Low Waste Shopping Made Easy

Low waste was the start of my intentional living journey. I remember one day thinking about how often the bin fills up. I thought about this, because my room at university was in a top floor flat and I had to not only go down the steps (there was not lift), but also out of the gates to the area where the bins where. Most packaging from the supermarkets have a logo telling you to not recycle at home.

This goes back to what I mentioned in my story towards intentional living, here. This is not to say that recycling is negative, it is absolutely great. There are still too many items that make it to landfill rather than getting repurposed. Although I cannot find the original lady who helped me reflect on how we recycle, I will post a few articles that talk about various perspectives on recycling, at the bottom of this page1.

Ways we can re-think our shopping habits

Whilst going zero waste would be ideal, it is not always possible and strongly depends on where you live. Low waste is easier if you live in a rural countryside next to a brilliant farmers market, but this is not always the case. When I began my low waste journey, I lived in a small city that did have a brilliant farmers market. I planned my meals, took my reusable bag and walked to the market to get exactly what I needed. There was also a butcher nearby if I needed that, and a stall with pasta and spices. I could mostly get everything I needed from this place, except milk and dairy.

I tried to continue this lifestyle after I moved to a new country. The market was significantly far away and it was heavy to carry things back on my bike. On long days I just popped to the nearby store on my way home. Most vegetables were wrapped in plastic. Low waste can be difficult, but I have a few ideas if you can find these places easy to come by.

1. Plan your low waste meals

Low waste can start by not throwing away food that had expired. When I was a student who only needed to feed myself, I found the supermarket often sold vegetables and items to share or in family portions. It was rare when I saw smaller cans of chopped tomatoes or beans. Often it was a two person portion tin. Carrots came in plenty and broccoli came in pairs. Before my low waste mindset, I purchased food with one recipe in mind and I didn’t consider the possible food waste that would come with it. I found myself throwing away limp vegetables and beans growing friends inside the can.

Overtime, I found a few solutions towards low waste as I could through planning my meals for the week. Here are some ideas that may come in handy:

  1. Plan recipes for the week using similar ingredients. I use BBC Good Foods as they also have a related guide section at the bottom of the recipe or you can type the ingredient in their search bar and get numerous recipe ideas. For instance: courgette, potato, mushroom, and broccoli.
  2. Create a weekly meal plan deck of cards. What I mean by this is on one side of the card write down your plan for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for each day and the ingredients on the back. Do this each time you want to switch up your meals. If you make four cards, then you can use one card for each week in a month and then shuffle them around the next months. Take this card shopping with you so you know exactly what you need for that week.
  3. Batch cook. I cook meals that will be used for lunch or another day. This is written in my weekly plan. Or, if I ended up with a family portion of vegetables I create a larger portion (as most recipes say they serve four) and freeze the rest to eat at another time when I am tired. This will replace my need to order a takeaway.

2. Reuse what you can/ buy what you can reuse

There are many items that can be repurposed or reused to maintain low waste. Coffee often comes in glass jars, and particularly in airtight glass jars. If you buy a really big jar of coffee, these can be used to house our legumes or pasta. I found a great website dedicated to repurposing items, here.

3. Farmer market or small grocery business

I have lived in the city and in the countryside where low waste living looks different in both. One city had a farmers market, but two did not. However, I have found in both places a ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ supermarket ran by an independent company. Here, you can often find all the food you need with little to no packaging.

4. Zero waste shops

If you type in google, ‘zero waste shop near me’ or with your location, there may be a shop dedicated to low waste living near you. Sometime, I come across these by chance from taking a different route into the town center. In these shops you will find large jars hanging on the walls full of dried goods. You will find large containers of hygiene products, oils, sauces, and cleaning products.

They have a scale to weigh your container before you fill it, then you weight it again with the contents inside to get the price. If you do not have a container, there is often a brown bag that you can fill (but you may have more than your container can fill).

5. Homecooking helps reduce waste

I probably should had mentioned this earlier, but it is easier to achieve a low waste living if you prepare all of your food at home. Take away and fast food often comes with a lot of waste, unless you have the time and ability to eat at a restuarant/cafe, try to bring lunch or snacks with you. You can try to batch cook, as mentioned above, to have leftovers for lunch to save time.

I hope some of these tips help you achieve your low waste living goals. I will be preparing further blogs that expand of these points in the future, so please subscribe for more!

    Articles on recycling:

    1. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/12/plastic-waste-recycling-throwaway-culture
      https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/plastic-waste-wish-recycling-bins-black-environment-green-shopping-a8548736.html
      https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/conservation/issues/recycling-reality.htm
      https://www.recyclingbins.co.uk/recycling-facts/
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    TiL