in plastic.
As I’ve mentioned before, in worldwide coastal cleanups, 8 of the top 10 most commonly found items at beach clean-ups are single-use plastics related to food and beverage packaging. So, finding ways to reduce plastic food packaging is one of the easiest ways to reduce your plastic footprint.
But how do you do this? Great question! Here is the simple guide:
- Shop the perimeter of the grocery store
- Shop in the bulk section
- Shop at farmer’s markets
- Shop at restaurants
- Bring your own bags and containers
1. Shop the perimeter of the grocery store
The perimeter of the grocery store is generally where refrigeration and water can be attached. Thus, this is where all the perishable food is located and your best bet for finding plastic-free food. This includes the produce, butcher, deli, and dairy sections.
Produce:
The best way to avoid plastic packaged produce is to get the whole vegetable or fruit. All prepared, pre-washed, pre-cut items will be in plastic. I know, they are so tempting and convenient, but they also cost more. Be a little more kind to your wallet, and the ocean, and opt for the whole head of lettuce and chop it yourself. For small loose items like mushrooms, bring your own produce bag to corral them in one place.
Butcher:
It’s a common misconception that butcher paper is just paper with a wax coating. Unfortunately, while that used to be the case, butcher paper is now lined with plastic, not wax. On top of that, the meat is usually placed in a plastic bag before it is wrapped in butcher paper. Since meat has fatty tissue which is more likely to absorb chemicals from plastic, I try to avoid having my meat touch plastic for long periods of time. I bring my own container to the butcher and cook the meat when I get home.
Deli:
The deli is great place to get sliced meats and cheese. I bring my beeswax wraps to get blocks of cheese and a glass container to get sliced prosciutto. (I seriously love prosciutto.) I’ve also grabbed sliced turkey and cheese for sandwiches and fresh mozzarella all plastic-free at the deli. One caveat is, the butcher will use a thin plastic liner sheet to place the meat on the scale. This is done so items don’t contaminate each other and so the scale doesn’t get disgusting. It’s a small piece a plastic but we do what we can.
Dairy:
With a baby and a preschooler, I go through a lot of milk in my house. Luckily, nearly all the grocery stores near me carry Straus Family Creamery milk and heavy cream in glass bottles. It is a dollar or two more expensive but worth it. The only plastic is the cap. Nearly all other milk containers are made completely of plastic or lined with plastic. And like I’ve mentioned before, I like to avoid having foods with fat touch plastic. (Stay tuned for a future post that will dig into why I don’t like having foods touch plastic.) After you’re finished with your milk, rinse out the glass bottle and bring it back to the grocery store to receive your two-dollar deposit back.
Salad Bar:
My local grocery store has a salad and an olive bar. It’s a great way to get normally packaged items like tofu. I bring my own glass container and make sure to have it tared first.
2. Shop in the bulk section
The bulk section is where you can get all sorts of dried items plastic-free. I typically get grains, dried fruit, snacks, and candy in the bulk section. If you’ve never shopped in the bulk section, “Bulk Shopping for Beginners” is a good place to start. If you need help finding bulk bins near you, use this bulk finder.
3. Shop at farmer’s markets
Shopping at the farmer’s market is the best way to get local, plastic-free food. Even at the grocery store if your produce isn’t wrapped in plastic, it most likely has a plastic sticker or twist tie. No plastic stickers at the farmer’s markets. Shopping at the farmer’s market is also great because you’re supporting a family business and get to talk to the people growing your food. I’ve been getting fruit from the same family for three years now. I know the names of their sons, what they do for work and fun and they know the names of my kids. It makes me happy to know I’m supporting their farm.
By shopping at farmer’s markets, you can also do things that you couldn’t at a grocery store. For example, I get baby spinach, which the farmer puts in a plastic bag, and dump it in my own produce bag.
I take the berries from the little green plastic tubs and dump them in my own container. Leftover large tubs of yogurt are the perfect size to fit a basket of strawberries. Before doing this, I make sure that the farmer will reuse these plastic items before dumping the produce in my bag or container.
