Zero Waste Grocery Shopping - The Ultimate Guide - Fresh Exchange

Learn how to shop for groceries with zero waste in mind. From the grocery store, to your kitchen,reduce waste while shopping.

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A few years ago I remember walking on the beach and finding pieces of plastic all over. I found plastic bags and it really broke my heart. Our precious lakes here full of these things.

So I vowed then as a new mom to start to take tiny steps from there on out to change our footprint and the amount of plastic we use. Being a parent and talking about limiting plastic and our waste is nearly an oxymoron it can seem like especially when I first jumped into figuring out how to make this happen.

I am by no means perfect. So I started to take the approach that every month is another chance to eliminate one more thing and find new ways all over again. I am constantly challenging the voice of convenience in my head to make room in my day-to-day to learn a new way. Life is all about challenging ourselves continually. That is where we grow after all.

How To Start Grocery Shopping With No Waste

Moving around a lot I knew the easiest way to make an impact was to start with our grocery shopping and days at the market. So I started making strides in our weekly shopping trips to make this easiest to eliminate our waste (plastic use) and so on.

We weren’t perfect but we started small and now after almost 2 years we are nearly getting so close to zero to no waste with our grocery and farm market trips. We aren’t perfect every week but compared to a year ago we have changed so much!!!

Here’s a couple of list to help you get started:

1. Preparing a Grocery List

Buying only what you need is the first step to zero waste grocery shopping. It may seem obvious, but a grocery list can help save time and money while also cutting back on food scraps by planning meals around fresh fruit or vegetables that come without any packaging! Plus why not include some “bulk” items for those times when hitting up your local farmers’ market will take too long? 

Just write bulk foods at the top of the list with instructions like bringing bags so it’s easier than ever before to remember all those yummy things waiting in an excess aisle stocked full oof goodies just waiting for their turn into something good inside our bellies…

Bringing reusable shopping totes has become almost as crucial these days

2. Pick Loose Produce

Choosing produce options involves many factors, but it is most important to choose fruit and vegetable items that are package free. If you are purchasing food with packages on them or if they come in thermoform packaging make sure these can be composted at home.

Even for wet produce, avoid plastic bags.  Many stores now sell leafy greens, broccoli and herbs without packaging.  If you are placing those items in a reusable produce bag, make sure you put them in a corner of your cart or basket away from things that shouldn’t be wet.

3. Visit the bakery

Stop by your local grocery store to pick up some fresh bread. You’ll be able to get a loaf, roll or bagel tucked in your own fabric bread bag or wrap and even have them cut if you want them too!

4. Bulk Buying

Food bags are a great way to save money on your grocery bill and many stores offer them as well. You can fill up small bags or containers with the staple ingredients, and then weigh them before returning so that you know how much was used in each bag/container! 

These stores also have bulk cereal options for those who like their breakfast just as easy at home but don’t want all of these boxes sitting around taking up space.

5. Reuse and Recycle When You Shop

When buying packaged items, the most environmentally friendly choice is to buy those that come in refillable containers or easy-to-recycle materials.

6. Be Ready at Check-Out

There are some tricks to getting the most out of your grocery store experience. For example, place reusable bags on conveyor belts first so that they can see what kind you have and where each one goes! Group together produce items like apples or tomatoes if possible before weighing them for ease during checkout time too – this way there is less chance any individual item will go unnoticed by mistake.

Finally be prepared with a photo copy code from bulk items in case someone at check-out has questions about something specific related then just show it straight away rather than trying figure out how best word things later when people starts asking around looking confused.

Why Is Zero Waste Grocery Store Shopping Important?

The reason this has all been so important to us isn’t just because it is better for the environment but also because it literally isn’t an easy task to take care of our trash and recycling every week. We have no garage to store trash in and pay $5 for every bag we place at the end of our road that is just over 1/4 mile drive from our house.

So we have to get everything into the truck and haul it down no matter the time of year. You can imagine in the dead of winter this a HUGE challenge.We wanted to first get to one bag a week and then our next now is to just 2 a month. Not only does it save us money, but it also is better for us and the environment. By the end of the year we hope to see 1 bag only a month if we can do it.

Recycling Made Easier with Zero Waste Groceries Shopping

For recycling, like many people in Leelanau County, you bring it to recycling centers and drop it off in receptacles. It is a service as part of our taxes, but it still is work to get it there. So making a point to simplify and lower the amount of what we get rid of has been a big deal. I would always rather opt for recyclable than trashable and single-use items.

