We all know category 1, the dreaded single use plastic. This is the category that cities, states, and even countries are trying to ban. These are things that are often thrust upon us without even asking, they are taken for granted, and they are most likely to end up in the environment. Lucky for you this is the easiest category to eliminate. Grab yourself a nice reusable cup, water bottle and utensil set and you are free from the burden of destroying the environment every time you eat out somewhere.
Category 2 is the section for lazy eaters. These people don’t like to meal prep, buy in bulk, and they also don’t like their food touching each other in the grocery basket. It took a significant amount of effort to convince my husband that you can just put your produce in the basket and its fine. If you are really worried about it just put it in a canvas bag and take it out when you checkout. Also if you aren’t buying bulk yogurt yet, who are you?
The third category kicks up the difficulty a bit. All of the plastic in this category is designed in such a way to trick you into spending more money for buying less food. Pre-packaged chips, crackers and cookies are great for on the go lunches but they usually cost more. These can be tricky because sometimes they aren’t labeled as pre-packaged and you may have just bought 100 of them from Costco. The pre-packaged fresh produce is just annoying. It tricks you into thinking that you have just saved yourself time by buying pre-cut mushrooms or zucchini noodles only to realize that its 2x the price for half the product. Just skip this aisle.
The last and final category is where I am residing. These are unavoidable products that come pre-packaged in plastic and there is no alternative offered. In our house we are addicted to frozen fruit and frozen vegetables. We love buying bulk frozen broccoli and blueberries. We go through about a 5 lb bag of blueberries a week. (we are not a family of bears if you are wondering) However, the alternative to this would be more expensive fresh fruits and veggies that don’t last as long. So far no company makes canvas or cardboard boxes of frozen veggies yet. Alas I am stuck in plastic wrapped frozen food purgatory.
This brings us to the huge elephant in the room:
The trash bag
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