Food with Thought: An Eco and Budget-Friendly Guide to Sustainable Shopping
by Grace Petersen, Alexa Javaherian, Emily Ohman, and Jane Tovar
What is Sustainable Grocery Shopping?
First, a note to the reader: If you are reading this, then you probably care about the environment — more specifically how food affects the environment. As a consumer, you have probably been told by food companies that you can make an impact by shopping eco-friendly and sustainably. While this holds some truth, it is imperative to acknowledge that not all of the responsibility falls on the consumer, but a collective effort will lead us in the right direction.
If you have been told that making changes in your shopping habits won’t make a difference in the grand scheme of things, does that mean that you stop trying? No! To the writers of this site, it means to try even harder. If we can’t make even the small changes, then how are we ever going to get around to making those bigger, more dramatic changes both in our personal lives and in the food industry?
Our ultimate goal is to encourage sustainable food consumption in any way possible.
Let’s get down to the technical terms. We know what grocery shopping is, but do we know what “sustainable” and “eco-friendly” mean? Nowadays, sustainability is thrown around so much that it is starting to lose what it truly means, so let’s get that meaning back right now. In this project, we take a look through four different lenses of sustainability and see the ways in which we can reduce our footprints within each.
Zero-Waste Shopping
by Emily Ohman
I’ll admit it — for as much as I care about the environment and am passionate about conserving it, it’s not easy being green. I vowed to never bring my bike grocery shopping after I got stranded in downtown Berkeley with a flat tire and three of the heaviest Trader Joe’s bags I’d ever purchased in my life dangling from the handlebars, so I usually have to carpool or take the bus to make it to the store. If I get a meal with my boyfriend, I try to take all my trash from his house back to my house so that I can compost and recycle everything that I can, and it’s downright embarrassing talking down College Avenue carrying bags of garbage in broad daylight. My section of the pantry in my shared kitchen looks like some sort of jar-obsessed hoarder took it over — it’s stuffed with Tupperware, mismatched plastic containers and lids, and every paper grocery bag I have ever used.
But I don’t confess these things to sound like I am good at living sustainably — it’s really, really hard to. I feel guilty whenever I use a plastic spoon or fork, but sometimes I do throw it away. Occasionally I leave things that could be recycled at my boyfriend’s house promising to “get it later,” knowing full well I probably won’t and will end up tossing. I want to avoid getting plastic at the grocery store, but I don’t have the time or money to go to snazzy bulk stores and figure out how to get a tare weight — who does?
Not many people. Shopping “sustainably” is not a reality that many people can make come to fruition, and by no fault of their own — organic foods are pricey, the hassle and hard-to-reach nature of most bulk stores make them inaccessible, and farmer’s markets aren’t always available to people who live in places with seasons and harsh winters (i.e., almost everywhere). Sociopolitical factors and systemic disadvantages, like food deserts and redlining, also prevent people from accessing healthy and affordable food.
I was getting fed up with feeling simultaneously overworked and like I wasn’t doing enough to live sustainably. I pored over websites and binged hours of YouTube videos to see if anyone on the vast Internet had any insight on how to be a better steward of the planet without going insane. I found a few helpful tips, but most seemed expensive or time-consuming. I knew that my reckoning with plastic waste could only be overcome by myself.
I decided to give bulk shopping a try in an effort to shop with zero plastic waste, but I wanted to see if it would be possible to find an alternative to the trendy upper-middle-class bulk store experience I saw so many people glorify on YouTube. My mom suggested going to a local Indian market with bulk items, and we set out together on my first bulk shopping experience.
Part of me was still expecting there to be large glass jars filled with spices and dry bulk items with scoops in them, so I don’t know why I was so surprised to see the bulk items in plastic bags when we arrived. Alarms blared in my head — PLASTIC DETECTED, MISSION FAILURE. I had flashbacks to Trader Joe’s and the sound of my bike tire popping. I shuddered as scenes of my other sustainability shortcomings replayed in my head.
Disheartened, I looked at the bags of peas, beans, and spices on the wall in front of me. The colors of the boxes were beautiful, quilting the shelves in jewel tones as the faint smell of turmeric came to my nose. My mom was strolling in front of me, picking up jars of pre-made kormas, curries, and pickles. The only worker in the store was unloading boxes of inventory, and the entire store was silent.
It was the polar opposite of the bulk shopping experiences I’d seen on YouTube, where the latest pop song could always be detected playing faintly over the store’s speakers and where the item signs were handwritten in playful cursive lettering. I smiled to myself.