When I get home I usually transfer the items to a large 32 oz mason jar, rinse the yogurt container and put everything back in a bag in my car.
4. Shop at restaurants
I know, this seems odd but it’s a great resource. I generally make my own tortillas but when I’m feeling lazy, we go to our local Mexican restaurant and buy tortillas from them. We do the same with naan from Indian restaurants. You can bring your own container but even if you forget, these are usually wrapped in foil. As a bonus, it’s fresh and tastes way better than the packaged store-bought version.
One of the items I struggled to find plastic-free for a long time was sliced sandwich bread. In the bakery section of my grocery store they have French bread, rustic loaves, and all sorts of delicious artisan breads…but no plain sandwich bread. And it was the same story at the farmer’s market. Then one day it dawned on me while I was getting breakfast at Panera. They sell sandwich bread! So, the next time I needed bread, I brought my own bag, asked them to slice it and put it in my bag. If restaurants are weird about bringing your bag or container behind the counter (this is a misinterpretation of the California health code) then ask them to put it on a plate and give it to you. Then transfer the loaf to your bag.
I love my Onya bread bag. It’s a great size, made of 10 recycled plastic water bottles, and I think it looks beautiful. As mentioned in “Recycling is Not the Answer“, it’s important to support the use of recycled materials so that there is a market for them.
5. Bring your own bags and containers
The most important thing to remember when going plastic-free is to remember your bags and containers! You’re avoiding one form of packaging, so you need to replace it with something else. So, remembering to grab containers before grocery shopping or keeping spare ones in your car is key.
I have two sets of bags in my car. One for the farmer’s market and one for the grocery store. The farmer’s market bag has mesh produce or laundry bags for loose leaf vegetables and old yogurt containers for grapes and berries.
In the grocery bag, I also have mesh produce bags for loose items like mushrooms, cotton bags for grains in the bulk section, and a clear container for meat. If I know I’m getting items from the deli, then I bring a glass container and beeswax wraps. When using your own container at the grocery store, it simplifies things if the container is clear and doesn’t have a barcode. That way the cashier can see what’s inside and they won’t accidentally charge you for yogurt.
I will admit that using your own container is going against the norm. You might get curious looks and if you use your own container in the deli or butcher shop it takes a little bit of guts. The first time you try this just say, for example, “I would like a pound of chicken in this container, please”. Bea Johnson, the zero waste queen, always says not to ask for permission by saying, “Can you put it in this container?” but rather just act like you’ve done this a thousand times and say you want it in the container. If the person helping you asks why you are doing it, simply say you are trying to not use plastic or that you’re doing a plastic-free challenge. In the last few years of using my own container I’ve only been asked this once. And generally, I’ve gotten positive comments from other customers saying that it’s a great idea and they should try that too.
Unintended Benefits
As with other aspects of plastic-free living there are unintended benefits. In avoiding plastic packaging, you generally avoid the middle aisles of the grocery store. The middle aisles are where all the “good stuff” is. All that stuff that’s bad for you but so good to indulge in…like Oreos. I’m not going to lie, Oreos occasionally make their way into my house. And when my husband buys them, I will eat a few. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but I will eat an Oreo when I see them (yes, just one). But in avoiding the cookie aisle I eat healthier. When I check out at the grocery store, oftentimes I get comments like “Wow! What are you cooking?” or “That looks so healthy!”. Because it is! The majority of the items I purchase at the grocery store are whole vegetables. So, in avoiding plastics I eat and, more importantly, feel better.
If some of these options aren’t available in your area don’t feel guilty. Do the best that you can. You don’t have to be perfect to make a difference. Two years ago, I used a lot more plastic as shown in the photo below. For some items like milk, I found a great replacement but for others like tofu, I just stopped buying it. Find what works for you and run with it.
Now that I’ve covered the basics and thrown in an unintended benefit, do you think you can avoid plastics while grocery shopping? What are some of the most difficult items to find plastic-free? Let me know in the comments!
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