Sustainably Maija

Hello there and welcome back to the blog! I will admit the title is a little misleading and I’ll tell you why. Plastic has become the go-to packaging for almost all the companies we buy our food from. This article is about how you can shop more sustainably. Please remember that it’s not our fault as consumers to have to opt for food that comes in plastic packaging, it’s the big corporations! These recommendations I’m going to show you can make a big difference for our planet. I hope you enjoy these tips. Happy reading!

Reusable Bags

First up, we are going to talk about reusable bags- of course! I know that in grocery stores we put our produce in single-use plastic bags, but I have a swap for you! There are reusable produce bags that you can bring back and forth to the store with your reusable grocery bags! The ones we have are pictured below and we got them from NetZero (Linked here!). I know you can purchase these produce bags on Amazon which is fine, but I will always recommend buying from eco-friendly businesses. Reusable grocery bags are amazing too! I know in my county we get charged 5 cents per plastic bag that we use, which makes people want to bring reusable bags. With the pandemic going on some grocery stores don’t allow reusable bags for sanitary purposes, but you should keep this article in mind for when you can bring them again! One last thing I’m going to say about bags is that some stores have a plastic bag recycling bin in front of their stores where you can return your clean, dry, and empty plastic bags. I know that my grocery store does and we deposit our bags there. Check with your grocery store for what you can recycle and just to be clear you can’t put plastic bags in your regular recycling bin! Depending on the store you can recycle plastic food wrappings, plastic produce bags, plastic grocery bags, and much more. Also, check for the recycling logo with a 2 or a 4 in the middle. That kind of thing isn’t available everywhere, but you should definitely keep an eye out!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Plastic Produce Packaging

Another thing to think about is produce that literally comes wrapped in plastic like in the pictures below- very unnecessary. Fruits and vegetables have a protective layer on them already, there’s no need to put a piece of plastic around them. This problem is all around the world, but I’ve seen this issue specifically in the United States. So next time you go to the store, keep an eye out for the fruits and veggies that don’t come wrapped in all that useless plastic. Those plastic wrappings can also be recycled in some places if it’s unavoidable. In the U.S., we generally have things like strawberries, grapes, and blueberries that come in plastic containers or bags, so please recycle those. Pre-sliced fruits and veggies are always more convenient, but it’s better to buy the food and slice it yourself. You save less plastic and it gives you something to do! Now obviously if we are on the go and you didn’t have the chance to grab food from your house, you probably would need to go to the store. You should always recycle or reuse those plastic containers as well. It’s hard to avoid plastic in that situation, but you can always meal prep! Like I’ve said before we as a society are very reliant on plastic and sometimes it’s hard to avoid it, but that’s why I’m here to guide you!

• 

• 

Glass Jars

Next up, I wanted to show you some more ways to avoid plastic packaging when buying sauces, canned foods, jarred foods, or spices. When purchasing items like tomato sauce, pickles, olives, etc. you should go for a glass jar. Not only does that reduce your usage of plastic, but you can clean the jars after you’re done with them and reuse it for storage, cups, or even as plant holders! My jar collection has been growing from using soup cans, glass jars, plastic jars, or even candle jars and I use them for a lot of different things. Also think about how you buy your spices. If you see yourself putting certain spices on your grocery list often, you should buy them in bulk. You can use a reusable spice container and I’ve seen people put labels on glass jars to create a beautiful arrangement of spices. Who knew you could make the most random things aesthetically pleasing! 

• 

• 

• 

All of these swaps can help you feel good about yourself since you’re making less of an impact on the planet. Grocery stores are full of plastic and unfortunately those manufacturers don’t want to change their ways. As consumers, we should hold them accountable and try our best to reduce our own plastic waste. I hope you enjoyed today’s tips and you incorporate them into your life. Have a great rest of your day! Thank you for reading! 

Love, Maija.