This humble Indian market was delivering one of the best shopping experiences I’d had in a while, and I wasn’t even aware of it until I had loaded up my tote bag with bags of peas, sesame seeds, paneer, and beans. We checked out, paying just over $20 total, and walked back to the car.
I realized that even though it wasn’t something I had seen on the internet before, this was a fantastic alternative to shopping at chain grocery stores — it was a combination of shopping in bulk, shopping small, and shopping on a budget. I felt as if I was just told the greatest secret in the world, like I was in on something the vegans hadn’t even gotten to yet.
No, I wasn’t able to go on an entirely plastic-free shopping trip. However, I bought enough in bulk that in the long run, I certainly saved myself having to buy multiple packages of the same items in smaller quantities. I also came to understand that seeing sustainability in the binary of failure vs. success is counterproductive — any effort, no matter how small, is a step in the right direction. As long as I am doing my part by reducing my footprint when and where I can, I know that I am on the right path and that the most important work involves changing the systems that allow us to feel so guilty in the first place. A greener future must be greener for all, not just those that can bulk shop every time they need groceries — a greener future must hold those that can actually make extensive changes accountable, like stores, companies, and corporations.
Even if I’m not doing a perfect job by any means, the awareness of my impact is there, and that’s a great place to start. Being patient with yourself on your journey through zero-waste, or even not-as-much-waste, is crucial — you may feel like you’re never doing enough when in reality, you’re doing ideologically more than most multimillion-dollar companies are for our planet and future.
With that, these are the largest takeaways I gathered from my perfectly imperfect bulk shopping experience — may yours be just as unique.
Shopping Sustainably on a Budget
by Grace Petersen
As a Society and Environment major at UC Berkeley, I’ve always felt a little behind the curve of where I’m supposed to be sustainably when it comes to shopping. Sure, I have the basics down: avoid plastic when possible, buy organic when you can afford it, bring your own grocery bags. But when it came to trying to go the extra mile, I found I just haven’t had the energy, budget, or resources as a college student. So I was excited to try and spend a little time shopping more sustainably for this project. As I loaded onto the 51B, I thought I was really going to knock it out of the park for this project.
But Safeway proved a really difficult place to shop sustainably at without much prior research. Pretty much everything came wrapped in plastic. Organic options were more expensive and fresh deli products were out of the budget. I knew I couldn’t carry larger bulk items home with me, as I live a bit of a walk from my bus stop. So, I did my best to purchase what I believed to be sustainable, while still not breaking the bank. It also needed to be feasible for me to cook without an oven, as I don’t have one living in on-campus apartments.
Getting home and using the HowGood app, I realized that many of the products I spent a bit more on were not really that great sustainability wise. Brands that use advertising to convince us that they’re ethical and sustainable often are doing that to avoid actually improving their practices and behaviors.
I did not want this to be a deterrent from college students shopping sustainably. I fully believe that it’s possible, I think that it might take just a bit more planning. Many of the websites I used for research recommended planning ahead, making lists, and planning meals. If you can come into the year with some bulk basics such as rice and lentils that’s quite helpful.
But I also think that shopping sustainably as a college student involves breaking out of the narrative that we’ve been taught; that cheap, unhealthy food is how to live as a college student. This seemingly Western narrative has a lot of college students not nourishing their bodies in the best way to learn, and I’ll admit I’ve fallen into trap as well. There are both monetary and sustainability advantages to cutting down on meat and processed foods as a college student. From my research, and personal experience, many college students would benefit greatly from heading back to the basics of food. Simple and healthy meals that emphasize in season produce can be planned out to be just as cheap as a lot of the meals college students are already eating. I understand that students will often choose convenience over anything else, but planning ahead and utilizing technology can help make the process of switching to more sustainable shopping and eating much easier. With that given, I’ve left a few quick tips down below that I think can be a large shift to anyone’s shopping experience.
