Green Grocery Shopping

By Susan Hansen, Extension Educator, Colfax County

 

“We cannot do everything at once but we can do something at once,” stated Calvin Coolidge, former United States President.  Perhaps you are not ready to recycle everything in your household but you can start small and work your way up.

Practicing the 3 R’s with your food purchases is a great place to start.  The 3 R’s are Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.  Not only will you be helping the environment but you may save some food dollars as well.

Grocery needs vary from family to family, depending on size of family, storage space, prep space, work schedules, involvement in activities, money available and food likes/dislikes.  Look at your own family needs to determine what to buy or not to buy.

Buying in bulk can save money and packaging if you use a large quantity of the item and have space to store it.  Also look at the difference in sizes of packaged goods.  If all of you are eating cereal for breakfast most every morning, the larger sizes of packaged cereals will probably work.  The individual boxes of cereal create more packaging waste.  The same is true for individual containers of juice versus one larger container of ready to drink juice or a smaller container of juice that needs to be reconstituted.

Plan ahead.  Rather than several trips to the grocery store, make a list of what is needed for the week or at least the next few days.  This saves fuel cost.  Now, if you walk or bike to the grocery store every day – good for you; that is great exercise.

Take reusable bags with you to use for many of your food purchases.  The exception is meat, milk and other such perishables.  They should not be put in the reusable bags unless the bag will be washed right away.  This is to reduce the risk of cross contamination which can lead to foodborne illness.  Put those perishables in a plastic bag; then use the plastic bag to line a small garbage can.

Once home, use the 3 R’s when preparing food.  Reduce the amount of leftover food that is tossed by serving smaller portions of foods that frequently produce leftovers.  Or, reuse leftovers by serving them again in a day or two or freezing for later use.  Or, recycle the leftovers into a different meal.  An example is taking the extra roast beef, potatoes and carrots and making a hash or soup or a pot pie.  Be creative.