I found that groceries brought in so much trash! Especially after the last few months as we are eliminating single-use non-recyclable plastics. There are biodegradable yet durable products, such as Baggu reusable bags that can replace single-use products.

A lot of farmers, like our Co-op will be happy if you clean and reuse containers that they use. They may take them back to be used again! Things such as vintage egg cartons or berry boxes make great storage options for food items in your kitchen

Quick Tip: If you find a rubber band on the herbs and flowers you bought. Don’t slice them off! Instead, save them in your drawer or any storage item so you can use it when you need to.

That said, I wanted to share what I own that helps me stick to my routines with groceries and how I do it for you guys. These are things I use at both our co-op and local grocery store (that is similar to Trader Joe’s) and while at the Farmer’s Market. Mind you, We don’t often buy at large super grocery stores.

It is very uncommon. Though I do go to Costco for things like Toilet Paper, Laundry Detergents, and a few other items from time to time (I have a story highlight about some of the things I buy at Costco and why on my Instagram if you want to watch).

I am trying to figure out the best balance with a place like that because I think there are pluses but there is a lot of single-use going on that I am working to eliminate every month little by little (basically one product at a time). I always look for containers that are recyclable, but many times there are small single-use plastics involved with them still.

So I am always looking to do something that might either make it simpler to make that product myself with less waste or find a way to eliminate it from our lives. For more reliable ways of recycling to save the environment, check this link right here now for further details!

Okay so here are the things I use for our trips to the market. Mind you I purchased things or asked for things for gifts over almost 2 years so just remember that. I do not think you have to invest big up front at all. Make a lifestyle change and let it become comfortable and normal till it sticks.

Things to Bring When Doing a No Waste Grocery Store Shopping

When you want to effectively do a no waste grocery store shopping, this means avoiding going to large super grocery stores. It is best to buy goods from local stores and at the Farmer’s Market. As you choose what to buy, make sure to pick containers that are recyclable.

The most important thing to remember when shopping for groceries, is that you should always carry your own bag. There are a couple of items that I like to have with me and they’re listed below:

1. Organic Muslin Produce Bags

I found these ones on Etsy which is great, but you can find some on Amazon as well. The best part is most Etsy vendors will also send them to you without any packaging that is single-use if you request it as well. I just make sure my bags are organic cotton because I don’t want to put my organic veggies into something that isn’t organic as well. A must have when you want a zero waste groceries shopping experience.

2. Reusable Cooler Bag:

This isn’t the one I use. I actually got one from a friend who didn’t want her’s anymore and now it is in my car all the time. I love it because it either keeps veggies in my car protected on REALLY cold days in the car or keeps my dairy and milk products or refrigerated things cool on hot days especially if I have a lot of errands I am running.

3. Reusable Organic Totes:

These are my dream bags and not the ones I have. I just have totes that I have collected over time that I use. They aren’t pretty, but they work and get the job done. I love that I have so much less to deal with when I come home too. I just stuff them all back in together and then take them back to the car and set them in the front seat so I never forget.

4. French Market Bag:

This is my go-to for market trips. I also have a backpack I take on really busy days I know I want to load up especially in September when I am freezing and preserving. This guy is awesome, strong, and holds a lot. I love it and my mother in law got the one I use for me, but this one is on Etsy. Mur Lifestyle also has some different styles as well.

5. Reusable Bio Bags for Bulk Spices:

You don’t have to use these but I do because they can seal well. There is a discussion about these being better than regular plastics on the earth or not. Either way, I use them over and over for spices and other things because they zip up tight and are easy to pour out spices into containers. I just wash them and let them dry over and over again. When they start seeing the last of their life I let them go, but I figure it is better than the alternative which is the tiny plastic bags at the co-op.

6. Mesh Reusable Bags:

These are new ones I just got. I found that the Muslin were great for kale and other large things or rices and so on, but these guys are great for apples, pears, tomatoes, and so on. It makes it easy on the person that is checking you out. This is especially true at grocery stores that aren’t use to people bringing their own produce bags. I find I get so many nasty looks at larger stores when I request to use my own things and it slows their process down.

7. Mesh Tote:

This is awesome for hauling potatoes and other really dirty veggies it leaves zero grocery waste when shopping. The dirt slips through and I think they are just pretty too!