Using What you Buy—Zero Food Waste
By Jane Tovar
Sustainability of Online Shopping & Delivery Services
by Alexa Javaherian
Online shopping continues to grow at an unbelievable rate. In our modern society, with many items just a click away, shopping for essential items like groceries has never been easier. Its importance is highlighted in today's climate wherein the COVID-19 pandemic has restricted many people from leaving their homes in order to keep themselves and others around them safe. This pandemic has caused a great surge in online shopping, making it the safest and most reliable way for many people to get their groceries. We are seeing many companies such as Amazon, Ralphs, Vons, Albertsons, and many more all offer delivery services. Based on survey data conducted from the BMC and Mercatus grocery shopping surveys, consumers spent around $5.9 billion on online grocery orders for pickup and delivery in August 2020. This number is phenomenally higher than data from BMC’s August 2019 survey, which stated that consumers spent about $1.2 billion on shopping for groceries online. With the growing number of people relying on grocery shopping delivery services to get their groceries, we must educate ourselves and do our part to shop sustainably while also shopping online. When we apply our knowledge of shopping sustainably, we can see that ordering online has its pros and cons.
When it comes to the cons, many people argue that they forget to order certain items. I can almost guarantee that everyone, at one point or another, forgets an item they need from the grocery store. However, when we see the item on the shelf in an aisle, our memory is triggered and we grab that item we needed. When you shop in the store you are able to go down every aisle and handpick items that you want. This luxury is clearly taken away when shopping online. On most sites of online grocery stores, you have to search for the item you are looking for. There are no virtual aisles where you can see items. This often leads us to forget to order items. Another con with online shopping is that we are not the ones picking the items. When it comes to items like fruit, we want to be there to handpick the best item for our money. When shopping online we are forced to consume whatever fruit the store puts in our bag. This may lead us to receive damaged produce.
Although there are cons, there are certainly pros to be aware of. Shopping for groceries online can be very sustainable. For starters, we are not all going to the store, burning fossil fuels, and emitting pollutants from our vehicles. When we shop online, grocery companies combine our orders and ship out many orders at once. It’s definitely clear to see — AmazonFresh trucks are not just traveling around with one bag, these trucks are packed with many orders. This saves energy and fuel because there is just one vehicle delivering food to many locations. It greatly reduces the number of vehicles on the road.
I encourage you all to try online grocery shopping at least once. We all already order other items online, so why not order groceries? Not only will ordering online make your life easier by not having to fight for parking and wasting your time in lines, but it will be better for the environment. Think of how much energy we can save if we stop individually going to the stores, and just have one truck deliver our items! Online grocery shopping is definitely sustainable!
So, how can we shop a little more sustainably while also doing our part to stay safe and stay home during this pandemic? Here are our 5 top tips to reduce your environmental impact next time you shop for groceries online!
1. Do your research
The first step and one of the most important in shopping more sustainably and ethically online is to do your research to make sure that you do not have to return items later! In an article by Vogue Business, Jessica Schiffer reports that returns on E-commerce have risen to 95% in the last five years. There is a very unsustainable cost to “free returns,” such as that they create lots of waste since people have to drive to the stores to return their items or contact their delivery companies again for returns and pickups. According to Optoro, online annual returns in the US have created as much trash as the amount produced by 5 million people a year.
One of the main cons of shopping for groceries online is that you cannot see the item yourself and make sure your order is exactly what you wanted. Doing your research by checking the details and carefully reading item descriptions posted by the grocery stores or delivering companies is vital and very helpful. These descriptions usually contain the size and dimensions of the items, the flavor, how many items come in a pack, and many other useful facts. Another helpful idea is to look at the reviews online of the food items you are purchasing or the companies that are delivering them, as well as contacting the brands or delivering companies to ask questions if you are unsure about anything.
You can also be more sustainable and help our environment by taking the time to research all the items you may need for the week and making a list of these items. Since it is much more difficult to remember all the items you usually use in your home or all the items you need for that fun recipe you may want to try this week while shopping online and not being able to walk down isles and be reminded of what you need, taking the time to make a list is very important. Researching and making sure you have all the items you want can greatly reduce multiple delivery orders and trips to the grocery store for your items by delivery companies, saving gas and our planet.
You could also investigate how your items will be packaged. By now we have probably all heard countless times that single-use plastics are very wasteful and harmful to our environment. In order to avoid receiving your items in plastic bags or purchasing items that come in plastic containers, take the time to research the packaging of the food item you are buying or contacting delivery companies to ask if they offer the possibility to choose an already used, sustainable bag rather than the plastic bags from grocery stores. Some brands or delivering companies may also be carbon neutral. This means that they offset the harmful CO2 emissions from their deliveries by investing in different positive carbon initiatives around the world.
