How to make a more ecological purchase

If you recycle (you should), at the end of the day, the plastic separator is usually at the top due to the polyurethane trays, the bags and sachets for fruits and vegetables, the plastic wrap that wraps everything and different plastic containers of all kinds .

Organic zucchini in a polyurethane tray wrapped in plastic? It was the realization of this incongruity that got me thinking. Do I buy organic for fashion or because I really believe that I, from my small plot, can do something to take care of the planet? And the answer is that yes, I can do it, although that means changing the way I do the shopping (and being willing to a certain discomfort).

How and where the food you buy is grown is just as important as how it is packaged. And it is not just preferring the bulk purchase, but how we carry this purchase. More and more businesses are giving up plastic bags to use paper ones, but we can still go further. I tell you everything I have learned about how to make a more ecological purchase.

I go more to the market and bulk stores

It is true that there are supermarkets that offer the possibility of fruit and vegetables in bulk, but not all vegetables are sold that way, but a good part is already packaged. And what is no longer possible in bulk are rice, pasta, flours, nuts… For this reason, I usually frequent the market and stores that sell cereals, flour, nuts, etc. in bulk.

I carry one (or more) folding shopping bags in my purse

Although plastic bags are charged, they continue to be sold as if the planet was not paying the price. And I don't think the solution is to use paper bags because in the end the paper comes from the trees. So I carry folding shopping bags in my bag (and the day I leave them and have to take the others I get mad…).

ZoomSky Foldable Shopping Bag, € 9.88

My grandmother's bread bag

I love bread and I frequent an artisan bakery that uses traditional and organic flours. And I take it with me in the bag for the bread with which my grandmother sent me to when I was little! I have recovered it and I love it.

Bread Story bread bag, € 15

Neither plastic nor cardboard, cotton and reusable!

I confess, the first time I walked into an organic store and saw the cotton mesh bags for fruit and vegetables I had a shock, but it really is what we should always use. Because weekly we use a lot of bags, that if the potatoes, that if the oranges, the onions, the broccoli … There are many individual bags that are used and wasted.

Integrity Reusable Fruit and Vegetable Bags, € 9.99 / 3pk

And when I want only half a watermelon?

Yes, I know, sometimes the bulk issue can make you have to keep larger quantities than you would need. But … I have also found an answer for the times I want only half a watermelon or half a melon and they are silicone lids that adapt to the size of food (or containers without their own lids).

Besfair Silicone Stretch Caps, € 12.99

Not everything goes in a bag, so take lunch boxes

For rice, legumes, but also for fish or meat… You thus avoid waxed papers and plastic bags. One recommendation: if you can, take lunch boxes that fit into each other, to save space. And one piece of advice, ask the merchant to zero the scale before filling them, so they don't charge you for their weight.

5-piece tapers of different sizes, from QWDHA, from € 22.98

Lunch box for sausages

For me it is very useful, because before I ended up filling a (plastic) bag with all the (plastic) containers of sausages, sausages, hamburgers … Now, with a lunch box for sausages, I save all this. And it goes straight to the nervera.

Tatay sausage troughs, € 19.90 / 4 units

Put a cheese maker in your life

As in the case of sausages, the cheese factory saves a lot of packaging. The truth is that where I buy I have managed to only use waxed paper to weigh all the types of cheese that I buy (yes, we are very cheese). The only cheese that does not enter the cheese maker and goes to a separate container is fresh, because it releases a little water.

Cheese Saver 3-liter cheese maker, € 16.49

I make a part of the yogurts

I recognize that the flavored ones and kefir, for example, I still buy in their plastic containers, but the natural ones, which are a third or so of the yogurts we consume at home, I make at home with a yogurt maker.

Moulinex yogurt maker, € 41.80

Tap water

This has been a long war to fight at home, because we were one of those who bought jugs of water because the tap did not taste good to us since we changed apartments. But the bottles are not only a problem because they are made of plastic, but because they involve transport and that has a high carbon footprint… Solution? We have opted for a jug that filters the water, although there are other options, such as osmosis or how to put filters on the tap.

Marella de Brita water filter jug + 12 cartridges, € 63.90

Yes, I also take a bottle

I am lucky that near the market there is a specialized store that sells wine and vinegar in bulk and one that even sells beer in bulk. And when we go down to town, I take more than one, because there, in addition to a variety of wines, we can also see vermouth.

Bormioli Rocco glass bottle, € 10.81

Of course, I take a car to

On Saturday, which is the day I do most of the shopping, we take the car with us because of course, among the lunch boxes, the bottle, etc … In fact, we end up returning with the car full and also carrying a cloth bag …

Play Go Fun shopping cart, € 115