Since I shop mostly for bulk dry goods at our Co-op (most high-end grocery stores and Whole Foods have these sections) I either reuse bags or I use my produce bags. Just secure them well in your bags. Our co-op uses plastic recyclable containers for their bulk goods as well as the containers as well, so I will just reuse them over and over and then eventually recycle them after about 4-5 uses.

They are happy and actually consider that for making donations (aka the incentive they use for people to reuse bags and so on). I use my produce bags there as well. If you shop in a large grocery store chain you may think about getting see-through or mesh style bags so your checkout person scoffs about it less. But I use these bags constantly and just wash them.

Tips on What To Do After Shopping

Now when I get home from the store, I store everything in either in the veggie chiller or in glass containers so it stays fresh longer. I place all dry goods in their jars in the pantry and then replace all bags back in my grocery bags I have. If they need washing I do that, but usually that is pretty minimal since they are used for such a short time. If there any plastic bags I have acquired I rinse them and let them dry and then add them into my bag. I usually end up with 3-4 a season that need to be tossed or are just falling apart. I hope to eliminate more and more.

One thing that can be a challenge is spices. Buying them in bulk is the best way, but they are hard to transport without plastic bags. This is where I will reuse the plastic bags often. I have glass labeled containers they all go back in, but I use plastic bags from the co-op and just reuse them. I do the same with bulk flour and salt as well. Seriously I realize our co-op is unreal and we are very lucky to have it. Oryana. I love you!

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Wrap Up..

I plan to do another food storage post on how we have eliminated plastic in our kitchen when storing our foods. Then I also will do one about how we are eliminating single-use plastics from crackers, snacks, etc. as well by the end of the year as well.

Lots more will be had about this conversation, but remember this, I am not perfect!!! I every day take little tiny steps forward in this fight. I don’t bite it all off at once. Focus on awareness first and foremost before we take any big step. Look at what you throw out with new eyes and figure out where you can start with one change and then another. Little by little let things stick and change your lifestyle. That’s the most important thing!

Please consider checking out our other posts if you liked this article about zero waste groceries — 

Drastically reducing your single-use plastic bag waste is easier than you may think.

Consider the purpose of single-use plastic items like bags, food wrappings, bottles, cups, plates, bowls, lids, straws, stirrers, cutlery, take-out containers (including foam), shipping envelopes, and all the things you, me, and everyone else buys either in a store or online that come in plastic packaging inside a cardboard box.

By design, a single-use plastic (or paper) item is intended to be used once and then disposed of often within minutes of opening it or using it for the first time.

Convenience items like single-use plastics have gotten way out of control and are trashing our planet, literally. Tossing things in the garbage does not make them magically disappear and putting them in a recycle bin does not wipe out the environmental footprint of making disposable products and recycling them.

If you agree, even a little bit, decreasing your own single-use plastic bag waste is a good place to start.

My spouse and I probably began our quest to reduce our contribution to single-use plastic bag waste in . That is the year I joined the Sierra Club and received four roll-up reusable bags as a gift for becoming a member (I still use them).

We took the low-hanging fruit approach meaning we tackled the easy actions first. This resulted in a significant reduction in our use of plastic bags over the years.

In this post, I hope to demonstrate that it is possible to make reducing single-use plastic bag waste part of your normal life.

Before we move on, let’s do a quick refresher on why you and I should care about single-use plastic in the first place.

Why is Single-Use Plastic a Problem?

I think the United Nations report entitled Single-use Plastics: A roadmap for Sustainability gives a good worldview of the issue and provides some thoughts on how to address it (the whole report is worth reading).

A few of the environmental problems associated with single-use plastic include:

• Most plastic is made from petroleum and natural gas.
• Plastic packaging makes up nearly 50% of all plastic waste in the world.
• Of all the plastic produced in the world, only 9% of the 9 billion metric tons made so far have been recycled.
• Plastic does not biodegrade but slowly breaks down into smaller and smaller fragments that find their way into the soil, water, land and aquatic animals, and humans.
• When plastic waste is burned, it releases toxic gases like furan and dioxin.

Dealing with plastic waste is left up to individuals like you and me and cash-strapped municipalities. Economic damage to tourism, fishing, and marine ecosystems runs in the billions of dollars every year and will continue to grow as the problem of plastic waste grows.

If you are interested in learning more about plastic waste and its impacts on people and the environment, you will find links in the resources section at the end of this post.

Next, we will explore what you can do about single-use plastic waste specifically plastic bags.

