We "Re-Do" Our Grocery Shopping Habits

A couple of years ago, after I started reCREATE, I would get frustrated every time I went grocery shopping. With our program, I’d go into classes of elementary kids, and teach them that plastic bags take and estimated 1,000 years to decompose in a landfill.  Then I’d go to the grocery store to shop, and it seemed like every single thing was wrapped in plastic.   If I had trouble getting away from plastic, how could I expect the little ones to do any better?  I looked and looked for easy dinners that weren’t packaged in a way that made me cringe.  For the most part, my searches were fruitless.  Shopping for minimal packaging is like going to the gym… if you want to make a difference, you have to be diligent and really make an effort.   

Below are the few things we are re-working in our family to minimize our waste:

Do:  My kiddos love burritos.  We were flying through boxes of Amy’s Organic burritos.  But every single burrito is wrapped in plastic. 

Re-Do:   Buy a big container of tortillas (still in plastic – but I’m not ready to hand-make all the tortillas yet.) and make a big batch of burrito fillings in the slow cooker.   There are gazillions of recipes to try!

Do:  We try hard not to buy individually wrapped snacks… but every now and then we do cave and buy something like Clif Kids Fruit Ropes. 

Photo ©2012 Just a Taste, LLC.

Re-Do:   Spend an afternoon making lunch snacks for the week.  We’ll whip up some muffins (Which can double as a breakfast on the go), and create our own version of trail mix from the bulk area at the grocery store.  We'll bring our own jar to put it in.  While I didn’t find a version of a fruit rope, I did find these tasty treat – fruit roll-ups.   I adjusted the recipe to have sucanat instead of sugar.   Sucanat is a less refined version of sugar – it is evaporated sugar cane juice.  They were delicious!

Do:  Buy cheese and meat from the deli and meat counter wrapped in paper.

Re-Do:   Take our glass containers to the deli counters to buy our meat and cheese.

Other hints I found for shopping and less waste:

I keep my reusable shopping bags in my trunk.  When I was just starting to use them, I would leave one bag on my passenger seat to help me remember to take it in the store.  Also, to be sure your bags stay clean, you can toss them in the wash to make sure they are not becoming vehicles for scary germs.

Invest in a reusable water bottle.  Get one that you REALLY love.  This is mine.   I take it everywhere.   Stop buying bottled water.   For one, the "disposable" bottles take 700 years to decompose if they end up in the landfill.  I live in a place where our garbage is sorted and the recyclables are pulled out from our One Big Bin. Here’s the deal though… like anything the system isn’t perfect, so a small percentage still end up going to the landfill.    Plus, think about all of the resources it takes just to get that water bottle to market.   We are lucky to live in a place with good water coming through our tap – so drink up!

I have come to learn that buying from the Bulk Shopping bins is much less expensive than the same food in a package on the shelf.  Bring reusable bags and jars to get the stuff home and stored.   

Do you have a trick for shopping with less waste?  I'd love for you to leave a comment!