SHOPPING SNAPSHOT #1
001. Hello, here is a look at all of the food we bought this week! When I started this blog I never thought I would be posting about my groceries, yet here I am. As mentioned in previous posts I'm trying to cut down on the amount of waste I produce in my everyday life- and in my opinion food is the number one place to start. Right now cutting down on plastic is my number one goal, which you will begin to notice that almost EVERYTHING is packaged in. But there are easy swaps and solutions that I'm going to talk about to make this transition easier. Don't worry I'm not planning on posting my groceries every single week- just maybe every couple of months as a way to document my journey and hopefully inspire others- cutting down waste in your life isn't that difficult!
002. Full disclosure that this haul of food is catering to feed 2 hungry vegans- one of whom is very active and one who just likes to eat good food (guess which one is me). All of this cost around $100-ish. That's a little more than we usually spend, but we had a 10% off voucher to use at the bulk food shop so we definitely went a little crazier than usual in there. Changing your shopping habits to reduce your waste is easy, and definitely not more expensive! If anything I spend the same if not less- avoiding all that packaged processed rubbish really does save you so much money, plus your eating habits become WAY better (hello fresh, wholesome food).
003. We buy ALL of our fruit and veg at the farmers market down the road. It supports local business, is really affordable and super fresh. You really cannot go wrong with farmers markets! We pick produce that isn't packaged in plastic- loose produce is better quality because you get to hand-pick each one and it isn't sweating/suffocating in any packaging. The only thing I struggle finding plastic free at our local markets is greens. However, I did manage to find some loose spinach/salad leaves and packed them into our reusable produce bags. These little bags are a life saver wherever you shop for fresh produce! You can reuse them each week to make transporting all your goods home a lot easier- without the need for plastic.
004. Next stop is the bulk food store. I love shopping at our local bulk food store (The Source Bulk Foods if you were wondering), it really is the most enjoyable grocery shopping experience you can get. Again, here we use our reusable produce bags or the paper bags provided, depending on what we're buying. Buying just the right amount of food for what you need really reduces your waste dramatically. Want to try out a new recipe or just need a tiny snack to nibble on? You can buy that small amount you need easily- without excess waste or packaging!
005. Finally we stop into the supermarket (which is conveniently located in the same centre as the bulk food shop). Here we usually only pick up a few things that we can't get anywhere else. Again, we try to avoid plastic as much as possible and also like to choose organic (Woolworths has an affordable range of organic goods). This week we saw that medjool dates were on special and whipped out of own reusable bags to fill up. Bringing your own shopping bags AND reusable produce bags is the ultimate hack to avoiding plastic no matter where you shop.
006. Holy moly this post was pretty long considering I'm talking about groceries (you can tell I'm passionate about something when I can't stop writing). I hope this was helpful or insightful in some way to see how you can reduce your waste with something as mundane as grocery shopping!
Lena x