Reducing Your Single-Use Plastic Bag Waste

Personally, I could never see the appeal of using plastic bags for groceries because they seem small, difficult to put things into, and constantly in danger of disgorging their contents into the trunk of your car. We were paper bag users. I know this is a post about plastic but single-use paper bags also have a significant environmental footprint.

Reusable Shopping Bags

We soon realized that our roll-up Sierra Club reusable shopping bags worked great for everything except buying groceries. I missed flat-bottom paper bags.

Fortunately, during an out-of-town visit, I spotted a flat-bottom reusable bag at an REI store for $1.00 so I bought a couple of bags to try. These bags have both shoulder straps and handles, which I like, so I bought several more. When I joined the Audubon Society in , they sent me four reusable shopping bags with flat bottoms and sturdy handles sporting pictures of pelicans and owls. We added a few more roll-up bags to complete our reusable shopping bag stock.

If necessary, I wash the grocery bags in the kitchen sick or toss the roll-up bags in with a load of laundry and then put them outside to dry.

If you can remember your keys and your wallet, you can learn to remember your reusable bags but we decided to make it easy for ourselves. When not in use, most of the grocery market bags hang out in the trunk of our car and we keep a couple stashed in the hall closet. Roll-up bags reside in a bowl near the front door and in the car door pocket.

On the rare occasion that I do not have a bag with me at the store, I carry the item out naked.

You do not need to make a large financial outlay to obtain reusable bags. Many stores offer low-cost or free bags with their name and logo and nonprofit organizations sometimes give them out at events.

When the single-use plastic bag ban came to our town in San Luis Obispo County, CA in , it was a non-event for us.

Reusing and Reusable Produce Bags

Not long after the shopping bag conversion, I purchased a dozen or so reusable and washable mesh bags in an effort to reduce our use of plastic produce bags. We are still using the same bags years later.

The mesh bags are excellent for a wide variety of whole fruits and vegetables including, onions, apples, potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers, and green beans. I do not like using the mesh bags for vegetables that tend to be wet from misting in the produce section like lettuce, green onions, and carrots because they get other things in my shopping cart and grocery bags damp.

That led me to begin rinsing out plastic produce bags or zip-top bags and hanging them to dry on various things around the kitchen like the utensils sticking out of the ceramic crock next to the range.

Once the bags dried, I stuck them in one of the grocery bags along with the mesh bags.

This method worked but it was not convenient so my handy spouse made a DIY plastic bag dryer that was so simple I could probably have made it.

Reusing plastic bags is not an ideal solution because they are still plastic bags; however, it is a step in the right direction.

Bring Your Own Containers

Several years ago, my spouse and I joined the SLO Natural Foods Co-op so we could buy organic food that is grown and made by local and regional farmers and food producers.

The Co-op’s bulk bins are a major attraction housing a wide array of food items including flour, granola, almonds, dried cranberries, rice, sugar, and Zen party mix (now a favorite snack).

Scooping rice into a plastic bag from the bulk bin seemed to defeat part of the purpose of buying in bulk so we began bringing our own containers. At the store, you weigh the container empty and put a label on it so the checkout clerk knows how much weight to subtract from your purchase of granola or kidney beans. Now, when we get home from the Co-op, we unload our bulk purchase containers from our reusable shopping bags and put them directly in our kitchen cupboards.

Not long ago, I decided to try a similar strategy at the farmers market.

I was tired of bringing home food like mushrooms and strawberries in plastic or cardboard containers, storing the empty containers on the kitchen counter, and then returning them to the farmers the next week.

One week I took my own containers with me and asked the farmers if they would mind if I emptied their containers into my containers. No one said no. A couple of farmers thanked me and said that packaging is expensive so reusing it saves them money and they could refill them on the spot for other customers.

Granted you do have to take containers with you to the grocery market and farmers market, but I think it is worth it.

I hope you can see how you can easily reduce your own single-use plastic bag waste with a little effort and that you decide to try one or two of the above ideas or come up with your own.

While I was writing this post, I thought it would be fun to assess our multi-year single-use plastic bag waste reduction effort. This led to an unexpected discovery that you can read about in the next post if you want to.

Featured Image at Top: Single-use Plastic Shopping Bag Flying through the Air with Trees and Sky in the Background – Photo Credit iStock/Spiderstock

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit mesh bag roll.

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• You Can Live Without Single-Use Plastic Bags – Here’s How

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