10 Tips for Sustainable Grocery Shopping

Shopping sustainably makes sense for you and the environment. But where do you begin? Learn how you can start shifting your grocery shopping habits to include more sustainable choices with these 10 simple tips.

1. Meal Plan Before You Shop

We totally understand how tempting it is to squeeze in a grocery trip before coming home from work. But if you can spend a few minutes the night before meal planning and jotting down a grocery list, you’ll know precisely what items you need when you walk through the doors. This not only saves your hard-earned dollars but also prevents you from picking up items you don’t really need that week (and probably won’t use), which is easily the first and simplest step in sustainable grocery shopping success.

2. Bring Your Own Bags

Bring your own bag, or BYOB, is not a new concept. But it might be a new habit you want to cultivate this year. Single-use plastics clog up landfills and end up in the ocean. But a cloth or canvas bag that you stash in the door pocket of your car can be used time and time again with minimal effort on your part.

See more: 10 Sustainable Kitchen Swaps for a More Eco-Friendly Home

3. Buy in Bulk

Not everything makes sense to buy in bulk. But if you’re looking to stock up on pantry staples like rice, tomato sauce or peanut butter, you could consider investing in a bulk store membership. Alternatively, you could shop at a grocery store that keeps bulk items in dispensers and allows you to choose the exact amount you need. This option reduces your food and packaging waste.

4. Reduce Food Waste

Speaking of food waste, this is another easy tip you can put into practice without even leaving your home. Next time you open the fridge, take a minute to see if you have any food hanging around that you know you won’t use before it goes bad. Work it into your meal plan over the next day or two, stash it in the freezer to use later, or see if a friend, family member or neighbor might need it. Reducing food waste is just as important as shopping sustainably.

5. Choose Local Food

Many grocery stores around the country are proud to sell local food products. Choosing to purchase from a local grower, rancher or producer reduces the number of miles a truck would otherwise drive to bring the goods to your town. It also allows you to invest in and support your own community. As an even bigger bonus, products that don’t need to travel as far need fewer preservatives to keep them fresh for transportation.

See more: 7 Benefits of Eating Local Foods

6. Eat Seasonally

If you’re going to eat local produce, you may be signing up to eat seasonally, too. This can be tricky to go all-in on, so give yourself some leeway when you decide to start incorporating seasonal eating into your life. This one goes hand in hand with shopping locally because you’re more likely to support growers in your area at the peak of their production. And when you do that, you’re also likely supporting more sustainable (and natural) agricultural practices.

See more: How to Eat Seasonally All Year Long

7. Quality Over Quantity

It can be tempting to only purchase products that are on sale, at a low price or a good deal. But part of shopping sustainably involves buying for quality over quantity. If that means investing in sustainably produced meat, eggs and dairy but reducing the number of times per week you eat those items so they still fit in your budget, that’s a choice worth considering.

8. Understand Food Labels

Understanding food labels is another important factor ins hopping sustainably. Here are a few labels to get acquainted with:

• USDA Organic: Certified organic by the USDA
• Non-GMO Product Verified: No genetic engineering or GMOs used in production or ingredients
• FAIRTRADE Mark: Certified by Fairtrade International
• Climate Neutral Certified: Certified by Climate Neutral for offsetting carbon emissions

See more: 10 Foods You Should Buy Fair Trade Certified

9. Choose Sustainable Seafood

If you enjoy cooking seafood, you might want to consider reading the labels a little more closely next time you’re at the store. You can choose to buy seafood that is in season, which prevents overfishing and helps keep the oceans in balance. You can also keep an eye out for where the fish came from to get an idea of the transportation involved. You can also look for the blue Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) logo to see if the seafood meets the guidelines set by the United Nations Fishery.

10. Cook From Scratch

Our final tip for incorporating sustainable grocery shopping practices into your life doesn’t even involve the grocery store but rather your own kitchen. Learning how to cook some of your own pantry staples, such as bread or tortillas, is a wonderful way to reduce food packaging waste, improve your health, and free up your budget to invest in higher-quality ingredients you can’t make yourself.