Packaging

It was one of those BIG shopping trips, where I was tired of running around and just wanted to get the house stocked up.  I had coupons.  I had gift cards.  I had my reusable shopping bags.

Dairy: 1/2 gallon Rhody Fresh milk
           1 lb. Cabot unsalted butter
           16 oz heavy cream (for quiche and whip cream - no can!)
           Philly neufchâtel

Meat/Deli: 1/2 lb. Lacey Swiss
                  1/2 lb. Black Forest ham
                  2 lbs. Cod
                  2 cans albacore tuna
                  2 cans beans

Fruit/Veggie: Tropicana OJ
                      Fresh salsa
                      1.9 lbs. bananas
                      2 lbs. butternut squash
                      1.73 lbs. sweet potatoes
                      2 lbs. onion
                      1 cucumber
                      .7 lbs. green beans
                      2 bags kale
                      1 grapefruit
                      1 lemon
                      1 pt. grape tomatoes
                      1 pack baby bellas

Frozen: 3 boxes pierogies
             2 pints Ben & Jerry's

Grocery: Pomi boxed tomatoes (no plastic-lined can!)
               Jar of pasta sauce
               6 boxes Annie's mac and cheese
               2 cases of seltzer
               6 pack Ginger beer
               box of coconut milk
               Bag of bird food
               2 spinach feta tasca (prepared food)

All for a total of $154.93 at Stop & Shop, food for three for about two weeks.  Now let me analyze it for waste:

Glass: Seven (pasta sauce, six bottles)
Aluminum/Steel: 30 (cans of food and seltzer)
Cardboard: 21, including cartons, boxed tomatoes, ice cream pints
#1/2 Plastic: Four (tomatoes, mushrooms, fresh salsa, prepared food)
#5 Plastic: None (would include yogurt containers)
Plastic bag packaging: Four (bird food, deli meat, deli cheese, bag around fish.  All produce except mushrooms bought without bags.  I used reusable mesh bag for green beans.)

Not too bad.  Mushrooms get me every time.  I could buy them at the farmer's market and bring my own mesh bag.  They bruise too easily to travel to supermarkets.  I could make my own salsa next time to avoid the plastic.  I did recycle all the containers, but just the production of such containers causes pollution.  Aluminum can be collected, melted, and reproduced as cans in 90 days, so no guilt recycling those.  It takes far less energy and natural resources than, say, digging up a mountain fir virgin ore.  I don't get deli meat and cheese every week, but I don't usually reuse the zip-lock bags either...  Bird food purchases just started this past (harsh) winter and I wonder if there are paper bag versions that I can get locally.  Maybe the farm store.  Recycled my glass too, but our state does not have it's own glass recycling plant and until recently just ground it up as layers in the landfill.  (Starting in early 2013, glass has been shipped out to MA for recycling. Eco-RI)  Here's a petition to create a glass recycling center in Rhode Island (where our local Narragansett beer is also bottled out-of-state), creating jobs and perhaps leading to a bottling plant as well: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/recycle-glass-in-rhode?source=c.em.cp&r_by=2175639

On another shopping trip (pictured above), I spent $64 at Dave's and $21 at Target getting everything you see there.  (My daughter wanted her doll in the picture.)  This included:

Dairy: 1/2 gallon Rhody Fresh milk
           2 Stonyfield yogurts (larger volume means less packaging)
           1 yogurt snack pack my daughter begged for

Meat/Deli: 1/2 lb. Lacey Swiss
                  1/2 lb. Black Forest ham
                  1 dozen Stamp Farm eggs
                  can of black beans
                  can of chick peas
                  can of refried beans
                  stuffies (foil and plastic package)
                  andouille sausage (plastic!)

Fruit/Veggie: bananas                    
                      2 locally-grown tomatoes
                      swiss chard
                      carrots
                      3 onions
                      garlic
                      lemon
                      2 bags kale
                      canned olives
                      3 jars salsa

Frozen: none

Grocery: Spices (sesame seeds, cream of tartar, dried dill)
               small jar of mayo (I've made my own, but the recipe makes much more than I can use            
                    before it separates)
               tomato paste (box and foil tube)
               two bags coffee
               one GLASS bottle of Dave's coffee syrup (again, my kid begged, and Autocrat was plastic    
                    and had HFCS.  Yuck!)
              loaf of rye (plastic bag!)
              boxed chicken stock
              4 boxes Annie's mac and cheese
              1 box Annie's snack mix
              3 boxes cereal
              bag of chips
              bag of rice

That's a lot of food for $85.  6 Aluminum, 6 glass, 12 cardboard, 3 #5 plastic, 3 #2 plastic, 8 plastic bags (andouille sausage, deli cheese, deli meat, potato chips, bread, rice, 2 kale bags).  I do reuse the spice jars and sort my nature craft collection in glass jars to easily see them (mostly dried seeds and pods).  The bagged kale wasn't worth it.  It was pre-chopped for juicing and after 15 minutes juicing half a bag, I had 1/2 a cup of "juice'.  I would rather buy a whole kale I can chop finely for salad and rice dishes.  I did notice that Dave's has 8 oz. of Cabot cheese in wax paper MUCH cheaper than 8 oz. of shredded, preservative-laden cheese in the further aisle, so I know what I'll be staying with now.

Next trip: Whole Foods and the search for less packaging.