Eco-Friendly Tips For Your Next Grocery Trip

Making the world a better place doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, you can contribute to the health of the environment even while grocery shopping. All you need to do is ensure you always use eco-friendly products whenever possible. Did you know that plastic shopping bags are nearly impossible to recycle and that only 9% of all plastic has ever been recycled so far?

Here are some tips that will make your shopping eco-friendly:

Reusable Bags For Shopping 

When you go grocery shopping, consider using reusable bags, such as mesh bags, to carry your items. Plastic bags are more expensive as compared to mesh bags over time, and they are not as durable. Mesh bags even come in different sets, sizes, as well as in different colors – so you can pick the ones that make you happy. You can also rewash a mesh bag and use it over and over again for several other shopping activities. unfortunately, plastic bags will most likely have to be thrown away after use.

Bulk Buying

A great eco-friendly tip for grocery shopping is buying in bulk. When you buy groceries and foodstuffs in small quantities, you will end up using more plastic bags and containers usually by default. Bulk buying, however, helps to save you double or triple trips to the grocery store, and you can carry reusable bags for the shopping instead of using wasteful plastic bags. Shopping in bulk will also have the added benefit of helping you to organize and maintain a clean pantry.

Avoid Individual Product Packages

Do you know that individual product packages are more expensive as compared to buying in bulk or larger portions? During your next grocery trip, avoid buying small packages of things like sugar, coffee, tea, snacks, yogurt, and other things. Small packages contribute to environmental pollution and increase packaging waste. Think about it; picking 100 ml of yogurt is better than buying five 20 ml yogurts. If you do the math, you will also find that the 100 ml yogurt is cheaper than the accumulated cost of the individual 20 ml yogurt.

Avoid Impulse Buying

Impulse buying can have a negative impact on the environment because most of the time, people end up throwing away a good amount of the things that they bought on impulse. Before you go shopping, write a list of the items that you need and make sure that you stick to the list when in the grocery shop.

Always note that you will find many amazing items on offer that are not on your list. If you are not careful, therefore, you might end up wasting money on things that you do not really need. Writing a grocery list beforehand, and sticking to it, will reduce the amount of food you waste later significantly.

Another important factor to pay attention to and consider is the amount of food you actually use per week or per month. This will help you avoid buying too much that may go bad before you eat it, wasting money as well as contributing to environmental stress.

Buy More Vegetables

One good way of being eco-friendly is by simply eating more vegetables. Vegetables are not only healthy and nutritional for you, but they will also help you save animals as well as sea life from animal cruelty if that is important to you. Some types of seafood may put more marine life at risk due to over-farming and hunting – if there is a higher demand for the food than the productivity rate of the sea, there will be negative ramifications either today or tomorrow. Eat a vegetable and help keep the ecosystem in balance.

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Pay Attention To The Labels

Have you ever taken time to read what the labels on the items you are buying say? Some products could be harmful to the ecosystem without your knowledge. Focus on what the label says. Is the product organic, non-GMO, biodegradable, and non-toxic? Find out whether the product is good for the environment and try to stick to the brands that commit themselves to these practices.

Buy Things That Are In Season

Food is a highly perishable commodity. One way of being eco-friendly is by buying foods that are in season. If you go to the grocery store and discover that tomatoes, onions, or pineapples are in season, you will find they are at their best prices as well as full of flavor. Failure to purchase foods that are in season leads to wastage because the food is perishable, as well as incurring all the environmental costs of transporting, etc.

Another easy way to avoid food wastage is by supporting local farms and shops in your area. When you buy most products online from distant stores, the stock in the local shop can have an increased risk of going bad before getting into customers’ hands, especially the more delicate perishable commodities like fruits and vegetables. Strive to be more than just an eco-warrior; be a friend to local businesses too.