2. Check out your brand’s impact with the “How Good” app
This step is one of my favorites and definitely the most fun! An important step in shopping online more sustainably and ethically is to make sure that you are buying from the right brands. You can use the “How Good” app to check how sustainable the brand is, as well as its impact on humans and our environment. With just one scan or search in the app, you can find out the sustainability rating, the farming and labor practices, processing practices, and company conduct and ethical standards. Using this app can help you stay away from harmful and unethical brands and opt for more transparent and environmentally friendly brands.
3. Try your best to buy local
An important way to reduce your impact on the environment is to buy items that are produced locally! This step is essential because it can help reduce your carbon footprint since your items will not be traveling as far. This is also helpful because instead of buying items from big companies, you will be supporting smaller businesses that are located in areas near you and may share your cultural food identity.
4. Buy less and buy smarter
One amazing way you can help the environment is by buying fewer items. Buying fewer items but buying smart can entail purchasing different versatile ingredients that can be used in many dishes in order to ensure that none of your food goes to waste and can also be used to make new meals for different days of the week. A helpful tip could also be to meal prep each week. By prepping your meals in advance you can plan out what you eat to ensure no food goes to waste and you can incorporate the same few ingredients that you make in new meals for each day. By making the most of the items we have and making creative new recipes with food products we already have in our fridges or cupboards we can lower our environmental impact. This step will also help you save money by reducing the number of items you buy and making the most of fewer items or items you already have at home.
5. Don’t forget to Reduce, Reuse, and Upcycle!
The last tip, but still a very important one is to reduce, reuse, and upcycle your food items. Many people may not be familiar with how this step can be applied to food but upcycling food is a new movement that has a lot of benefits! It consists of making foods from ingredients that would have otherwise ended up in the trash. This step is key to reducing food waste, an important problem since about 8% of the human causes of greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to food waste. It is based on the principle of “using all of what you have” and has a very positive impact on our environment. Upcycled foods are made for human consumption, but various upcycled ingredients can be incorporated into animal food and cosmetic products. By consuming upcycled foods, we as consumers can “vote with our dollar” to help end food waste.
Another fun way you can reduce your food waste and shop more sustainably is to recycle and reuse your food containers. There are so many different ways you can do this, one is by reusing the aluminum tin boxes from mints or gum. These metal tins can be repurposed to help organize different desk items, such as paper clicks, thumbtacks, USB drives, and many more. Another exciting idea is to transform ice cream cartons into creative crafts such as picnic baskets or treasure chests for children. Jelly Jars and egg cartons can also be used to make succulent planters or for storing other foods. All of these are amazing ideas that can greatly help us be more sustainable and environmentally friendly while also serving as fun activities to do with your family or friends, especially during quarantine when you get bored since most of our activities have been greatly limited.
HowGood App
When our project group first realized we wanted to find a way to rate the products we found in the grocery store on a sustainable basis, we weren’t entirely sure where to start. Greenwashing floods almost every brand’s website pages with information about how they source their products or plant trees, but it’s often quite difficult to find information about the actual environmental footprint of different products. Cue the HowGood app.
HowGood is a phone app that utilizes LATIS, an information bank that provides “data analysis for over 30,000 ingredients, chemicals and materials” (HowGood). The app has ratings on over 200,000 different food and beverage products. It rates the products on various sustainability and ethical categories that range from distribution sustainability to employee treatment. To use the app, either search a specific product or scan a barcode. If you can find it in a major grocery store, chances are it’s on the HowGood App.
On a similar note, the HowGood app isn’t always the best at providing ratings for smaller brands or local/ethnic food stores. When Emily went to a small bulk market to purchase food, she ran into some issues finding ratings for these products. While the HowGood App certainly has its merits, it struggles with ethnic and international foods. None of the items from the Indian bulk store we shopped at were registered by the app — in fact, none of the brands were even in the app’s catalogs. Envisioning a better food future requires foods to be culturally relevant, and the fact that this app seems tailored to a whiter or more mainstream shopping experience raises questions about what sustainability means to the app’s producers. It also can be a bit difficult to look a product up and is often easier just to scan the barcode of the physical product.
Overall, we’re quite pleased with the information and education the app, and found the app a great addition to our project! We do want to emphasize that the product has a ways to go in terms of many products, especially those non sold in typical Western grocery chains.
Further Resources
All videos and resources below this point were not produced by our team, but are great assets if you want to continue your eco and budget-friendly shopping journey!
Resource Guide to Reducing Food Waste
Helpful Tips for Zero-Waste Shopping
Online Resources
The following websites have been carefully researched and have useful tips and information for lessening your environmental impact while shopping.
